Lucky Stars

I enjoy Jane Heller's cheerful and entertaining style. A young woman moves to Hollywood to pursue her acting career and get away from her overbearing but well-meaning mother. A hallmark of the author's style is her main characters have funny personality flaws that constantly get them into ridiculous situations. They are human and easy to identify with. Mother and daughter try iron things out in comical ways that make this book a great read.

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.

Okay, those of you who know me know we're really going into uncharted territory here when I am reading a romantic mystery. My usual formula for evaluating a mystery or suspense novel is explosions X karate battles = Great Book. LUCKY STARS however is a romantic mystery, which is to say it's light on the mystery and heavy on the romance and life situations, though the touch on those topics is actually pretty light, too.It's what I call a poolside (as opposed to beach) book. I have a friend who has a closetful of books like this, by authors of whom I've never heard; my friend has friends who have a closetful of these books as well and they trade them around and around. There's a heck of a fan base here and, while the writers who mine that base aren't exactly as well known as the Parkers and the Burkes and the Grishams, they have their serious fans. And after reading LUCKY STARS by Jane Heller, I can see why.This isn't deep or tricky stuff. The heroine of the piece, Stacey Reiser, moves from Cleveland to Hollywood, seeking fame and hopefully fortune as an actress. It is not incidental that, in the process, she also leaves her mother Helen behind. Helen, however, decides to move to Hollywood to look after Stacey. Her meddlesome ways would be bad enough all by themselves. To make matters worse, though, Helen suddenly finds herself to be an overnight Hollywood sensation, with all of the trappings that go along with it, such as fame, fortune and romance --- all of the things that Stacey has been working for but that continue to elude her. Suddenly, their roles are reversed and, when Helen's boyfriend, who seems to be the perfect catch, arouses Stacey's suspicions, it's Helen who resents the meddling. Stacey's suspicions are well placed of course and it's subtly obvious she is right. Neither the reader nor Stacey quite knows why, however, but finding out is part of the fun of LUCKY STARS. Along the way Stacey finds true love and, while she doesn't get everything she wants, she gets what she wants the most.Escapist? Sure, but what fiction isn't? It's not Raymond Chandler, but not everyone wants, or needs, Chandler. Heller is quite good at what she does. She makes you care about what happens to her characters --- even Helen --- and LUCKY STARS moves along quite quickly and quite nicely. I've already told my friend to make more room, as she'll want to add LUCKY STARS to her collection. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Jane Heller has a nack for always keeping her books new and fresh.Stacy Rieser is a budding star and she is trying so hard to make it in Hollywood. She goes on some auditions and lands a really great part in a movie that a famous movie critic pans. He makes mention of her part and how terrible she was in the movie. While she is realing in her self pity - her mother who is a very possive and intrudes on all aspects of Stacy's life, moves from the midwest to Hollywood. She is a constant complainer, and whiner and she is making tuna for her daughter and she finds a bone. She complains to the company who invites her to the plant to look over the factory and she makes such a scene that they LOVE her and NEED her for their new advertising compaign. Stacy is now going crazy.Stacy gets a job in a retail shop and she inadvertently meets the critic who gives her a rotten write up. She lets him know that she is annoyed and he feels bad that he eventually invites her out to dinner.The Mother, Helen, is now a HUGE star ( just like the "wheres the beef lady) and she meets a man who wants to marry her. Stacy is now over protective of her mother and goes out to prove that the mother's boyfriend is a murderer. I liked the book alot, I would recommend this book to anyone.Ellen

She loves her mother but budding actress Stacey Reiser really wishes that she would get a life. Stacy is tired of her mother's frequent phone calls, unsolicited advice and suggestions on how to hold on to a man. Even though there is not a man in her life at present, she is getting roles in movies and televisions shows instead of commercials. When Helen Reiser sells her home in Cleveland and moves close to her daughter in L.A. Stacey goes into shock.Stacey becomes persona no grata in movieland when Jack Rawlings of Good Morning Hollywood trashes her part in a movie. Through a quirky set of circumstances Helen becomes the star in a series of tuna fish commercials, which leads to her to becoming a Hollywood icon. Stacey is happy for her mother even though she has to take a sales job to pay the bills. She becomes very concerned when her mother falls for a man with a shady reputation. Stacey, with the help of Jack (the pair are now an item), try to dig up some evidence against him because her mother won't have her daughter dissing her boyfriend.LUCKY STARS is a first class dramatic comedy starring two strong-willed women who are experiencing role reversal. Readers will find themselves chuckling out loud at some of the conversations these two women exchange. The romance between the actress and the film critic adds another layer of complexity to the plot, as does Stacey's antipathy of her mother's beau. Jane Heller is a talented writer whose latest work crosses genre lines with this lush witty melodrama.Harriet Klausner