SOME NERVE

Hollywood celebrity journalist loses her job but finds herself when she returns to her hometown and becomes a hospital volunteer.

After being accused by her editor of lacking the killer instinct necessary to land a story, Famous magazine writer Ann Roth pulls out all the stops to land the ultimate “get”: an interview with talented but surly A-list actor Malcolm Goddard. Her plan backfires when Malcolm, who despises the press, finally agrees to the interview on the condition that phobic Ann conduct it while riding with him in his private plane, which he will pilot. Unable to do the Q&A, she is promptly fired. Returning to Middletown, Mo., Ann intends to lie low while plotting her way back to Hollywood. Then a chance meeting with a high-school classmate reveals that Malcolm is scheduled for heart treatment under an assumed name in, of all places, her local hospital. To get another shot at the actor she blames for wrecking her career, Ann becomes a candy-striper. She gives out magazines, befriends her sick charges and slowly starts to realize that, hey, it feels good to help people! She also gets close to Malcolm, who has no idea who she is. She discovers that the handsome movie star with the Russell Crowe–sized chip on his shoulder is, deep down, a nice guy with a few trust issues. Malcolm, for his part, believes he has met a sweet, unaffected Midwestern girl who will love him for himself. It’s a given that they fall for each other, leaving Ann to decide between her big story and true romance. The far-trickier issue in Heller’s latest Cinderella story (An Ex to Grind, 2005, etc.) is how on earth Ann will reveal her deception to the man she cares about before he finds out on his own. Flawed heroines are a mainstay of this genre, but clueless Ann is often more annoying than endearing.

A breezy, if implausible, love story.