Saturday, February 1, 2014

Death by Chick Lit: Review

Lola Summerville is jealous of all the chick lit authors who are signing book deals right and left and having their books optioned for film deals before the printer has finished spitting out their first run.  It doesn't help that everyone from taxi drivers to policemen are being asked to "tell their story" and make mega-bucks.  And it's not like Lola hasn't written a book.  She has and it's a good one--but no
one seems to notice.  And she hasn't heard from her agent in ages.

Then, up-and-coming chick lit authors start dying faster than the deals have been made. And Lola has to wonder if the murders are connected--is there a chick-lit-hating madman on the loose?  Will Lola be next?  And, if she isn't on the hit list....well, then, why the heck not?  Lola begins poking around when one of the suspects asks for her help and it isn't long before she's high-heels-deep in the mystery.  She figures that if she can point the way to the killer, then she'll be able to sell the story and get a mega-bucks movie deal. She'll finally get the attention she deserves. But that won't happen if her investigations make the killer notice her first.

This is a fun, light-hearted mystery that pokes fun at the publishing world and the chick lit genre without lampooning or being too sarcastic.  There are a lot of snappy, one-liners and a great deal of worry over relationships and impending mommy-hood--but all in good fun.  This is definitely the book for anyone who wants to mix their mysteries with a chick lit flavor.  There are several red herrings and a nifty twist to the plot before the culprit is caught.  And a nice little happy ending for Lola and her long-suffering hubby.  Three stars for a pleasant, fun read.

4 comments:

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Bev,

I am not a fan of chick lit, or mystery chick lit, so this probably isn't going to be the book for me, apart from the fact that the book's ratings and reviews have been consistently poor.

However, its one redeeming feature must certainly be the synopsis, with the thought of all those terrible chick lit authors being silenced permanently, being quite appealing.

It seems from your review, that you have pretty much the same thoughts as most others about the fate of this particular book, although your review does manage to remain quite even handed.

I hope that you are enjoying a good weekend so far,

Yvonne

Bev Hankins said...

Yvonne: I'm not a big fan of chick-lit myself. But this was fun in an odd sort of way. I definitely wouldn't want a steady diet of this sort of thing, though.

fredamans said...

This sounds like a fun read for a rainy afternoon! Fab review!

LuAnn @ BackPorchervations said...

TBR'd on GoodReads