Many of us have a nemesis; a person that makes our lives just miserable whenever we run into them. My cousin Aaron’s nemesis is a post office lady who is rude to him for no reason and often ruins his day. My friend Jennifer has a nemesis at work, who is constantly trying to steal her job and make her look bad. Best Enemies’ Amy Sherman has it much, much worse – her nemesis is her former best friend, Tara Messer, a woman she grew up with, a woman she trusted.

For most women, there has always been that “friend” about whom we have secretly been jealous and felt competitive toward, and that’s what makes this novel so true to nature. The reader can’t help but feel for and completely understand the main character, Amy. Not only has she had to play second fiddle to her friend, the beautiful Tara, her entire childhood, but the woman also ends up stealing Amy’s husband. She gave Tara the duty of being her bridesmaid because she had thought that they had a bond of sorts. Yet, Tara obviously never cared for Amy. When Amy comes back early from a dentist appointment two weeks before her wedding, she finds her fiancé, Stuart, and Amy in the throes of passion. Even worse, Tara and Stuart end up getting married.

After four long years of therapy Amy’s gotten rid of the past and built a great career as publicity director for a book publisher. She thinks her anger toward Tara an Stuart is gone as well, but then she runs into her former best friend on the street and must listen to Tara talk about her wonderful life. Amy cannot let Tara feel sorry for her and makes up a story about being in a great relationship. It doesn’t matter that she lied; after all, she will never see Tara again.

Of course she does see Tara again. Tara can’t possibly make Amy’s life any worse, and yet she does. Tara has sold a book and Amy must publicize it or lose her job. Not only will she have to see Tara constantly and hear about her amazing life and new amazing career as a writer, but she also has to suck up to and work for the woman who betrayed her. As if that isn’t bad enough, Tara is constantly asking to meet Amy’s supposed fiancé. Amy can not admit to Tara that she lied about having a man and so she does what any self-respecting woman would do – she hunts for a man to pose as her fiancé.

Tony Stiles is not exactly Amy’s idea of the perfect man. In fact, they can barely stand each other. Amy worked on publicity for the author previously and finds him annoyng and difficult. Yet, when she finds out that he is one of Tara and Stuart’s favorite authors, she knows that she has to get his agreement to pose as her fiancé. First, though, she has to get on talking terms with Tony.

As we come to eventually find out, things are not exactly what Amy seems to think they are. For one, Tony isn’t such a bad guy and she actually finds herself becoming attracted to the man and him to her. And when Tara finally tells Amy the truth about her life, will Amy be able to forgive and forget? Especially when it comes down to Tara’s life and Amy’s career?

There is much familiarity in Best Enemies. The premise is nothing new nor is the plot or the characters anything special. Even though we completely understand Amy’s anger toward her supposed friend, her constant whining and obsessive desire to get back at Tara gets old quick, causing the plot to drag in the middle. The humor is fun for a while, but also eventually gets lost in Amy’s crazy need to prove she has a life. In the end, for two people who have disliked each other for so long, the book seems to wrap up a bit too neatly. But just when we think we can’t take any more of Amy’s complaining and we grow a bit bored with the premise, Heller does something new and completely unexpected. She makes us understand Tara’s side of the story.

Indeed, the way that Heller changes from Amy’s point of view to Tara’s is what saves this story. It is incredibly interesting and amusing to hear this rich, conceited woman’s take the events. In fact, I wish there had been less of Amy and more of Tara. Although nothing can really justify Tara sleeping with Stuart, when we hear her side of the story we end up softening toward the woman. The fact that Heller can take a woman who we can’t stand, a woman we love to hate at the beginning of the story and then help us to understand her so that we actually want to hear from her, is an amazing feat until itself. It is the one thing that saves this book from becoming just like every other Chick Lit book out there. The book has a plot that drags, characters that might eventually annoy and yet it works for one reason – Heller’s unique look at two sides of a story.