A review by kleedc73
The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax

4.0

This is the first book I've read by this author. It centers on 4 women authors who met at the beginning of their careers and act as a support and critique network for each other as their careers progress. One of them, Kendall Aims, is in personal and professional crisis and she retires to her mountaintop home to attempt to write a book that will resurrect her career. When she is stuck, her three friends swoop and in and they secretly collaborate on a book that incorporates real details of all four of their lives. When the book becomes an unintentional bestseller, the women, their lives and their friendships are subject to intense scrutiny and criticism, testing all of them in ways they did not expect. The process of writing the book also reveals the publishing process and some of its ugly underbelly. This was cleverly done, sort of a book-within-a-book-within-a-book. The characters were different and compelling, particularly Faye and Tanya, and the "insider's view" of the publishing world was interesting. I didn't want to put this book down until I found out what happened.