Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Book Review- The Accidental Bestseller

I just finished reading The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax for the Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Blog Tour.

From the back cover:

Once upon a time four aspiring authors met at a writers conference. Ten years later they're still friends, veterans of the dog-eat-dog New York publishing world.

Mallory St. James is a workaholic whose novels support her and her husband's lavish lifestyle. Tanya Mason juggles two jobs, two kids, and a difficult mother. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and the author of bestselling inspirational romances: no one would ever guess her explosive secret. Kendall Aims's once-promising career is on the skids--as is her marriage. Her sales have fallen, her new editor can barely feign interest in her work--and her husband is cheating.

Under pressure to meet her next deadline, Kendall holes up in a mountain cabin to confront a blank page and a blanker future. But her friends won't let her face this struggle by herself. They collaborate on a novel none of them could write alone--using their own lives as fodder, assuming no one will ever discover the truth behind their words.

No one is more surprised than they are when the book becomes a runaway bestseller. But with success comes scrutiny and scandal. Now all bets are off as these four best friends suddenly realize how little they truly know each other.

I enjoyed reading this book. This was an interesting look at the writer's life (I've never read a book about this before). I found myself wondering how much of it was true. It was also a great story about deceit and friendship. The characters were all warm, and I couldn't tell you who my favorite was--I liked them all (even the secondary characters like Lacy Samuels, the editorial assistant!) I found myself rooting for them and wanting them to have their happily ever after. I would classify this as hen-lit and definitely a great beach read.

I gave this book a rating of 4/5.


2 comments:

  1. Nice review, it's going on my TBR list. I have to ask, though, what's the difference between chick lit and hen lit. This is the first I've seen the label "hen lit" - made me laugh : )

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  2. This sounds like a great beach read! But I agree what is hen lit? Mother's fiction? Older women?

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