Showing results by author "Ellen Meister" in All Categories

When a Hollywood location scout comes to Applewood and announces that the local elementary school might make the perfect backdrop for an upcoming George Clooney movie, the PTA's decorum crumbles. Enter Maddie, Ruth, and Lisa; three women who become the glue that holds the project together and wind up forging a bond of friendship stronger than anyone could imagine. A good thing, too, because each one of them is about to come apart.

Dana Barry has nothing against rules. She just knows they’re meant to be bent. So it’s no wonder the single, 20-something, 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.

In this witty and engaging novel, Dana Barry, the Shopping Channel’s star host, stops by the company’s rooftop party to pitch the new CEO her brilliant idea that just might save the flagging business, her job and possibly her love life. As she chats with the smarmy executive, he backs her into a dark corner. For Dana, it’s a quid pro oh-hell-no. She escapes his lecherous grasp and grabs her drink on her way to the dance floor. Woozy, she blacks out. When she comes to, the CEO is dead, fallen from the roof. Or was he pushed? And if so, by whom?

In this darkly comic novel about a wife whose rope is so frayed it's about to snap, Laurel gets a call that her husband has been in an accident. She imagines the worst. But as she is on the way to the ER, another emotion seizes her. Relief. Doug's death could solve all her problems. No more catering to his incessant demands. Then there's the insurance money. Laurel's dreams seem so close. There's just one problem: Doug is very much alive. Now Laurel has to decide if she is going to do something about it.

Addison Torres has nothing left to lose in New York: no job, no fiancé, no parents to lean on. So when Uncle Arnie offers her a concierge gig in sunny California, she hops on a plane without looking back. Before it all came crashing down, Addison had a matchmaking career and handsome partner—then she got a little too cozy with a client. Digging her way out of the wreckage, she’s taken a strict vow of celibacy. Unfortunately, Addison’s new home is where such promises go to die.

When it comes to movie critics Violet Epps is a powerhouse voice. Equally unafraid of big Hollywood names and public opinion, her biting reviews are widely quoted. But when it comes to her own life, Violet finds herself unable to speak up - paralyzed by crippling social anxiety. When a chance encounter at the famous Algonquin Hotel unleashes the feisty spirit of the long-dead Dorothy Parker, the famous literary critic of the 1920’s, Violet thinks she is going crazy. But as the rematerialized Mrs. Parker helps her face her fears, Violet realizes how much she has been missing by keeping quiet.

If you could return to the road not taken, would you? Happily married and pregnant, Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major life decision, she knows an alternate reality exists in which she made the opposite choice---not only that, she knows how to cross over. But even in her darkest moments---like her mother's suicide---Quinn hasn't been tempted to slip through...until she receives devastating news about the baby she's carrying.

Heavenly peace? No, thank you. Dorothy Parker would rather wander the famous halls of the Algonquin Hotel, drink in hand, searching for someone, anyone, who will keep her company on this side of eternity. After 40 years she thinks she’s found the perfect candidate in Ted Shriver, a brilliant literary voice of the 1970s, silenced early in a promising career by a devastating plagiarism scandal. Now a prickly recluse, he hides away in the old hotel slowly dying of cancer, which he refuses to treat.