“Readers looking for a light beach read will enjoy the engaging writing and compelling plot.”—Library Journal“A great romp of a read”—Candace Bushnell, New York Times bestselling author of SEX AND THE CITYBright lights, big trouble… big trouble…
Dana Barry has nothing against rules. She just knows they’re meant to be bent. So it’s no wonder the single, twentysomething, aspiring actress loses her day job. Now her life is a mess… until she hears the Shopping Channel is auditioning. Relying on her knack for knowing what makes people tick, she lands a gig on air. But before she can say office politics, Dana is caught in the biggest drama of her life. The star host—a diva who terrorized the entire staff—is found dead. Dana knows the prime suspect is innocent.
The heat is on, and Dana thinks she’s ready for it…until she tangles with the tall, dark and smoldering detective in charge. It’s more fuel than she needs right now as she’s trying to launch her career. But Dana’s never been afraid to take chances…even when a single spark could ignite everything.
more
Ellen Meister, author of The Other Life and four other books, was watching a shopping channel and “obsessing on the hosts.” To her the female hosts seemed to be “perfect women . . . pristine in the way they dress, they way they hold themselves, they way they speak, their love of fashion.” She thought it would be interesting to place a character in that job who is just the opposite. From there, she was inspired to have the star host — a real diva — murdered, and the new host be the one who has to solve the murder. Although not a mystery writer, Meister felt the magic in the story would be found in crafting characters who all harbor secrets.
Dana Barry is “self-sabotaging.” She has had some success as an actress, but as the story opens, she has just been fired from her job in a retail store for being sarcastic with a teen-age customer who returned with his mother to complain about Dana’s commentary. She has to find employment quickly or she will run out of funds to pay the rent on her New York City apartment. Ironically, her father is a respected and wealthy physician who would be happy to pay off her student loans for her, but only after she achieves success on her own. Dana’s stylish sister, Chelsea, is comfortably married, raising a young son, and a compulsive shopper who is a bit judgmental about Dana’s life choices. Their humorous banter rings true, in no small measure because Meister patterned it after her own two daughters who are “madly in love” but “very sarcastic” with each other.
Dana has just clinched her on-air tryout but not yet signed a contract to serve as the Shopping Channel’s new on-air host when Lorenzo, the sound technician, gives her a tour of the studio. As they savor the New York skyline from the roof of the building, they hear a gunshot. They run back into the office and find Kitty slumped over her desk, dead. Ari Marks, an intensely attractive homicide detective arrives on scene and begins questioning everyone. Dana is immediately protective of Lorenzo, even though she has literally just met him.
Following Kitty’s death, her obsessively dedicated Finnish assistant is reassigned to Dana. Like a newly adopted puppy, Ollie clings to Dana but reveals details about Kitty’s life that compel Dana to further her amateur sleuthing in her quest to find Kitty’s murderer.
As Dana’s career as a host takes off, her confidence increases. Because of her attention to detail, she is really good at her job and she finds that she enjoys the work. The hours she spends on air selling handbags, dresses, and jewelry fly by, and even though it may not be as satisfying as appearing in a play, she does not want to lose her new position and the security it provides. That makes her continued willingness to take risks seemingly incongruous — and she takes a lot of risks, both in her personal life and because of her dogged determination to solve the crime. But old habits are hard to break and Dana does have a propensity to live on the edge.
One of the highlights of the book is Dana’s relationship with her long-time friend, Megan Silvestri, a fellow actor who just one month earlier decided to give up on her own dream. But she offered to become Dana’s manager. Megan believes in Dana’s talent and devotes herself to ensuring that Dana succeeds, sometimes in spite of herself as well as Megan’s best efforts. It is Megan who insists that Dana audition for the Shopping Channel and rushes to her side when things are not going smoothly. And she stands by Dana, even when Dana proves herself to be unworthy of such a stalwart friend. In other words, their relationship is exactly like real friendships between women who fundamentally respect and truly care for each other. Readers will find themselves relating to the bond between Dana and Megan, and cheering for their friendship to survive.
Meister keeps the book’s action moving at a steady pace as Dana’s attempt to manage her attraction to one of the two desirable men in her life leads to hilariously disastrous results. Dana is tenacious and determined to remain true to her authentic self. Meister has created a protagonist who is endearing, relatable, and, at times, maddening. Despite her difficult relationships with her parents, especially her father, her past failures, and her often reckless behavior, Dana retains a strong self-concept that she will not surrender. Readers will find themselves cheering her on as she uncovers clues to the killer’s identity, withstands threats to her own survival at the Shopping Channel, and, despite many obstacles, finds love.
Love Sold Separately offers readers a peek into the world of home shopping and the stressors Dana encounters. Competition for air time, pressure to meet sales goals, and workplace intrigue are all examined. The depiction of the workplace is credible and believable because Meister researched how home shopping networks operate, and was even granted an eye-opening tour of QVC’s facilities.
With Meister’s eclectic cast of entertaining and surprisingly complex characters, Love Sold Separately doesn’t fit neatly into a particular niche. At its core, the story features the mystery surrounding Kitty’s demise, but Meister injects the tale with snappy, believable, and frequently funny dialogue, as well as romance. And it all revolves around the somewhat edgy, multi-layered, and adorably lovable Dana. Love Sold Separately is a cleverly plotted, entertaining escape, complete with plot twists and a shocking ending that readers will never be able to guess. Best of all, Meister has more installments planned.
Thanks to NetGalley for and Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
Love Sold Separately had me convinced it was a romance, perhaps a romantic comedy. Meister, however, has written this as a mystery with a thread of romance. Which is great. I love a good mystery. And this book delivers that.
Meet Dana Barry. An actor who works retail. Until she loses her job. When her best friend takes over as her manager, Dana finds herself at an open call for the Shopping Channel. Which she nails, and lands the coveted host role, with a bit of a push from the resident Shining Star who insists they hire “that one”.
When the Shining Star ends up dead at her desk, it looks like a murder staged to look like a suicide. Meister has a talent for weaving the multi-faceted threads into a cohesive tapestry of narrative. Her characters are extremely sympathetic and captivated my interest, however, I question the fickle light in which she seems determined to show her main character. Dana comes off as a bit childish in holding on to her grudges from childhood. There were many parts where I questioned her actions. And the sudden switch of romantic interest from her co-worker Lorenzo to the detective Ari was simply too abrupt.
Still, Meister tells an engaging story that pulls you forward to its conclusion. It was a very good read overall!
[Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for a copy of this book. I was not required to write a review, the opinions herein are entirely my own.]
Shop ‘Til You Drop in this Arresting Romance
I had the great joy of reading an early draft of LOVE SOLD SEPARATELY and from the first chapters I knew Ellen Meister was going to hit this one out of the park. And she did. In this page turning whodunnit, readers will fall in love with Dana Barry, who is both a witting charm and an unwitting sleuth. After being fired from yet another dead-end job, she unexpectedly lands a hosting job on the Shopping Channel on the very day it becomes a dead-end for their star seller, Kitty Todd. The diva’s blood-stained body is found slumped on her desk and to Dana’s surprise few people seem to care. But when a handsome detective is assigned to the case suddenly Dana cares a lot and though he may be great at crime solving, he is completely unarmed by her dead-on hunches. Question is, does he think of her as a witness or a suspect?
Prepare to buckle up on this roller coaster ride of a story that will keep you laughing, guessing and wishing for more as it is rare that a murder mystery turns into a great romance in such an arresting way.
This book surprised me. I thought it was going to be a cheesy romance novel but it ended up being a fun cozy mystery. I’m not going to go into details about what the book is about as that is pretty much covered in the synopsis. It was funny and witty with not a whole lot of romance but that was okay. It worked here and the mystery of who killed The Shopping Channel’s star host was very entertaining with a few surprising twists. I liked the main protagonist in the book, Dana Barry, what a fun character, as well as the other characters. Most of them were very likable. If this were turned into a series, I would definitely read them.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.
I loved this story mystery I had no idea who the killer was can’t wait to read more books by this author
I freely admit…I #dnf this; I didn’t finish and gave up around the 30% mark. I love a good murder mystery and with some romance thrown in? I’m all over it.
But I couldn’t get passed Dana. I couldn’t connect with her. She felt immature and annoying. Case in point: she got fired from Hot Topic for being a mean girl to a customer. Who does that?? I thought it would improve once the story evolved and she got the home shopping network gig, but she still made stupid decisions. She jeopardizes her contract with the new job purely to be this savior to her theatre group, regardless of the fact that she could be sued and it’s not like she has a savings account.
Ugh. I just can’t handle that a 29 year old woman acts so immature and rebellious FOR NO REASON.
Sorry. Hard pass.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of Love Sold Separately!
I really loved this book. It was like a cross between a romance and cozy mystery with out the baking and pet detectives.
Dana and Ari are my favorite couple that I’ve read about. The playing hard to get even if it didn’t say that’s what they were doing. You can tell Ari was playing it. The murder/suicide twist was shocking and well.. twisted.
If you’ve ever seen the movie sucker punch with Emily Browning, where a young girl copes by retreating to an alternative reality when she gets on stage to dance. That how I envisioned Dana as soon as she stepped on set. That seems like a weird comparison but I loved the movie and I love this book so it makes since to me.