Love Sold Separately by Ellen Meister is a quick, breezy read with a hot mess heroine you can't help rooting for. When struggling NYC actress Dana Barry finally gets her big break, on The Shopping Channel of all places, the last thing she expects is to be dragged into a murder investigation. Unfortunately, the network's star host has been murdered and the prime suspect is her only friend and love interest at the network. Instead of focusing on her budding career, Dana tries to uncover the murderer and finds herself falling for the detective. What's an actress turned The Shopping Channel co-host turned sleuth to do?

Ellen Meister has a breezy writing style that makes Love Sold Separately a quick read. Recommended for fans of comedic women's fiction with romantic subplots.

Thank you NetGalley, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada), and Ellen Meister for the opportunity to read a digital ARC of Love Sold Separately.

2.5-stars, rounded up to 3, for the sake of the author (and because 2 stars is misconstrued as being 'bad' rather than 'okay').
Love Sold Separately is a cute enough story, which will indeed appeal to a large demographic, probably more in the 16-25 age range, or else to the QVC-obsessed cadre of women. There wasn't really anything about this that I actively disliked, but there wasn't much to draw me in as far as beautiful turns of phrase, a unique tone or point of view, or truly compelling plot points. This is sort of like a Network TV show, versus a premium cable channel show-- think Veronica Mars as opposed to Homeland. There is a lack of maturity to the writing and the central character here that isn't exactly what I look for in fiction, but that doesn't mean it won't land with everyone.
Most of the drama is quite soapy, and Dana's interest in solving the murder is, if a bit strange, motivated by a puppy-love sort of crush she develops almost immediately for 'bad boy' sound engineer Lorenzo. In keeping with this high school mentality and overall style, the protagonist continues making immature decisions, such as overlooking the 'good guy', rebelling unnecessarily against her parents, and putting her job security at risk by continuing to act in a community theatre play, which is expressly forbidden in her contract. Nevertheless, it's all in good fun, until the final 'twist' regarding the murder, which actually did bother me quite a bit as it seemed like a cop out. All of the build up, only to discover it was for naught.

Many thanks to Net Galley for sending this to me. I liked the plot line and the main character, however, I just couldn’t get connected with the love interest. They switched back and forth and I wasn’t able to get to know them at all. The twists were good but I wasn’t attached to the characters enough to care. The writing was great, I just wish I could connect to the characters. I also wish there was more love and date scenes because when I sign up for a romance, that’s what I expect.

This is the first book that I have read by this author, so I wasn't too sure if I'd enjoy reading it. But I did. This was a fun read about Dana and a cast of characters. Not really a cozy mystery, but it did have elements of it. I read more as a murder mystery/romance. I hope this is a series, because I need yo know what happens between Dana and Ari.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Where to start...Dana is an out of work actor that lands a job working for the Shopping Channel. Even before she's officially hired, the death of the network's biggest star gets her tangled up in a mystery. Who killed Kitty, and why? On top of the mystery, will Dana choose this guy or that guy?

I am going to be honest. I didn't enjoy this book. I found it to be vapid, much like the main character herself. Dana has no regard for others. She does what she wants, when she wants, and doesn't think about repercussions. She's in her 30s, so age isn't an excuse. For instance? The day she does her interview/screen test for the network, she hooks up with a guy she's never met on the roof and smokes a joint....and she hasn't been hired yet! Once she has the job, there is a noncompete clause, meaning she can't take any other acting jobs without permission, so of course the first thing she must do is break it!

Dana is all around problematic. She isn't funny,, or cute, or edgy. She's an overgrown child who wants things HER way. She expects Lorenzo to tell her all his secrets, even though she meets him five seconds into the book, but yet she doesn't share much with him. She lies to her best friend/manager repeatedly, because she knows what she's doing will get her in trouble.

Let's not even get into the fact that she's an actress, not a police officer, yet she spends most of her time trying to figure out who killed Kitty, and why, hounding the actual detective on the case with her discoveries. It's as if she thinks she's the smartest person in every room, and clearly, she isn't.

For all of these reasons, and a few more I didn't get to, this book just wasn't for me. I don't recommend it.

I feel as if I am striking out left and right with NetGalley books. Are my expectations too high? Maybe so but I want to keep things real with my reviews so here it goes:

The writing is great, however, that's about it for me. I wasn't really able to enjoy and love this novel. You would think the book was a romance based on the title alone but that was the case. It's more murder mystery with a bit of love thrown in.

The main character, Dana? I didn't connect with at all. I tried to, but failed time and time again. I was to the point of DNFing multiple times but thought, just finish it. I chugged along, even though this novel was going to be a disappointment. Then I realized how dang long the book is! Which... really, no romance needs to be that long. Not a good one anyway.

I had big hopes for this novel but really... it just wasn't for me. At all.

I very much enjoyed this book. Interesting that it is a mystery, but also successfully includes some romantic plots as well. Best of both worlds! Once again, Ellen Meister does not disappoint.
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is not so bad murder mystery ( when you look at the cover, you’re expecting romance or romantic suspense but mystery and crime investigation parts overshadowed the romantic parts of the book), but in the middle I started to lose my interest and felt like the story lost its direction, turned to the darker sides with so many drug use and sex tapes. But the ending was deliciously entertaining so let’s give three solid Switzerland stars. (Yes, I think I’m gonna move there at the end after reading so many books: which I didn’t love but also I didn’t hate as well.)

Let’s take a quick look to the plot: Struggling young actress Dana is having real hard time, jobless, her life turns into a real mess but then her lucky stars give her a new opportunity, a shopping channel hosting job which could help her start over and focus on her career. But she finds herself trapped in a murder mystery because star host of the channel is dead. And yes, side romance part starts as she meets with the charming detective investigates the murder. So this is promising start but as I mentioned before, the progression is not quiet satisfying for me and Dana is not likeable heroine. She annoyed the hell off me at the most parts of the book.

But the twist that got of my spider senses radars gave me a quite satisfying ending. It was really good and I even thought to give four stars but unfortunately heroine’s irritating characteristics made me stick with solid 3!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin/Mira for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

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. 😝

Very easy book to read. I speed through this book. Kept me very entertained!

I didn’t totally love the plot of the book because I was unsure of what my focus was but the writing was fantastic and I was able to get through this book quickly and with ease which is my favorite kind of read. This is definitely a beach read and I will he recommending it to others.

This story was pretty good!
I was very interested in the mystery. It was a fun twist in what I've been reading lately.

I did not find it particularly realistic, but that doesn't bother me very much. There was also quite a bit of recreational drug use. Casually mentioning that she smoked a joint doesn't bother me, but I felt it was a bit over the top.

The characters were fun and well developed. I enjoyed reading this story. I recommend it for anyone looking for a good way to spend an evening.

The story is well written so far. Even though it’s a love story with a “rich man poor girl” setup, I dont cringe while reading it. I’m hooked instead. There’s something special in it for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

This is a tough one, it's an odd genre of romance mystery...? While Dana is hard to connect with in the beginning, being a pretty unlikable main character, I did find myself invested in the murder mystery.
While this is supposed to be a romance novel also, I find that takes a back seat to case, and solving the mystery.
While this was kind of an awkward read, the synopsis sounds great and I liked it well enough.

This is a fun mystery, made even better with a couple of romantic subplots. I loved the glimpse into the world of home shopping channels. Very appealing main character/amateur sleuth. This will be a great book to recommend to readers who enjoy mysteries with a generous dash of romance and humor.

OK, this book started out ROUGH. In the first half, I seriously contemplated DNFing it at least three times. Dana was super unlikable to me and the plot started super fast. The instantaneous (and I'm talkin' INSTANTANEOUS) romance between Dana and Lorenzo was jarring and unwelcome. Dana just made absolutely awful decisions-- one, to get involved with a coworker on literally HER FIRST DAY ON THE JOB, LIKE SHE WASN'T EVEN ACTUALLY HIRED YET, then to almost immediately after place her new (big break, super important) job on the line to participate in something she knew was in breach of her contract? That was just plain stupid and made me resent her for it.

I ended up skimming most of the descriptive text, and I was still able to get the entire story through mainly dialogue. I'm always a bit hesitant about romances that are longer than 350 pages, and I think this is a good example that justifies my hesitance, because a lot could be cut down. Once I hit about the 60% mark, I decided to just finish the book, and it did get better! I got more interested in the murder case and the one truly redeeming aspect of this book was the relationship between Dana and Ari! I liked them SO much more than Dana and Lorenzo and I thought the ending was good. This definitely won't be very memorable for me, but in the end I'm glad I was able to bump it up to 2 stars!

Love Sold Separately was definitely a fun read, and honestly deserves more like 3.5 stars. Dana Barry lands a new acting job at The Shopping Network - a gig that promises some much-needed exposure and financial stability - and becomes embroiled in a suspected murder almost immediately. She also meets two very different, and very attractive men: the convicted felon sound tech and the detective on the case. Dana is a well-meaning, sometimes lovable and certainly relatable, screwup, with a irreverent sense of humor and a sharp eye.

I must say, the love story really seemed to matter the least of the various threads Meister puts into this book, and I really didn't feel invested in where it went. The murder case was more intriguing than I thought it'd be, with plenty of potential suspects and motives; Meister layers in some surprisingly beautiful writing about insecurity and family relationships; and imagining the behind-the-scenes at a shopping network was really fun. Quick aside: Why do so many people know or care about this third tier shopping network? I also really loved Megan, the sidekick best friend whose path I'd happily dive into further; her scenes and those involving Dana's family often helped to ground a story with some sincerity amidst an absurd plot.

If you're looking for a quick, fun read with a bit of mystery, pick this one up when it's released in August!

I struggled as I began this book, really wanting to like it. And then it got better, a lot better, but still not enough that I could recommend it to Library Reads. It felt choppy especially at the beginning, and I was frustrated with the heroine's use of weed and her ex's prescription. Still, I like reading about actors and they way Meister writes about how Dana got into this mode for her audition and later her job. I liked the mystery, and I didn't guess the outcome though I did become suspicious of several people before their reveals, which is good. The solution was a little unlikely, even given the motives and characters. So a mixed bag of 3.5 stars, but I liked it enough to show that as a 4.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and digital ARC of this book. This is my first time reading anything written by Eleen Meister and I was rather pleased with it. This is a great murder mystery with just the right dash of romance to put a nice little bow around it. I found myself trying to figure out who the "killer" was and I'm always happy when I'm surprised at the end. This was a truly good read and I would recommend it to all my friends If I had to say one think I didn't care too much for was the pill usage and how she would justify using only this "one time" when it actually was a couple of times. But all in all this was a nice good read that makes me want to find other books by Ellen.

While this romantic mystery had a synopsis that hooked me, I feel like it fell flat.

I know that this is one of those books that either you love it or you don’t, and I just didn’t. Here’s hoping for Ellen Meister that I fall into the minority.

Three stars for the premise.

Dana has been unlucky in a lot of things: love, a job, and family. When the opportunity comes for her to audition for the Shopping Channel as one of the hosts, she leaps at the chance to make a name for herself. But when THE host of the Shopping Channel is murdered, she finds herself being pulled deeper and deeper into the mystery. Why does everyone seem to hate the now ex-host? Why is the gorgeous detective constantly trying to blame her equally gorgeous male friend and coworker for murder? And who is the real murderer?

I really enjoyed Love Sold Separately, more than I expected I would. It kept me guessing right up to the end! I actually thought I had figured out the murderer...and then I didn’t. Kudos to the book for keeping me on my toes.

The characters were all fun in the book. I have to say, it really had me guessing which guy Dana would end up with as well. I had my personal choice, and I’m glad Dana went with the guy I hoped she would.

Also, this book really gave us one of the best lines ever: “...he has a nose like the Statue of Liberty.” A perfect description, I’m sure, and one that made me giggle. Is it the size of the nose? Was it a perfectly sculpted nose? Was it green? Okay, I’m being silly now, but really, that was a great line that is surprisingly descriptive.

I definitely recommend this book if you love romcoms and murder mysteries! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book as an eARC.