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Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1)
Shop Till You Drop - Dead-End Job, Bk 1
Author: Elaine Viets
Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is now going nowhere fast. She traded in her chic life for a shabby one. And now she's on the run, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past... — After two weeks as the new salesclerk at Juliana's, Fort Lauderdale's ultra-exclusive cloth...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780451208552
ISBN-10: 0451208552
Publication Date: 5/6/2003
Pages: 288
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 308

3.7 stars, based on 308 ratings
Publisher: Signet
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

JML avatar reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 153 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it would be a fluff book, like Janet Evanovich or the Flower Shop mysteries, which are nice light reads, good for reading at bedtime. But this had some fascinating elements to it: the women who shopped at the store in question were "kept" women who had to have plastic surgery to stay young and starved themselves to be thin and attractive or their boyfriends would find "better" girlfriends. Wow, does this happen in real life? It was rather sad and pathetic, but very interesting. Oh, and the mystery part was good too.
reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 133 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
This one should have 5 stars!!! Literally, I did not stop reading it until I finished it!! I loved her characters, even the "unloveable" ones!! The main character Helen Hawthorne has moved to South Florida from St. Louis to avoid her ex-husband. Working in a stylish shop selling clothes to ladies with model figures for mucha money, she meets some strange people and works with some, too. Just enough suspense and humor scattered throughout kept me happy and very interested!!!
ceylang avatar reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 112 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Cute first book in a new series. Helen Hawthorne used to have an upscale lifestyle, but she's now in hiding from something in her past, and is living in southern Florida. A co-worker from her dead-end job ends up dead, and she works to solve the mystery with several of the ritzy shoppers at her high end boutique coming up as suspects.
myhotstylist avatar reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on
Helpful Score: 3
1st in series.

Our main character, Helen is on the run from her ex-husband, and is forced to work crappy under the table jobs because the divorce court ordered Helen to pay 1/2 her earnings to her ex.

While I enjoyed Helen, I had a difficult time connecting with her. We never get any type of desrciption of Helen, except she is "womanly" sized, and at the very end of the book, find out she has dark hair. I much more enjoyed her landlady, Margery, whom I envisioned as the landlady in the movie Something about Mary.... ahahaaa I also had difficulty distinuguishing the suspects, as they were all pretty much described as skinny and blonde.. LOL

Even though I enjoyed this cozy, the book was way too long. The first 150 pages dragged on and on. The action didnt pick up until the last 100 pages, when the sleuthing finally started. The ending was extremely rushed. Even though it was fun to read, its forgettable at best, but I will continue the series, and hope they get better. :P
cocoamomo avatar reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 83 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Perfect for a lazy afternoon read! It was funny, charming, and a terrific mystery!
Read All 59 Book Reviews of "Shop Till You Drop DeadEnd Job Bk 1"

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reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 448 more book reviews
Easy read with quirky, likeable characters.
guestreviewer avatar reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 39 more book reviews
A great "dead-end job mystery" by Elaine Viets. The plot focuses both on Helen, a woman working a thankless, badly-paid job in an upscale women's clothing shop, as well as the women who purchase high-end attire there. Both seem equally trapped, at various points throughout the story, making for interesting commentary on a woman's place in society. Fun, funny, light-hearted murder mystery (if such a thing exists), with an emphasis on staying out of the limelight that'll wreck a girl's complexion.
reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 38 more book reviews
The first book in the Helen Hawthorne Dead-End Job series is an enjoyable enough read. The plot was stretched a bit thin for my taste. After all, how many women can one woman find a way to blackmail? I have read the second book in the series already and will probably read the rest eventually.
reviewed Shop Till You Drop (Dead-End Job, Bk 1) on + 431 more book reviews
This is a series I really enjoy!!


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