I loved reading this book. I laughed out loud at times and even shed a tear once. This was love story, a murder mystery and a story of personal growth. I was captured by the main character, Dana, though her family dynamics and love interests were equally absorbing.

This book is so good. I can’t decide if it’s a murder mystery or romantic comedy, it’s the perfect blend of both!

I was really excited to read this one but I could not connect with any of the characters, which in turn made them really hard to root for. I thought the book was written and nicely paced but I just couldn't get into an ultimately stopped reading at about halfway.

This book was interesting. The murder mystery kept me interested but that’s about it. The characters were flat for me. I couldn’t connect and felt like she kept falling for people like a high schooler who doesn’t know what she wants in a relationship. The romance didn’t have the steam factor that I’m used to and love. I probably won’t read another book by this author but I appreciate being able to read this one.

Love sold separately

3.5 this isn’t what I expected but it kept me Thoroughly entertained. Dana is an out of work actress that was just fired from Hot Topic. She has a history of losing her job and her family isn’t that sympathetic. Her best friend slash manager lets her know she wants her to audition for a shopping network. She has an amazing audition and lands a temporary spot on the show. If she has great sales she will he offered a contract. Her first day of work the largest star at the channel dies. Dana decides to investigate and we follow her navigate a break job, a murder mystery and a love triangle. Honestly, I didn’t want to stop reading. This is definitely a guilty pleasure read!

While I enjoyed the overall premise, I just had some issues with the book that ultimately brought it's overall rating down.

Cons:
- I didn't connect with one single character in this entire book. Dana, the main character, was an annoying, nosey human who was so unlikable it was insane.
- The romance in this story was bleh. She fell quickly for the sound guy, Lorenzo, but then a week later fell for the police officer?? It was a roller-coaster even for me. I didn't believe for a second that Dana had a connection with either of them, and that made the romance unbearable to read about.

Pros:
- The murder mystery was the only thing that kept me invested until the end. I did want to know who killed Kitty and that's the only reason I didn't DNF this story.
- The writing is technically very good; it's just the story that fell flat for me.

This book unfortunately missed the mark for me. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it felt like the description and what the book actually turned out to be was different.

This was definitely a quick and easy read, and I did appreciate the "cozy mystery" aspect, but I had a really hard time connecting with the main character, Dana. I liked her in the beginning, but became very annoyed with her as the book progressed. The love triangle also fell flat for me and I found myself skipping over pages just to get to the end of the story. I definitely wanted to know who killed Kitty, but that is where my investment in the novel ended.

Thank you, Harlequin and Netgalley for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book just came out on 8/25.

Pros: Fast paced, easy to read and despite sagging in the middle,I really loved the ending (and not just because the book was over LOL).

Cons: I really and I mean REALLY didn't like Dana. Sometimes not liking a main character makes me enjoy a book more (I know crazy right) but not with this book. Also, I sometimes dig over the top the books(and I thought this one was) but not in this instance. Also I expected a different type of book based on the totality of the packaging.

Rating: I give this book 3 hearts out of 5.

I was expecting a romantic comedy but this book was more of a cozy mystery. The romance(s) were quite boring and the book was a little disjointed.

This was an enjoying read, but nothing more. I enjoyed having our MC being a shopping channel host, as it’s something we rarely see in novels; however, although I did wanted to know who murdered Kitty, the mystery kind of fell on the background as I was enjoying reading where things were heading.

I was really excited about this one after reading the synopsis for it and that great cover. Unfortunately this one did not live up to my expectations. I was expecting more romance; and this was mostly murder-mystery with a side romance.

Dana felt very wishy-washy to me and I found her character her to like. I am not usually a fan of the love triangle thing, and this one felt weak on top of that. I was also really not into the drug use; that alone really put me off.

The mystery part of the story was written well though. I did enjoy that part and felt the author spun a good tale of deception and surprises along the way.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and MIRA for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would say this is a murder-mystery book and not a romance book, but the cover and title would have you thinking otherwise. I think if you go into the book with that mindset, you may have a higher rating than me. I kept waiting for the big love story and there really wasn’t one. There was an attempt at a love triangle but it was weak at best. The protagonist was so unlikeable and kept making stupid decisions and then being surprised when there was consequences to her actions, which I found annoying for a 29 year old woman. 
 
Other than that, I still liked the story. It’s a quick read and the murder-mystery component kept me guessing. I thought I had it figured out and then there was another twist added in that proved me wrong. The setting of this is behind the scenes of The Shopping Channel, and as someone who knows nothing of HSN or QVC I loved to learn more about that. I enjoyed that Dana stood up to her father about who she is as a person and reminded him that there are more success stories to life than just being a doctor, which is his preference. The parole story line from bad-boy sound man was also a breath of fresh air to the genre and I liked reading the ins and outs of that.

Love Sold Separately by Ellen Meister is an unexpected novel because it is a cozy mystery that meets romance. Based on the cover and title I definitely thought this was a romance, but I found the premise of a cozy mystery romance unique and compelling. The book is centered around Dana who is hoping to solve the mystery of who killed Kitty after she found shot dead in her office. Dana is a mess, to say it lightly, and was a bit of a hard character to enjoy. Dana has sparks fly with both the primary suspect and the detective investigating the case. I really enjoyed her chemistry with the detective! However, the pacing of the writing was a bit off at times and my dislike of Dana weakened my interest in my book. I recommend this book for those who like a light read, want both romance and mystery, and are okay with a protagonist who is unlikeable at times!

Many thanks to the publisher Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This book read like a bad lifetime movie for me. The writing felt very juvenile and choppy. I really wanted to like it and thought it might be a nice palate cleanser but it just didn’t work.

So this was cuter than I thought it was going to be, but I wouldn't read it again and I wouldn't recommend it. My bar for NetGalley reviews is way low, y'all. This is not dig under the bar, but it had some serious issues.

First and not-most annoyingly: Having read the novel, this title is the actual worst. It's really not indicative of what the story is, given what reader is expecting from the title. The death/investigation is the central plot, not the romance. Would have been better as "Murder Sold Separately" or something along those lines.

Dana Barry is a struggling "slash-actor" in New York who gets fired from Hot Topic for being "ironically" rude to customers. This makes her super edgy. This is reinforced by her inability to dress like an adult. She's also The Best Actress Ever and just needs to be given a chance to shine. Her manager/best friend is also The Best Manager Ever, despite no education or experience in this arena. These are Important Facts and thus will be beaten into your head. Ad. Fucking. Nauseum.

Dana has an amazing visual recall -- this is actually the most believable part of her character sketch, because I can do something similar, though not at all to this level. Dana also has an amazing ability to BS on all clothing and jewelry items and (apparently?) memorize tons of stuff about products and recognize materials, brands, etc. on a moment's notice. .......I mean, sure, whatever.

Then the Big Star is found shot in her office - *gasp* - except Dana figures out it's not a suicide because Reasons and Observations and Super Smarts, and the detective in charge of the case tells her... well, all kinds of shit that a detective would never disclose because it's part of an ongoing investigation and at this point in the story/investigation, <i>literally everyone</i> is a suspect.

"Ma'am, we investigate all suicides as homicides until the ME completes the autopsy." <-All he would have actually said.

And after that, it's kind of cookie-cutter murder mystery.

There's a romance with Handsome Ex Con Lorenzo DiSantes who has Secrets Plural that he didn't tell Dana because she's someone he's known for about 8.5 minutes. This causes Strife. Dana does Snooping and uses her Super Sleuthing Skills to <i>Investigate the Crime</i>. *awe*
We are led to believe some characters are shadier/more wholesome/smarter/dumber/more/less innocent than they actually are. *gasp*

In the midst of all of this, there is conflict because Dana wants to do A Selfless Thing because she is a Good Person and therefore endangers a potentially multi-million dollar contract for Wholly Selfless Reasons, because she is a Good Person -- but also for Artistic Reasons because she is also The Best Actor Ever. Points are clumsily made about #diversity and #feminism. Points are obtusely missed because #racism. <spoiler>Literally says a character can't be played by X and/or Y actor because they are Black... Um. It's a fucking play. We're already suspending disbelief.</spoiler>

Additional conflicts ensue.
<spoiler>Not sure about the romance between the actor and the detective. It honestly felt really forced, as if Lorenzo "obviously" wasn't good enough as a romantic lead, so they had to invent a better HEA, I guess. I'd have been totally fine with her dating either Lorenzo or Ari, but maybe not both. That just felt... awkward, given the timeline.</spoiler>
Not a spoiler, but griping about a plot point, so sort of a spoiler: <spoiler>Also, minor gripe: who the actual fuck invites their boyfriend to meet their dad after a <i>week</i> of not-quite dating him? I dated guys for 4-8 months before I arranged that meeting. Am I the weirdo here?</spoiler>

The murderer is [mild] <spoiler>the one person you never suspected!</spoiler> *clever* (Okay, I actually did like the crime solve part.)

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and here it is. I didn't finish this book. I think I maybe made it to 30%, I truthfully don't even remember because it really didn't work for me. I book with the word 'love' in the title really leads me to believe there's going to be some form of romance love story in the book, and not a murder. Maybe that's my mistake for not reading the synopsis in the first place, but I'm a fool for judging a book by it's cover.

So, here we are with another did not finish book. The characters were deadly boring and annoying and I didn't care what happened to them. I had nothing invested into it and didn't want to continue wasting my time. I'm sorry.

I know, I know “don’t judge a book by its cover” but how can you not with such a cute cover like Love Sold Separately. Sure, there is a B plot of a romance, however, this book is first and foremost a mystery.

I had a hard time identifying with our main character, Dana, which made getting into the book difficult. That being said, once the pacing picked up about 2/3 into it, I had to keep trudging through. The twist ending made up for a lot of the slower pacing and somewhat unlikable main character.

I can’t remember the last time I read a character as unlikeable as Dana. For a lot of the story, she was selfish and childish and she just didn’t make herself any more likeable as it went along. BUT the storyline, was quite redeemable and better than its own main character.

A romance as well as a murder mystery, this story keeps you on your toes right until the very end. You keep guessing as to the identity of the murderer right up to the ending and the identity of the killer will for sure surprise you. This was mostly a quick read that I overall enjoyed and though the main character may not have been my cup of tea, it was worth the time!

I wasn’t sure if this was a rom com or a cozy mystery..but I enjoyed it! Don’t let the title fool you though, the romance is definitely subplot -this is ALL cozy mystery. If you love amateur sleuthing mixed with a slight smidge of romance, then pick this up! I was being a sleuth at every stone turned. I seriously thought everyone was the killer. Dana was definitely an interesting main character - but I actually really liked her. She made some sketchy decisions but it helped build her character. I do wish the ending had about 40 more pages - I have questions LOL. If you enjoy cozy mystery, this one is definitely for you!

More mystery than romance, "Love Sold Separately" by Ellen Meister tells the story of how failing actress Dana finally gets her big break, but her first day on set is marred by a murder. Dana can't help but attempt to piece together the clues through strings of gossip and her own findings. Who killed Kitty Todd? It seems there's more to it than meets the eye.

This book surprised me. Based on title and cover, it seems this book should lean more towards romance, but really the romance takes a backseat to the mystery. Dana is focused on solving who killed Kitty much more than which dreamy guy she'd like to go out with. I honestly think the romance was done well. Just enough to create a rom-com feel, but not enough to feel mushy or steamy.

Meister creates an interesting mystery by keeping the story light, but not too light as to be overly predictable. There were some twists I didn't anticipate, shadowing an Agatha Christie vibe with less detail. I think this tone makes for an excellent travel or beach read.

I gave this book 4 stars because while it was not intense mystery, it did keep me hooked and kept me guessing. Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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.]