Bad Heir Day (Paperback)

~ Wendy Holden (Author)
Key Phrases: new nanny, Orlando Gossett, Fenella Greatorex, Brie de Benham (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the title of this superficial second novel by Holden (Simply Divine) suggests all one needs to know about what lies within. Awkward puns, shallow characters and predictable plot lines do little to prolong, much less provoke, interest. Struggling writer Anna Farrier knows that her handsome London live-in boyfriend, Sebastian Lavenham, is a womanizer, but his promiscuity becomes inescapably obvious when she realizes he has slept with most of the female guests at a wedding reception at Dampie Castle on the Island of Skul off Scotland. Anna makes a friend herself at the wedding, though, and gutsy Geri gives Anna some much-needed career advice. Thinking she is to be a writer's assistant to bestselling romance novelist Cassandra Knight, Anna leaves Sebastian and moves into the Knights' exclusive Kensington home. In actuality, the job requires playing nanny to alternately spoiled and neglected eight-year-old Zachary, whom Cassandra believes can do no wrong. When she isn't deluding herself about her supposedly gifted son or drinking excessively to drown the pain of writer's block, Cassandra engages in screaming matches with her aging rock star husband, Jett St. Edmunds. He is in the habit of shagging the nannies and practicing with his band Solstice, which he insists will prove popular again. Anna must humor Cassandra, control Zachary and avoid Jett if she is to survive this especially dysfunctional household and escape with one of the Scottish suitors she finally attracts. Flat rather than frothy, this soap opera-ish confection never quite takes off, and what should have been a guilty pleasure devolves into forgettable farce.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

At a lavish wedding in a castle on a Scottish isle, Geri suggests that Anna hire on as a writer's assistant to learn the nittygritty of novel writing that wasn't covered at the university. She ends up working for the illtempered, anorexic, and social-climbing bestselling author Cassandra, unaware that hiring her as an underpaid assistant was a clever ploy to find a nanny for the demonic Zak. Meeting up with Geri again she discovers that the fashionably dressed, affluent-looking young woman is actually a nanny in search of a wealthy husband, hopefully an heir to a title. Then Anna runs into Jamie, a waiter, who turns out to actually be laird of the castle. After a whirlwind lowkey courtship, she agrees to marry him and moves to his aptly named Castle Dampie, and soon all the major players are reunited in one of romance's most hilarious laughoutloud scenes. Finally, Holden, author of Simply Divine [BKL Ap 1 00], orchestrates an amazing twist of fate to ensure a happily-ever-after ending to this deliciously wicked and hugely entertaining romp. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 4th edition (February 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452281784
• ISBN-13: 978-0452281783
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #736,570 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Different Kind of Love Story, May 28, 2001

By	Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Add another good one to the wave of wacky British humor novels. Wendy Holden's submission has upped the ante. Wry, sardonic and blatanly intelligent, Bad Heir Day is a novel that will have you laughing, shouting and itching to wring someone's neck all in the course of one sentence.

Anna is not your everyday hopeless singleton. Of course, she wants to snag her a husband, and a rich one would be nice, but she also has a smart head with finely-honed red-flag detecting skills. After the first few days at her new job as writer's assistant to the wealthy and snooty Cassandra Knight, Anna quickly realizes she's nothing more than a glorified nanny. Cassandra's son Zak is a holy terror armed with devious pranks and dirty jokes. What's worse, Cassandra's husband Jett, a has-been heavy metal rocker with a lusty penchant for nannies, is the epitome of male sleaziness. And frankly, Anna can't take it anymore. So when she meets Jamie Angus, the heir to Dampie Castle on a remote island in Scotland, Anna clings to him tighter than stink on a junebug. And while the idea of being shacked up with a wealthy heir in an old royal castle amid the mist and heather of beautiful Scotland seems exciting and adventurous, well... let's just say Anna learns more about it than she ever wanted to know.

Bad Heir Day is a riotous story bursting with unforgettable scenes. The antics of Cassandra and Zak are what sitcoms are made of -- the novel could have completely went off on a tangent with their story and I would have been utterly satisfied. Although, while the first two-thirds of the novel had me in stitches, I will admit the ending tied up too conveniently and the humor became sparse. However, I am intrigued by the storytelling talent of Wendy Holden and haved placed her other novel, Simply Devine, on my list.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ragged and haphazard, November 20, 2001

By	Alysia Rivet (Wheaton, IL USA) - See all my reviews

One of the reviews on the back of the book suggested that this was a "satire." Interesting review, that. Was that reviewer entirely aware of the definition of "satire"?
Holden definitely seems to think she is writing satire, but she couldn't be more obvious or self-conscious about it. Her take on the genre is to use as many bad puns as possible (she even goes as far as to use "heir" in another pun in the novel - an unforgivable sin, in my opinion).
At the same time, the plot is an equally obvious attempt at humor. The writer's-blocked main character (Anna) gets dumped by her perfect boyfriend after he hooks up with a fellow wedding attendee. By coincidence, Anna met up with a woman (at the same fateful wedding) who gave her some life-changing career advice. Anna follows through and finds herself (passive voice intentional) in the middle of the biggest mess imaginable. She has to nanny of a spoiled-rotten rich kid, while running the alcoholic mother's household and dodging the father's advances. All for an almost nonexistent salary. Anna may try to stand up for herself, but is always thwarted by ... something or other. But we're still supposed to feel sorry for her. I'm sorry, but this much plot contrivance is too much.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Truly awful!, August 22, 2002

By A Customer

I bought this book thinking it would make a nice summer read but I was dead wrong. I enjoy books in this genre but this might be the worst I've read thus far. It's a fantastically ridiculous story that tries for satire but fails miserably. As the Publishers Weekly review says, it's not a guilty pleasure, more like a complete waste of time and money. There are far better books in the genre if you're looking for something entertaining.