Gossip Hound

by Wendy Holden

Grace Armiger's humdrum professional life as a publicist for a London publisher and personal life with a nagging mother, dishonest boyfriend, and dismal apartment are turned upside down by a chance encounter with a famous celebrity and by ruthless tabloid journalist Belinda Black, who sees the opportunity for the interview of a lifetime. Original.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Humor, Adult, Comedy, British Literature

287 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Wendy Holden grew up in Yorkshire, and studied English at Girton College, Cambridge. She worked in magazines for many years before joining Tatler's in 1997 as deputy editor, and later moved to the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine, which she left in 2000 to concentrate on writing. She regularly writes features for newspapers and magazines on a range of social, topical and lifestyle subjects and is also a television and radio contributor.

She has now published ten novels, Gallery Girl, Beautiful People, Bad Heir Day, Pastures Nouveaux, Fame Fatale, Azur Like It, The Wives of Bath, The School for Husbands, Filthy Rich, Farm Fatale, Gossip Hound, Simply Divine, all top 10 bestsellers.

Holden is married, and lives in England with her family.

Reviews

[Nicky Mason]

Good for; easy reading, light, whimsical.

Found this old book on my shelf and thought it looked quirky. It was alright... some fun characters and funny moments nothing laugh out loud. Bit of easy reading when you're bored.

[Kinga]

2.75✨️ books from "Bridget Jones era" are probably not aging that well. The main character's story is more or less funny and the end is quite cute, but so many scenes there gave me the ick I was not asking for. Or maybe I am just not getting the British humor from 2002.

[Sarah Bennett]

Found this a bit hard to get into but I'm glad that I stuck with it.

[Noelle]

ACTUAL RATING: 4/5 stars.

BOOK COVER/DESIGN: 8/10 stars. The cover is very chic. Very modern, too.

GENERAL REVIEW/THOUGHTS: So, I sort of "cheated" on this by looking at the book's reviews first before reading it, myself. I've seen a lot of people giving this a one out of five stars rating and saying it was a horrible read, but I beg to differ to their opinions. Perhaps those people do not appreciate the satire eloquently presented in this book. I think this book is a masterpiece. It was a very straight - to - the - point, humorous read. This book made me burst out laughing. I suppose the only thing I didn't like about the story is how, at the beginning, it was Grace's and Belinda's stories that were being built up, but more than halfway through, the narration suddenly shifts into Maria's point of view. I feel that if the author wanted the readers to see and think in Maria's POV, the shift should not have been done suddenly. This was still a great, realistic read. I was slightly irritated by Grace's constant stupidity. I loved how the ending was a cliff - hanger on Grace's and Henry's "relationship." To those who think this is an awful read, I suppose that, well, you're reading it wrong.

RECOMMENDATION: If you're looking for a satirical, humorous, and straight forward read about what the fame - obsessed society is like, this book is for you.

[Rory]

Good little read. Good characters and funny.

[William Stafford]

Wendy Holden's acerbic wit is the engine that drives this story of Grace, a PR for a failing publishing house, and Belinda, a stop-at-nothing, sleep-with-everything journalist on the make. Their fates are linked by mystic cleaner, Maria, and their fortunes rise and fall, but mainly fall, as they try to make their way in their respective worlds. Holden doesn't so much as drop names as throw them around like confetti - many of the famous people mentioned are no longer with us, keeping this firmly a book of its time. But it's an enjoyable romp with grotesque, cartoon characters for people, and some very funny situations.

[Tracey Mackenzie]

All pretty naff to be honest. Didn't make me so much as smile, never mind laugh out loud as promised by all the famous writer reviews. Theyve obviously not bothered reading it, probably just handed a pre-written review by their shared publishers to sign.
I've read 3 Wendy Holden books in the past & always wished I hadn't bothered and wondered how she ever made it as her plots are non existent & total nonsense.
Hopefully I'll remember not to read anymore of her books & this is the last W Holden review I'll be writing !

[Shona]

I found this book hard to properly get into. Belinda was absolutely awful to the point that I found it a bit of a chore to read her sections. Grace was okay but I didn't feel particularly attached to her and I thought she was pretty naive. The only character I really liked was Henry and he wasn't really a main character. Overall I found the book quite dated in places.

[Andrea]

If I could have given half a star rating, I would.
The book flit all over as if there was a wasp in your head - really annoying, badly written, far too busy storyline and very fickle.
I scan-read most of it, drivel really, but just to see it through to the end.

[Halee Smith]

wrote a book to get back in touch with his dream woman… genuinely if he wanted to he would.
i think i would’ve enjoyed this more if i was British. alsoooooo i really wish Maria would’ve came in so much sooner, that was the best part of the whole book?
had me giggling outloud, fun beach read.

[Michelle Donofrio]

Super quick read... fun tho predictable. Publishing company editor boy meets girl blah blah

[Ana Sofia]

I was expecting something different but it was good.

[Cathy]

Typical chic-lit! Ideal as a quick easy read.

[Cheryll]

So Belinda is an utter bitch and Grace is a gullible fool. Unbridled lust? Hilarious? Nah, I don't think so. An amusing beach read, chic lit - more like it.

[Bookish Dragon NMY18]

Old book on my shelf that took me weeks to finish but, I forgot if I enjoyed it or not

[Phil Hodgkiss]

Found it a bit hard going.

[Viv]

Starts slow but picks up midway to become an entertaining witty light and fast paced read

[Tracy Anderson]

A bit too light and predictable for me.

[Amanda]

I am not the biggest fan of chick lit, I'm not sure why but I think I've read one bad one too many if you know what I mean. I've been reading some heavy stuff of late and decided that maybe some chick lit was needed and chose this one at random from my groaning shelves (and now it can go back to my best friend).

It did not take me long to lose myself in this. Okay so some of the things going on were a little far fetched BUT I enjoyed it, I had a clue what was going to happen at the very end of the book but it didn't matter to me. I have loads of books here and I know there are some more of hers amongst them so I shall be on the look out and will try and make that my next chick lit read.

[Zuzana Kollarova]

I started reading this book I have let myself easily foolished by the headline written on the book "Bestseller". I have proved to myself that this word has completely nothing in common with the actual book. It is, in many cases, just a marketing move.
So then, as motivated I started, so dissapointed I had to stop reading after less then 30 pages.
The book and the story is a giant mixture of names (that you can't remember) and the stories surounding these names (that you can actually not match with the names).
The author was probably trying to make it in a really sophisticated way, though it did not work. At least with me.

[Cindy]

Really enjoyed this book! Made me smile and giggle. Just the sort of girly nonsense I was after reading. Recognised Champayne from another one of Wendy's books. Love the Belinda character who in my opinion should have her own series of books, she is such a ridiculous woman! I saw the ending coming from a mile off, and though Grace's settling for totally inappropriate men was unrealistic - I accepted it as just light writing. I would hope no woman is so pathetic as to let men trample all over her like that!!!!

[Storm Chase]

I was expecting this funny, sweet romance, and it was....okay. The plot was totally predictable, the characters flat, and the whole thing just lacked sparkle. It's okay if you want an afternoon's holiday read and you can borrow it from the library but it's not worth buying or reading twice. Totally forgettable.

[Randi]

2/3 of the way through the the book and I was still waiting for something to happen. Seriously in a 500pg novel it might be better to get the action started by halfway to keep me interested. Only finished this because I'd invested time into well over half and it was easy reading. Very unsatisfying after so much (but not really any) character building.

[Elizabeth Fisher]

Laughed out loud reading this one - and that's saying a lot for me! Love British humor (when it comes from a woman)and chick-lit humor in general. Totally related with the heroine Grace. This book was just a plain hoot! Will definitely pass on to friends to read, and I need to go back and read others from Holden as well. (Bought this book at a public library used book sale.)

[sandy]

Cute - British - Chicklit. This (and all of Holden's books) were great for reading on the metro - they really distracted me from the job I had at the time, which I hated! I recommend all of her books - not for brainfood, but for fun/escape/vacation reading.

[Jacqui]

Because I'm British, the version I read wasn't called Gossip Hound, it was called Fame Fatale, but because Pasteurs Noveau was renamed Farm Fatale in America, they had to change Fame Fatale to something else...anyway, excellent book, I've read it many times

[Shareen]

I wanted to like this book, but wasn't quite able to. It could have been fun if the antagonist wasn't quite so cartoonishly bad, it wasn't so hard to like the protagonist, and the situations weren't quite so unbelievable.

[Blaire in Ashland]

I've given this three stars. I almost deserves 4, and it would get them if it had a bit more substance. It's very Brit, very smart, and very entertaining. I'd read another by this author if I were in the mood for just plain fun.

[Ivy ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

I borrowed this from my school's library like 2 years ago and couldn't get past page 3. I borrowed it again this year thinking that maybe since I've aged, I would actually like it this time. But I didn't. I stopped at page 27. It bored me.

[Melissa]

These books are just perfect summer reading. Some of the better chick lit.