Jane Heller
Author of Female Intelligence
About the Author
Image credit: Credit: Michael Forester
Works by Jane Heller
Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees (2009) 25 copies, 1 review
You'd Better Not Die or I'll Kill You: A Caregiver's Survival Guide to Keeping You in Good Health and Good Spirits (2012) 14 copies
All Together in One Place 1 copy
The Riverview Murders 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Heller, Jane
- Legal name
- Heller, Jane
- Birthdate
- 20th century
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Rochester (B.A. Classics), Annenberg School of Communications (U of PA)
- Occupations
- Former book publicist
- Agent
- Ellen Levine (Trident Media Group)
- Relationships
- Michael Forester (husband)
- Short biography
- After a decade promoting bestselling authors for New York publishing houses, Jane Heller became one herself. Her 13 novels of romantic comedy, nine of which have been optioned by Hollywood for film and television, are entertaining readers around the world - and are just out in ebook editions for the first time. Book #14, a nonfiction title, explored her passion for baseball and the NY Yankees. Her next book, also nonfiction, is due in November 2012 from Chronicle: "You'd Better Not Die or I'll Kill You: A Caregiver's Survival Guide to Keeping You in Good Health and Good Spirits." Visit her at http://www.janeheller.com.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Santa Barbara, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Integrity's got Ann Roth down. As far as celebrity reporters go, she's rare. With honest, down-to-earth decency and sharp smarts, Ann's been top in her field for awhile. But according to her new sharp-nosed boss, these respectful and sweet ways no longer cut it. When he sends her on a mission to score a nearly-impossible interview with a reclusive Hollywood heart-throb and tells her to hone her "journalistic killer instinct (or else)" she goes for it. Unfortunately, "going for it" leave her show more with cheesecake in the face, a failed assignment and an anxiety attack. Humiliated and jobless, Ann returns to her hometown to live with her anxious family and to re-group.
Luckily, Ann gets another chance to prove her journalistic killer instinct: the reclusive hollywood heart-throb she failed to interview first time around checks into a hospital in her home town. Hungering to prove herself, Ann signs up as a volunteer to get close to him. Up until now, SOME NERVE has been laugh-out-loud funny, fast and entertaining; while it continues to be those things, here it also acquires some bittersweet depth. As Ann chases after the actor's story, she also begins to look closely at the other patients. Some her cynicism slackens, and Ann becomes softer and more real to readers. Not only does she fall for Malcolm, but she overcomes many of her fears by providing comfort to the sick; in helping the needy, she begins to find herself.
For me, this part of the book really transcended the fun and fast beginning (which I also loved), and became bigger than what I expected. Ultimately, Ann had to decide between her career and love, and it's a real mystery which she picks. While she felt like a fun friend before, I actually began to care about her character on a higher level when she's volunteering at the hospital and discovering herself.
SOME NERVE is light-hearted and a fun ride, but deals with some issues that set it apart from other similar reads. All in all, I loved it, and will definitely be recommending it to friends-- 4 1/2 stars! show less
Luckily, Ann gets another chance to prove her journalistic killer instinct: the reclusive hollywood heart-throb she failed to interview first time around checks into a hospital in her home town. Hungering to prove herself, Ann signs up as a volunteer to get close to him. Up until now, SOME NERVE has been laugh-out-loud funny, fast and entertaining; while it continues to be those things, here it also acquires some bittersweet depth. As Ann chases after the actor's story, she also begins to look closely at the other patients. Some her cynicism slackens, and Ann becomes softer and more real to readers. Not only does she fall for Malcolm, but she overcomes many of her fears by providing comfort to the sick; in helping the needy, she begins to find herself.
For me, this part of the book really transcended the fun and fast beginning (which I also loved), and became bigger than what I expected. Ultimately, Ann had to decide between her career and love, and it's a real mystery which she picks. While she felt like a fun friend before, I actually began to care about her character on a higher level when she's volunteering at the hospital and discovering herself.
SOME NERVE is light-hearted and a fun ride, but deals with some issues that set it apart from other similar reads. All in all, I loved it, and will definitely be recommending it to friends-- 4 1/2 stars! show less
Pre-school teacher Nancy Stern is in a rut, spending her days with four-year-olds and her Saturday nights with a good book. Then another woman with the same name moves into her Manhattan apartment building...a Nancy Stern who lives in the penthouse...A Nancy Stern who's blond and leggy and has a stable of boyfriends...a Nancy Stern who interviews celebrities for glossy magazines. Now Nursery School Nancy is deluged with mail and phone calls and deliveries of flowers - all meant for the show more Glamorous Nancy. It's all too much to bear - until a man calls one night, intending to ask the other Nancy on a blind date. What follows is a raucous and romantic tale involving mix-ups, mistaken identity, and murder... show less
I really enjoyed this. As with almost every book I read lately - did they pass a law or something? - this one is told from alternating perspectives.
Part 1 is devoted to Amy. She tells the story of how Tara, her former best friend, stole Amy's rich and successful fianc̩ and married him instead. This, unsurprisingly, results in the end of the friendship. Amy spends years in therapy trying to get over this double betrayal by Tara and Stuart.
The former friends run into each other four years show more later on the streets of Manhattan. Tara, looking beautiful, raves about her wonderful marriage to Stuart and their fabulous house in Long Island. She asks Amy condescendingly how she is doing and Amy invents a great fianc̩ of her own. They part company.
In a ridiculous coincidence, it turns out that Tara has written a lifestyle book called "Simply Beautiful" which has been purchased by L&T, the publishing house Amy works for. Guess who has to manage the publicity for the book? Amy. It is really a silly setup; but once you stop rolling your eyes about it, kind of fun.
Tara relentlessly presses Amy for more details about her fianc̩, and instead of 'fessing up, Amy schemes to come up with one. She quickly goes through various candidates among her male acquaintances, trying and failing to find someone remotely impressive. To her surprise she convinces L&T's star author Tony Stiles, to play along with her charade. Tony happens to be the favorite author of Tara and Stuart, and he agrees for reasons of his own to pose as Amy's besotted lover during various outings with the other couple.
By the time the focus switched perspective in Part 2, I thought Amy was a complete nitwit; so even though she was the villain of the piece up to this point, I was very sympathetic to Tara's point of view. Especially as we learn that Tara has not been completely honest about her "Simply Beautiful" life with Stuart.
The two women unravel each other's secrets, work through their past hurts, and ultimately join forces to solve a mystery and rediscover their friendship. It's all very unbelievable but fun. show less
Part 1 is devoted to Amy. She tells the story of how Tara, her former best friend, stole Amy's rich and successful fianc̩ and married him instead. This, unsurprisingly, results in the end of the friendship. Amy spends years in therapy trying to get over this double betrayal by Tara and Stuart.
The former friends run into each other four years show more later on the streets of Manhattan. Tara, looking beautiful, raves about her wonderful marriage to Stuart and their fabulous house in Long Island. She asks Amy condescendingly how she is doing and Amy invents a great fianc̩ of her own. They part company.
In a ridiculous coincidence, it turns out that Tara has written a lifestyle book called "Simply Beautiful" which has been purchased by L&T, the publishing house Amy works for. Guess who has to manage the publicity for the book? Amy. It is really a silly setup; but once you stop rolling your eyes about it, kind of fun.
Tara relentlessly presses Amy for more details about her fianc̩, and instead of 'fessing up, Amy schemes to come up with one. She quickly goes through various candidates among her male acquaintances, trying and failing to find someone remotely impressive. To her surprise she convinces L&T's star author Tony Stiles, to play along with her charade. Tony happens to be the favorite author of Tara and Stuart, and he agrees for reasons of his own to pose as Amy's besotted lover during various outings with the other couple.
By the time the focus switched perspective in Part 2, I thought Amy was a complete nitwit; so even though she was the villain of the piece up to this point, I was very sympathetic to Tara's point of view. Especially as we learn that Tara has not been completely honest about her "Simply Beautiful" life with Stuart.
The two women unravel each other's secrets, work through their past hurts, and ultimately join forces to solve a mystery and rediscover their friendship. It's all very unbelievable but fun. show less
This book grabbed my attention and never let go. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it. Every married woman has thought that the "magic" has gone out of their marriage at some time or other. I doubt many of us have gone to the extremes that these women do. Of course, that is what makes this book so delightful. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author.
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 28
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 1,989
- Popularity
- #12,931
- Rating
- 3.3
- Reviews
- 25
- ISBNs
- 144
- Languages
- 7
- Favorited
- 2
