Heart and Sold

Tales from the residential real estate trenches are complete with attempted tear-jerking from former model Fitzgerald. The author took a running start at selling real estate after leaving behind a violent ex-husband in New York and arriving in L.A. with her infant daughter in tow, with few belongings, no education and no job prospects. After a rocky start, she’s grown to be one of the most successful agents for Coldwell Banker. Fitzgerald runs through frustratingly general advice on ambition, leadership, building rapport among would-be clients, navigating a bewildering industry and looking the part of a successful businesswoman. Though Fitzgerald strives for practical advice with cheerful chapter wrapup lessons, interviews with inspirational professionals and practice sales scripts, the advice is disorganized and vague, and the personal-story prose off-putting and melodramatic (“My fairy-tale husband and life had shattered on the marble floor like a fallen mirror—razor-sharp shards of glass lacerating my hopes, my dreams, and my heart”). Would-be realtors seeking advice would be best off looking elsewhere, as this book tries too hard to be both a memoir and a how-to guide, and thus falls short at both. (Mar.)