Rating: 
Summary: it's not just a coincidence
Review: both nancy sterns in jane heller's latest book may find themselves being confused with one another with hilarious results.but it's no coincidence to those of us who always are waiting for her latest book,to find she has worked her magic once again. she has the most ironic and hip sense of humor,and her "throw away"comments on the foibles of our current society are priceless.i bet she would be fun to have dinner with.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Evening's Entertainment
Review: I don't look to Jane Heller for a great reading experience but I do look to her for a night's light, comic entertainment and she always delivers. This newest novel is no exception. I can blast right through one of her books because they are easy and fun. This has a nice fantasy aspect too where the heroine tries on someone else's more glamorous life to meet her man.
Rating:
Summary: The Power of Coincidence
Review: When schoolteacher Nancy Stern starts getting private screeningpasses and fancy invitations she's perplexed.When she discoversthat a glamorous reporter also named Nancy Stern has moved in to the penthouse in her building, she understands that their mail is getting mixed up. When schoolteacher Nancy accepts a blind date invitation meant for the glamorous reporter, confusion and mayhem reign. ...Jane Heller's latest is her best yet. If you enjoyed Sis Boom Bah; if you enjoy Jennifer Crusie or Janet Evanovich; Jane Heller is a great author to discover!
Rating:
Summary: A delightful and comical drama
Review: Nancy Stern is a pre-school teacher at the prestigious Small Blessings Nursery School. She lives in Manhattan in the swinging seventies, but has no man in her life. On the whole, Nancy is contented until the "other Nancy Stern moves into the penthouse of the same building. The second Nancy is a free lance writer, who hobnobs with the rich and famous, and attends embassy parties and special movie screenings. Nursery Nancy knows all this because she seems to always receive Penthouse Nancy,s mail and phone calls. When Bill Harris calls to ask Nancy for a blind date, he gets the teacher, who accepts the offer, pretending to be the more famous Nancy. Sparks fly between Nancy and Bill that lead to the teacher feeling guilty for her masquerade. She ends their relationship by their third date because she cannot cope with her deception any longer. Bill learns the truth and walks out on her, but she concocts a plan to bring him back into her life even after she discovers his secret. Jane Heller writes a delightfully funny drama filled with suspense, action, romance, and a touch of mystery. The heroine learns the hard way that to "thine own self be true" is the only way to live as trying to pretend to be someone else is stupid and perhaps dangerous. The story line is filled with rich imagery and deep characters. NAME DROPPING is a first class reading experience. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Like a fun Roller Coaster Ride!
Review: I actually enjoyed this book a lot more then I thought I would! "Name Dropping" is about Nancy Stern, a Pre-school teacher who spends her days with 4-year olds and her Saturday nights at home. Along comes a new tenant in her building that is blond, leggy, silicon filled AND interviews celebrities for a magazine. Oh, and her name? Nancy Stern! Pre-school Nancy is suddenly deluged with phone calls, flowers and mail for Glamorous Nancy. Just when she thinks it's all too much to bear along comes Bill Harris, an eligible bachelor who was calling for the other Nancy but Pre-school Nancy decides to go on the date instead and so begins the roller coaster ride of this book. Lots of twists and turns. Perfect book to take to the beach. A light, fun read!
Rating:
Summary: Very cute!
Review: Heroine: average What if two women with the same name lived in the same apartment building? Invariably they would accidentally swap mail and phone messages, but men . . . and murders? When Bill Harris, with his extremely "nice" voice, calls Nancy Stern the disillusioned preschool teacher for a blind date she knows with that certain sinking feeling that this call is really meant for the glamorous freelance journalist in the penthouse, just like all the others. All right, so she didn't want to keep the other Nancy's mile long credit card bills, and she absolutely couldn't keep the fabulous fur coat that had been mistakenly delivered to her apartment. But jet set Nancy had so many men wooing her, would she really miss just one tall, handsome, sexy jeweler?? Unfortunately preschool Nancy gets more than she bargains for in this particular swap. When the other Nancy turns up dead preschool Nancy thanks her lucky stars just this once for being the "wrong Nancy". But when her purse is snatched, her apartment is ransacked, and her new boyfriend's mysterious past begins to reveal itself, she begins to wonder if she was so lucky after all.
What worked for me:
I love Heller's writing style. She's got a great knack for coming up with pithy phrases, such as labeling preschool Nancy as "The Brunette Who Keeps Her Head".
This novel particularly resonated with me because I've worked with children on and off for years, so the preschool scenes were a bit of a flashback for me. Size-wise Nancy was a comfortable sounding average, who was fine with her figure until she met the other Nancy Stern, with her impossibly long legs and huge...[chest].
What didn't work for me:
I was sick to my stomach the entire time plain Nancy was trying to pass herself off as "fancy Nancy". I would hate trying to do something like that myself. (Odd, but I don't recall feeling that way when I read Goldsmith's "Switcheroo", and in that case the identity swap took place over a much longer period in the novel. Go figure!) I kinda felt bad for glitzy Nancy, snarky woman that she was. Her life obviously didn't make her happy, her death was untimely, and she faded away from the novel once her purpose had been served, as did her mysterious daughter. Poor things.
Overall:
Fast-paced "Name Dropping" was a joy to read, but didn't quite live up to my expectations, which were set very high after reading Heller's "Princess Charming". Warning: This book has some steamy moments and coarse words within its pages. If you liked "Name Dropping" you might also enjoy "Crazy For You", "Switcheroo", "Princess Charming", "Infernal Affairs", "Plum Girl", The Stephanie Plum mystery series, "Welcome to Temptation", "Faking It", "Heaven in Your Eyes", "Getting Lucky", "Fast Women", or "Lola Carlyle Reveals All".
Rating:
Summary: The Name of the Game
Review: is purely fun. In this "over-the-top" spoof on what's in a name, the nursery school teacher finds a lot about being the wrong Nancy Stern. And that there is more than glamour and excitement to life. Charming, implausible, witty, sexy, and it is like the characters have a politically correct filter over everything they say and do, fun meets up with honesty and the results are predictable in a totally off the wall sort of way. A delightfully irreverent beach read, Jane Heller really packs a lot in the dialogue of her characters.
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