I’m really delighted today to be joining the blog tour and sharing my review of Jessie Wells’ The Good News Gazette. Published by One More Chapter on 25th November, it’s now available for kindle via Amazon in the UK (just 99p at the moment!) and in the US, and on all other major e-book platforms, and also as an audiobook. Prefer a paperback? That’ll be out on 16th March, and (as well as via Amazon) you can pre-order from Waterstones, Blackwell’s, Foyles, WH Smith or from your own favourite on-line or bricks-and-mortar bookshop. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
And another new-to-me author – and she’s actually a new author for everyone, as this is her debut novel. You might remember my June feature on the Joan Hessayon award, for authors whose debut novels have gone through the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme and are subsequently accepted for publication (you can read it again here). Well, this one was on that judges’ list, and I have to say that I always really liked the look of its story. I was so pleased to receive Rachel’s invitation to join the blog tour – it’s taken a little longer than some to reach publication, but I was particularly looking forward to discovering whether it lived up to everything it promised.
Because we all need something to smile about!
She may be down but don’t count this determined single mum out just yet…
Nine years ago, Zoe Taylor returned from London to the quiet hamlet of Westholme with her tail between her legs and a bun in the oven. Where once her job as a journalist saw her tearing off to Paris at a moment’s notice after a lead, now the single mum covers the local news desk. At least, she did…until she’s unceremoniously let go.
When Zoe invites her friends over to commiserate, wine and whining soon turns into something more… and before the night is out she’s plotted her next step: The Good News Gazette.
Now, as a developer threatens to force Westholme into the twenty-first century, Zoe’s good news movement finds her leading a covert campaign as a community crusader. She may have started The Good News Gazette as a way to save herself, but she might just be able to save Westholme in the process…
Just in case my review leaves you in any doubt (and I do hope it won’t!), I thought this book was absolutely fantastic – in fact, I’ll say upfront that it’s going to be one of my books of the year. It promised to be feel good fiction – I picked it up at lunchtime, finished it the same evening, having laughed, cried, made new friends, and rooted every step of the way for its wonderful heroine. And when I put it down, and reluctantly had to leave the Westholme community, my first thought was “that was absolutely perfect”.
I took Zoe to my heart from the very beginning – a single mother just doing her best and frequently falling short, her life going particularly pear-shaped when she loses her job on the news desk of The Northern News. Ok, it was never the best job in the world – she was on the path to greater things when she worked on a national newspaper in London, but had to return to Westholme when she found she was expecting – and the stories she covered were particularly negative and depressing, but it paid the ever-mounting bills. After a heart-to-heart with her closest friends – one of the good things in her life, so supportive but sometimes brutally honest – she decides to take to social media, together with also newly jobless Olly, with the plan that a newspaper might follow, focusing on all the good things about living in Westholme, and calls it The Good News Gazette.
Her posts slowly begins to win people over – despite the questionable comments that follow each post and cleverly end each chapter, bringing a smile – and she finds that there’s (rather unexpectedly) plenty of good news to cover. But Westholme itself isn’t the community it used to be – the gangs from the estate have brought it down, despite the many efforts of individuals there’s very little pride in their surroundings any more, and that’s particularly evident from the neglected state of the local shopping centre. But when plans emerge to demolish it, and to build a large new supermarket in its place taking away the livelihoods of the small shopkeepers and tearing out the heart (however broken) of the community, Zoe finds a cause she really wants to fight for.
Zoe herself is the the most wonderful character at the story’s heart – I loved her unreservedly as she struggled in her personal life, propped up by her fantastic friends, the only thing that ever seems to go right for her being her relationship with her lovely young son. Her money’s running out, her car’s on its last legs, she’ll never be the weekly star at the slimming club – and every new thing she tries makes her feel like a failure. But as she squares up to the developers and finds she has more people in her corner than she could ever have imagined, she finds she’s much stronger than she thinks, and she slowly learns to love herself – and I simply loved seeing her personal transformation. And there’s even a rather lovely tentative romance – football coach Sam (he’s just gorgeous in every way) helps build her son’s confidence, but makes Zoe’s heart beat rather faster too.
Every single member of the supporting cast is beautifully drawn – there are some real characters, and they all have their own lovely stories, both funny and touching. And, of course, there’s a villain – Daniel the developer, who proves to be rather more nuanced than he initially appears as Zoe works to convince him to abandon his plans. Acts of everyday kindness abound – and so many of them really touched my heart. And I loved the focus on friendship and family relationships – her father’s interventions were a particular highlight for me, however misjudged, but there are so many wonderful moments in this book that I’d be here all day if I mentioned every one that touched my heart. The writing is just fantastic – the storytelling is superb, and the whole book just wrapped me up in the warmest of hugs.
Can you tell how much I loved it? I do hope so! And the best news of all is that this book is the first in a planned series of four – I couldn’t be more delighted. Go on, add it to your reading list – I promise you won’t be disappointed, and you might just love it as much as I did…
About the author
Jessie Wells lives with her husband and two children in Merseyside. She has always written in some form, and previously worked as a journalist on the Liverpool Echo and Sunday Mirror and as a freelancer for various national women’s magazines and newspapers before moving into finance. She loves nothing more than getting lost in her imaginary worlds, which are largely filled with romance, communities bursting with character and a large dose of positivity.
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