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The Accidental Bestseller Kindle Edition

by Wendy Wax (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 674 ratings
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From the USA Today bestselling author of While We Were Watching Downton Abbey...  
Once upon a time four aspiring authors met at their very first writers' conference. Ten years later they're still friends, survivors of the ultra-competitive New York publishing world. Mallory St. James is a workaholic whose bestsellers support a lavish lifestyle. Tanya Mason is a single mother juggling two jobs, two kids, and too many deadlines. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and the author of inspirational romances: no one would ever guess her explosive secret. Kendall Aims's once-promising career is on the skids-and so is her marriage. Her sales are dismal, her new editor detests her work-and her husband is cheating. Barely able to think, let alone meet her final 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 trial alone. Together they collaborate on a novel 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...as these four best friends suddenly realize how little they've truly known each other.
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  1. Print length
    434 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Berkley
  5. Publication date
    May 5, 2009
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. File size
    774 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wax sheds insight on the writer/reader relationship and nurtures this invisible bond throughout. Sure to appeal to fans of women's fiction and aspiring writers." ---Library Journal

About the Author

Khristine Hvam is a professional voice artist whose work includes audiobooks, video games, and voice-overs, including as Professor Juniper in the Pokemon television series.

Wendy Wax is the USA Today bestselling author whose contemporary women's fiction includes the highly praised Ten Beach Road, Ocean Beach, The House on Mermaid Point, While We Were Watching Downton Abbey, Magnolia Wednesdays, and The Accidental Bestseller. A former broadcaster, she lives in the Atlanta area with her family.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0028PHCAG
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley; Original edition (May 5, 2009)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 5, 2009
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 774 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 434 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0425227677
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 674 ratings

About the author

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Wendy Wax

Wendy Wax

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USA Today bestselling author Wendy Wax is heralded for her contemporary women's fiction exploring friendship, loyalty, self-discovery and the seemingly insurmountable challenges life sometimes presents.

Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, Wendy grew up on St. Pete Beach within spitting distance of the Gulf of Mexico. Appropriately enough, Wendy attended Sunshine Elementary School where recess and art class sometimes took place on the beach, and the highlight of every school year was the annual fish broil. Not surprisingly, some of her favorite Florida beaches were destined to become settings for her bestselling fiction, including her "Ten Beach Road" novels, TEN BEACH ROAD, OCEAN BEACH, THE HOUSE ON MERMAID POINT, SUNSHINE BEACH, ONE GOOD THING, and BEST BEACH EVER.

Wendy's writing has been highly praised. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says she "writes with breezy wit and keen insight into family relations." Her books have been featured in national publications such as USA Today, Ladies Home Journal and Woman's World, and at online book sites such as On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever, Luxury Reading, Book Reporter, Night Owl Reviews and Fresh Fiction.

Wendy loves to hear from her readers! You can reach her at wendy@authorwendywax.com.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
674 global ratings
A must read for writers!
5 Stars
A must read for writers!
I have absolutely enjoyed every Wendy Wax book, I've ever read! And this is no exception!! As a writer and author, this book had my attention right away. It was a fascinating look at the publishing industry through the eyes of other writers. Even though it is fiction, the bones are all there. I loved seeing how they responded when things did not go according to their dreams and was definitely connected with how they feel about so many things concerning publishing. Thank you Wendy Wax for writing this fun and exceptional book!
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Top reviews from the United States

tomtom915
5.0 out of 5 stars Great summer read !!!
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2023
Verified Purchase
A very good and interesting book. Will hold your interest!!!
One person found this helpful
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DesertBlossom
4.0 out of 5 stars Really drew me in...
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2013
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The whole idea of seeing the "secret" world of what it is really like to be a published author really drew me in. I love that we got to see the whole gamut--from a newbie published author to the "grande dame" of romance authors, each level was represented in one character in this book, where four friends who have formed a writer's group are all struggling with their own issues, and get together to help a friend in need, whose world is falling apart at the same time as her career. Her whole life seems to be riding on the success of her new book.

Up to that point, the book is fabulous! It slows down a little bit when they get to the part where all the friends are writing, and then after that, the story was a bit of a let-down. If the last third of the book was as fun and exciting as the first part, I'd have given it five stars. But it just kind of fizzled out after that.

Still, it would make a fun beach read, and I'd recommend it.

Oh, but one comment I have to make...that cover is horrible! I thought for sure it was a self-published book, based on that cover. How ironic that at one point, the main character is horrified at how bad and generic of a cover the publisher has planned for her next book--but it sounded a heck of a lot better than Wax's own cover. What does a fuzzy picture of someone reading at the beach have to do with a gaggle of professional authors being drawn into a "bestseller scandal"? Ugh. Poor author! Someone just bought her a fifty-nine cent piece of stock art and stuck some generic fonts on them!

This was a good book with a great premise, and it deserved a better cover than that.
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C J. M.
5.0 out of 5 stars about writers, publishers, and the surprises fate can bring
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2021
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I’m a professional writer and the friendship of these women through writers’ block, struggles with hostile editors, sudden fame, sudden wealth and the changes that makes in these women’s strong friendship, their marriages, even their children feel authentic. I haven’t achieved wealth with my novels — few writers can give up their day job — but my first novel sold out as a hardcover (doesn’t happen with first novels much) and was nominated for best first novel award of the Western Writers Association. Years after it was published, I still feel pleasure and pride in it. This gave me a small taste, SMALL TASTE, of what these four friends experienced. This book got 5 stars because of the powerful friendship it depicts so well and the feels-authentic depiction of the book publishing industry.
One person found this helpful
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Janna
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2021
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I absolutely loved this book! I love the inside look at the inside world of being an author, being in the publishing world, and the friendships formed within these worlds. I love the unique way this was written and I was so pulled into their world. An amazing book!!
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Rhonda Stowe
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing read!
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2021
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I have 3 best girlfriends who would do anything for each other, so I immediately connected to the characters in this novel. I loved every minute of this book! The character development was captivating and the ending was perfect. I can't wait to read more books by Wendy Wax!
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S. Warfield
4.0 out of 5 stars Friends, honesty and writing a novel
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2013
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This is a book that I got caught up in from the first page and read in two sittings. It has been on my Kindle for quite a while and I just got around to reading it, but I've read a couple of Wendy Wax's other books, and they were nowhere near as memorable as this one, and I'll remember the characters of Kendall, Tanya, Mallory and Faye for a long time

"The Accidental Bestseller" follows four female writers who met at a writers' conference ten years before the beginning of the book. All were women who aspired to be better than just good writers and one was a NYT Bestseller List author and put her writing before everything else. One wrote romance novels, another wrote inspirational books and Kendall, whose sales were way down, wrote fiction. Her none-too-pleasant editor wanted one more book from Kendall and then her contract was over. Kendall was devastated. While she tried to come up with her last book for the December 1st deadline, Kendall found out that her husband had found a younger woman and wanted a divorce. They had two children in college and Kendall had no idea how and when to break the news to them. She decided to retreat to her mountain cabin in order to get some peace and quiet which she hoped would help her to relax and get started on her book. It didn't happen. Instead of writing, she did repairs around the house. Kendall was uninspired when it came to starting her novel and knew that she needed her three writer friends now more than she had ever needed them before.

This is first a book about the bonds of friendship among women. These four characters were always in touch with each other, if not every day, then at least several days a week. Kendall invited them to her cabin to give her a push and a shove to get started on the book. Still she procrastinated and came up with an empty sheet of paper after days, and all she had written was "Chapter One" and "Page One."

"The Accidental Bestseller" is also about honesty among friends and also honesty with oneself. While dishonesty is bad enough in and of itself, it is even worse when it backfires. That's when everyone sees what the better course would have been.

The publishing industry takes a hit in this book, but I am not sure how much of the negative, dog-eat-dog world that the book describes is accurate. Kendall's editor happened to be a particularly nasty woman with a chip on her shoulder who was always angry and vindictive.

This is a well-written book that has interesting characters that the reader gets to know and follow through a course of joys and hard times. I found it hard to put down and for me, it was a page-turner.

Highly recommended.
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