An Ex to Grind

Melanie Banks is seeing red and his name is Dan Swain-her ex husband. Melanie and Dan were married for about a decade before a injury on the football field (he was in the NFL) sidlined not just Dan, but Mel as well as their marriage. Because Mel was the primary breadwinner she is forced to pay Dan allimony and she does not like it. It does not help that Dan is spending the money on expensive things that he does not really need just to make her mad. Then Mel comes up with a plan with the help of her friend. There is a clause in the divorce decree that says that if Dan lives with a woman for 90 sustansive consective days he forfits the allimoney. The plan that Mel and her friend come up with involves setting up Dan with a women so that he forfits the allimoney. After a few bad dates Dan meets Leah and they begin to cohabitate shortly afterward. At first Mel is thrilled that her plan works, but then she notices that Dan is starting to chance back into the Dan that she fell in love with. She is guilty about falling back in love with her ex as well as pulling the wool over his eyes-but she trys to do it. Does Mel get to have her cake and eat it too? Read An Ex to Grind

I had to put in my 2 cents here as all the reviews seem very negative. I greatly enjoyed this book. Sure, Melanie is a little unlikable in the beginning, but she becomes much more likeable by the end. The ending is not at all predictable and Heller keeps the plot rolling along with her usual wit. It could have been a bit funnier, I suppose, but I thought it was quite good. If you're a fan of Ms. Heller's it's a must buy/read.

After a whirlwind courtship, college sweethearts Melanie Banks and Dan Swain settled into a life of luxury, as he gained a coveted spot on the NY Giants football team, and put her through graduate school, wjole his famed helped her secure a clientele that opened doors in the financial world. Fast forward 13 years: Dan is unemployed due to a career ending knee injury, and massive depression. Melanie is now the primary breadwinner, and finally declares that she's had enough of his moping around, and files for divorce. In the settlement, he gets the fancy apartment, they share custody of the dog, and he gets a huge alimony settlement, much to Mel's disgust. Due to a co-habitation codicil in their divorce agreement, she decides to hire a matchmaker to provide the perfect woman for him, so that he'll break that cohabitation rule, thus relinquishing his alimony. What she doesn't count on is his finding Leah - the perfect woman, who brings about all kinds of positive changes in Dan, including his new quest to become a college football coach. Suddenly Mel is finding herself torn between the husband she used to love, and the hunky artist across the hall. Of course, if either of them found out about her plot... it could be the end of both relationships. The story had a lot of promise - it's really hard to actually like Mel. She's so conniving, and never really saw that her current fortune had a lot to do with Dan's early support. Despite that, Heller's crisp dialogue and witty banter keep the story from becoming mundane. I was pretty disappointed with the ending - I hate ambiguous endings when you've invested so much time in a book.

This is my first Jane Heller novel. I enjoyed it quite a bit, so much so that I'll be looking up her other titles. The pacing was fast, but not at the expense of the dialogue which was snappy. I also enjoyed the references to Buster the pug - he was every bit a "main" character as the rest of them. Mel learns a lesson in the end, but not at the expense of her personality, unlike some stories where the reader ends up with a totally different, revised, "bettered" main character at the end. I was disappointed when I came to the last page!

In Manhattan financial planner Melanie Banks and football hero Dan Swain seemed like the model married couple until he blew out his knee ending his sports career. Dan becomes a sponge living off his wife's income, but doing nothing with his life. Disappointed and disgusted with her "bumbo" husband, Melanie divorces Dan, but New York forces her to provide him with alimony and joint custody of Buster the dog. Melanie detests paying this slacker any money so she hires matchmaker Desiree Klein Heart Hunting to find Dan a woman to live with for ninety days, which will end her payments to him. Instead Buster introduces Dan to his veterinarian, they fall in love and he now has a cause to better himself and get past the self pity. However, Machiavellian Melanie sees in the new Dan the old Dan that she loved and married; she wants him back so she revises her plan not caring who is hurt in the process even Evan who offers kibble to Buster as a way to Melanie's heart. Though Melanie rationalizes why she throws ethics out the window, fans will not feel empathy towards the wicked witch of the east. On the other hand, the transformation of Dan from superstar to super slacker to superman seems real as Melanie gives no support emotionally when he most needs her while his new love encourages him to get back in the playing field as a coach. Fans of Jane Heller will see her trademark humor underlying the serious plot, but the star Melanie fumbles the ball as she is too callous about others for the audience to care about her. Harriet Klausner