Bad Heir Day

by Wendy Holden

Anna's boyfriend Seb is impossibly handsome, impossibly rich and generally just impossible. When eventually he dumps her, she vows to give up men and throw herself into her career. Which is how she ends up working for Cassandra. The social climber from hell, Cassandra has a huge house in Kensington, a philandering rock star husband and the spawn of Satan for a son. So when desperate-to-escape Anna meets dashing Jamie, charming heir to a castle in Scotland, she can't believe her luck. And she probably shouldn't...

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Humor, British Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

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

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only thing I can't figure out is why I kept reading to the end. Painful.

[Camelama · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful book. The supposed heroine is boring, lackluster, dispassionate and so annoying. Get a backbone, if you want your life to change then CHANGE IT! The other characters were universally unlikeable, the plot was ridiculous even for trashy chick lit. Things I wanted to know about the characters were passed over for endless descriptions of boozing and makeup, plot points were skipped over willy-nilly, and overall the book needed a hell of a critique group to pull it to pieces so that the author could re-write it into something worth reading.

[Jennie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because I desperately needed something fluffy to keep from thinking for a couple of days. This met that requirement, anyway: it's definitely the kind of nonsense that leads to dropping a few IQ points.

Don't get me wrong: there's nothing wrong with fluff and some can be quite fun to read. This just wasn't one of those: I found the main character to be an insipid, mousy doormat with no "sparkle" and the secondary characters all rather hateful in a cartoonish way (too-skinny drunken social-climbing harridan; evil spoiled child from hell; philandering rock star husband of drunken harridan; philandering handsome (ex)boyfriend of insipid doormat main character; random, rather vacant Scottish laird; adventurous, lucky bestie).

The plot doesn't really matter - it was too stupid to get into here and just reminded me of why I don't really read these books anymore. It did serve the "no-thinking" purpose, but went a bit too far: I'm going to have to read my whole issue of this week's The Economist instead of just the politics half to regain those lost brain cells.

[Jannelies (living between hope and fear) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Needed something simple to read. With lots of laughs! Will hopefully be back to Time Shelter soon.

[Amy! · Rating 1 out of 5]

Part of my problem with this book was perhaps that it had more modern British slang and pop culture references than I could relate to. But a much bigger part of my problem with this book was that not a single character was sympathetic. The main character wants to be a writer but ends up as a "writer's assistant" nanny to a horrid wretch of a woman who found fame and fortune by writing four trashy novels and is now plagued with writers block because she drinks too much. Her son is a sociopathic holy terror who no one ever says no to. Her husband is a washed up rock star. The nanny's best friend is another nanny who knows how to play the game much better but is ultimately just shopping for a husband. The book had hints that the main character could turn her diary into some sort of Nanny Diaries expose, but that didn't happen. Everyone has their lives crumble in appalling ways because they are so stupid but then somehow, fate steps in and saves them by having them exploit yet someone else. The salvations seem false and forced and in the end, I was just glad it was over, although rather annoyed that the characters had happy endings they didn't deserve.

[Erin Bomboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad Heir Day is a very silly book, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it, particularly if you’re a fan of Brit chick lit. The story alternates between Anna and Cassandra. Anna is a man-is-a-financial-plan type of gal while Cassandra is a once red-hot author of smut novels whose gin tippling has given her a bad case of writer’s blue balls. Shenanigans ensue, most of them improbable, with everyone congregating at Dampie Castle in the remote reaches of Scotland for a satisfying if ridiculous ending.

The puns fly thick and fast, and author Wendy Holden takes an over-the-top approach to character development, but still, I laughed out loud multiple times. If you need a palate cleanser from deep and important literature, then this is for you.

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed Holden when I was a teen in the initial chick lit wave, but trying to revisit them has been uniformly unsuccessful. Teen Christina did not have the best taste.

At the start of this, the heroine has a boyfriend who philanders directly in front of her, which she's not okay with but apparently doesn't do anything about because he's so hot? Ummmmm.

[Lisa Watson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear oh dear. Was thankful to reach the end... After really enjoying 'The Wives of Bath' this was awful. The main character was pathetic and I couldnt have cared less about anyone in the book...the only question is why I continued reading till the end!

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

By far the worst Wendy Holden book, I found this book excruciating to read and just wanted it to be over. An example of the worst chick lit, do not read!

[Deetz]

Read several years ago when on vacation

[Amelia Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good interesting read if you enjoy heart warming stories 💕💗

[Sherri Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I immediately got a clear sense of how miserable Anna’s life is when I began this book. The author doesn’t waste precious time or pages dragging the reader through a maze of miscommunication and inner dialogue to bring us to the conclusion that Anna’s life is crap. I rather enjoyed that this information is thrown into the mix right from the start. It’s important that I learned this sooner rather than later because only then would I understand how Anna could end up working for Cassandra Knight, a vile, cruel, rude beyond belief, arrogant witch of a woman who is so full of herself it will make you sick. Anna takes a job with this horrible person, thinking the position will be as an assistant to a best-selling author. Instead, she somehow gets roped into being the nanny to Cassandra’s son, Zak, who is just as vile as she is. Unfortunately, desperate times call for desperate measures on Anna’s part.

Even as horrible as Anna’s time under the Knight household is, this book made me laugh deeply and loudly at some of the antics going on. Cassandra takes center stage with her drunken outbursts and anger management issues. Her son, Zak, is a spoiled brat who behaves like a troll, while managing to deflect it back onto his mother. Then there’s Cassandra’s husband, Jett, an aging rock-star, who can’t seem to keep his trousers on. Throw into the mix several supporting characters who I found to be quite interesting makes for an enjoyable story.

I liked this book. The story does a good job of making the reader forget her troubles for a while by bringing to light a whole new dysfunctional group of people. It made me laugh a lot and I am still amazed that there wasn’t any bloodshed in the Knight home. I cheered Anna on when she finally gets the opportunity to leave but continued to empathize with her situation when it appears she jumped from the frying pan straight into the fire. This story has many twists which make the plot so interesting.

Fans of chick-lit will enjoy the snarky British humor laced throughout the story, but be prepared for the profanity that comes along with it. It didn’t offend me or pull my attention out of the story at all, most likely because I, myself, was directing quite a few profane statements in Cassandra’s direction. This was my first book by Wendy Holden and I am looking forward to reading more from her.

[Monica M · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

Funny and quite well written. This is the story when everyone got their happy ending. Yes,that include the bad character :D However there's part that i don't like:

- Anna is supposed to be an aspiring amateur writer. But the story somehow go the wrong way, when her main purpose completely change to finding a man. She forgotten her writing career, just like that. Instantly.
She even go through accept the proposal from someone who she barely knew and regret it later.
- Seb treat her like dirt and she never argue with him. It's frustrating.
- Cassandra finally have a happy ending, that is find a ghost writer. I mean, wth? But considering she have many many low moments, i guess okay. Not mention the ghost writer will have a fare payment. so everybody happy.
- And the biggest of all: Anna happy ending is having a rich boyfriend, that's it. What about her writing career?? I mean where's the struggling writer i had read in the beginning of the book?
I have hope that the story will be like this: she get her writing career with her own effort, and get her man.
No, forget the career, she doesn't need to do any step to change her life, not even trying. It just throw it to her. :(

I like anna, but i think she's too weak most of the times. And lack of eagerness.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anna takes a job as a nanny but then she leaves that job to get married, and then she doesn't get married. Really jumps around a lot and I never got a sense of who the characters really were... It was too British, filled with euphemisms I couldn't understand and pop culture references that made no sense because I wasn't raised in England. If you are going to sell your book in other countries you should make sure the references are broad or big enough that other markets will understand where you are taking the story. The ending was kind of awkward and abrupt too.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not into this kind of book at all. The main character annoyed me with her inability to cope with anything and her desperation for a boyfriend as though he were a missing appendage. Whilst I am sure there were a few moments that made me smile, I think it must have been so fleeting it barely registered. I'm still puzzling over why I read this and, possibly, the most interesting part of reading it is why I bothered in the first place.

[Tressa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like Bad Heir Day. I despised several characters. The only character that was mildly likeable was Anna and she was treated horribly. I also couldn't believe how she accepted such treatment, too. I can't believe I continued reading this book in hopes of something good happening to Anna. The pay-off wasn't worth it. I would not recommend this book.

[Anne Meyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a .99 deal on the nook. I didn't understand some of the language here and there since I'm not familiar with british slang, but that isn't why I didn't like the book. I just didn't care for the storyline. I'm not even sure why I finished the book.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 2 out of 5]

A chick-lit novel featuring an aspiring writer who has a love life that is hardly inspiring. Will Anna find love? Will Cassandra, Jett, and their incorrigible son manage to deal with their issues? Just an okay read overall.

[Fanny Fristhika Nila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna, seorang gadis yang punya impian sebagai penulis. Setelah dicampakkan oleh pacarnya yang kaya raya, Anna terpaksa mencari nafkah lain demi menopang hidup. Ternyata, iklan yang dia buat untuk mencari kerja sebagai asisten penulis, dibaca oleh seorang penulis kawakan, Cassandra Knight, yang sebenarnya mencari seorang pembantu untuk mengurus rumah dan mengasuh Zak, anak satu-satunya.
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Yang Anna tidak tahu, keluarga ini bisa dibilang berantakan. Cassandra kerjanya hanya mabuk setiap pagi, stress gara-gara buntu ide dan tekanan dari penerbit untuk menelurkan buku calon best seller selanjutnya. Suaminya, Jett, seorang penyanyi rock yang pernah sukses dulu, dan berusaha membangkitkan lagi masa kejayaan musik heavy metal mereka. Jett juga seorang playboy yang hobinya memacari, menggoda dan meniduri semua makhluk berkelamin wanita, termasuk pembantu rumah tangganya sendiri.
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Lahir di keluarga seperti ini, ga heran kalo anak mereka Zak, tumbuh menjadi anak super nakal, yang bahkan tega membunuh binatang peliharaan tetangga dengan senapan si ayah. Bahkan bibit-bibit menjadi pelaku pelecehan seksual sudah terlihat sedari dini, sejak Anna memergoki anak ini masuk ke kamarnya dan suka meniru adegan tak senonoh yang sering dilakukan orangtuanya.
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Ditengah kekalutan ingin keluar, Anna menerima tawaran dari Jamie, seorang bangsawan yang mengajaknya menikah dan tinggal di kastil besar di Skotlandia. Rasanya seperti ketiban durian runtuh!!
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Sayangnya, Anna tidak tahu apa yang menanti di sana. Haruskah dia tetap menjadi budak Cassandra, dan menghadapi pelecehan dari suami dan anak majikannya, atau bertahan di suatu kastil terpencil, yang bisa dibilang nyaris roboh, dengan calon suami yang bahkan tidak mau menyentuhnya...
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Menarik alur novel ini. Di setiap bagian Cassandra and Fam, penulis jago mengaduk emosi pembaca, dan bikin aku rasanya ingin memites 1-1 kelakuan keluarga gila hormat dan pelit luar biasa ini 🤣🤣. Untungnya, ending cerita bisa dibilang happy ending untuk Anna dan bahkan Cassandra 😄

[Lu Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of those quick read books where you don’t get attached to the characters (possibly because they lack depth) and can easily put the book down and not go back to it for days. I found the characters quite annoying and not in a good way. The main character Anna, is a complete wimp who I imagined to look like some frumpy, put upon 1950’s housewife, not a young woman hunting for the perfect career as a writer and a husband to go with it. Also, she claims she wants to be a writer but is too cowardly to get off her butt and give it a go, so instead is lead/pushed into becoming a nanny, come dogsbody, by a forceful stranger called Geri, whom she meets at a wedding.[return]Anna’s new boss, Cassandra, is a drunken, evil wench with no clue about the real world and just annoyed the hell out of me. The parts of the story that revolve around Cassandra seem to be just an endless list of designer names and sexual bitching that I felt were bulked out just to add pages to the book. As for the ‘dashing’ Jamie, well a goldfish has more personality and charm, although the reason why he is such a wet blanket is strangely revealed later in the book. However, the sudden role reversals between Anna, Jamie, Geri and a new male character (forgotten his name already) towards the end of the book is rushed, and very unconvincing, no-one in their right mind would live like this and is the worst version of a ‘happy ever after’ I have ever come across! All in all a waste of a read and I am so glad I did not buy this rubbish.

[Elisa Vangelisti · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sembrava partito bene. La scena iniziale si svolge durante un ricevimento di nozze, nel corso del quale la protagonista si rende conto che il fidanzato non lo sarà ancora per molto, poiché lo scopre a flirtare platealmente con una sua ex. Poi prosegue con scene di vita quotidiana, durante le quali una scrittrice in crisi creativa litiga con l’armadio (troppo lungo da spiegare), col marito e con la tata del figlio. E già lì la trama non andava bene. Poi si è iniziato a parlare di escrementi (anche qui la spiegazione ve la risparmio) e mi son crollate le pagine fra le dita. Ma è possibile che si debba rovinare tutto con scene così deprimenti? Leggere merda non è la mia massima aspirazione. Adieu.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

forced and undeveloped

All of the relationships were so forced! There were sooo many different storylines happening, none of them were developed past the most basic baseline - and while they all had potential, it was pretty annoying having to switch back and forth between them with absolutely no direction in the story, I mean the main protagonist’s love interest didn’t enter the book until 75% of the way through because the constant filler stories took up so much room! It followed a basic hallmark storyline where everyone fell in love or realized major life changes based on like 3 conversations with another character that didn’t actually carry any weight. And the random mentions of graphic make body part interactions were so unnecessary.

[Shelly Gummery · Rating 2 out of 5]

what a hard boring read. The cover promised comedy and lots of laughs. Sadly this was so spread out I found myself drifting off to sleep only to be woken by the book dropping to the floor numerous times. I never like to leave a book unfinished but this really was tough going. The last three chapters were the best of the whole book. A shame!

[Andrea Severson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't even get half way through this. Way to much of nothing to say! Boring, uninteresting, attempt at a novel. I was excited to read her other works, as her Born Survivors and The Royal Governess were good books. She should stick to real life stories like these two instead of fiction! Save your time and read something else!

[Devyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor characters - no one was that likeable, so it was a book that not only split the narrative around too many people but they were all either boring or annoying anyway. It was fine, with a marginally happy ending.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually couldn't finish reading this book. It's one of the worst stories I have read in a long time. I just didn't connect with the characters. As much as I tried to continue reading in the hopes of it getting better I just found myself getting bored and frustrated

[Cleaver Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun. As with all Holden’s romcoms, the plot is frothy and the language a tad fruity! But it does what it sets out to
do - puts a smile on your face and provides some much needed escapism. I love her books. Onto the next …

[Allyson Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

An altogether rather odd and disjointed book that felt like it lost steam towards the end. Funny at times. I did not connect well with the main characters but the author's writing at its bare is descriptive, detailed and paints a scene.

[Brianna M. Sanchez · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t wait to finish this book. Sadly, it was boring. I gave it a chance and continued to read because maybe it would get good. But, it didn’t. I finished it. Wanted to give up on the first chapter. Lol!

[Annie Leadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugely amusing and full of sarcastic witty puns, you feel heartbroken for Anna at times but then laugh and chuckle at the situations she finds herself in , a wonderful book for the cold season & huge thanks to the friend who gifted it to me #Amazon.co.uk #GoodReads#FB,#Instagram