Lucky Stars

Rating:
Summary: just ok
Review: Having read Ms. Heller's Best Enemies and Name Dropping, I had high hopes for this book. I like her style of writing: romance/comedy/mystery all in one. This book started off well, but somewhere in the middle I just got tired of Stacey's constant complaining about EVERYTHING! Enough already! I managed to keep reading and closer to the end, I got into it again. I wouldn't buy it, check it out from the library. It's worth reading if your a fan of the author. This won't stop me from reading her other books. Hopefully they will be better.

Rating:
Summary: entertaining
Review: This book is about a thirty something woman who moves to Hollywood to become a star. Her bored, lonely, overbearing, nagging, widowed Mother moves across country to be close to her daughter. In a typical Jane Heller way, her Mother becomes an overnight sensation. And the mother/daughter roles become reversed. THe daughter starts worrying about the mother in a nagging, overbearing way.

The book has some very funny moments as we see the daughter become a pain, and as we see a plain midwestern Mom become hip. But in the begining, the mother (Helen) was too much of everything. I got so annoyed with her at one point I almost put the book down. It's a little too in your face, and I understand why Heller did this, but I still didn't like it.

My favorite thing about Heller's books are her strong 30 something characters. I always like seeing woman who are vulnerable, but still persevere, who are not gorgeous, but have healthy attractive looks. And who are fine living without a man. This is Heller's greatest strength, and it makes Stacey Reiser a good, beleivable, and funny heroine.

A fun, fast paced read- try it.

Rating:
Summary: Fell A Bit Flat
Review: This book was amusing in a Jane Heller kind of way. However, it wasn't quite as good as her usual fare.

Helen started out so annoying that I couldn't care less about her. And Stacey was such a wimp where her mother was concerned that I found it nearly impossible to care about her either, especially after she succumbed to going on a tour of a tuna fish factory just because her mother bullied her into it. Grow a spine, woman! I thought the romance with Jack had potential, but it was introduced so early and nothing really happened there either to make me care much about it.

The whole thing was very predictable with no twists and turns to surprise you even a little bit. It was a busy read, more than an enjoyable read as Ms. Heller's books usually are.