Rating: 
Summary: What's with these women?
Review: Does anyone else notice this awful trend of brainless, drunken and sexually indiscriminate "heroines"? "Bridget Jones" was funny and likable. The characters of "Gossip Hound", as well as those of a host of other so-called "women's fiction" are utterly insulting. The whole point of this book and others like it seems to be to show supposedly educated urban 20- and 30-something women who make the stupidest amd most self-destructive choices at every possible opportunity.
The main character of this book (I swear I read it yesterday and I can't remember her name) is a publicist. She cheats on her neglectful boyfriend during a drunken one-night stand with her client. She seems to be interested in the client, but somehow keeps making the worst and most ill-informed choices for his career and stays with the boyfriend because he's "better looking" (I'm not kidding).
Later, she breaks up with the boyfriend, but only after learning he's been cheating (nevermind that she hasn't heard from him in a month).
She then has a bizarre, wholly inexplicable 3-day fling with a movie star, somehow actually believes he's in love with her, and is shocked to discover that he isn't.
Then, she tumbles back to the one-night stand guy because he happens to be there when she wants to hide from movie star guy.
And that's just the main character. You don't even want to know about the ridiculous gossip columnist.
And what the heck was that running gag about stepping on Louis De Bernieres' foot?
What a bad book!
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful brainless beach read
Review: Gossip Hound is an excellent read for the upcoming beach season. Not too hard on the intellect, but interesting enough that you want to keep reading it. I felt much the same about "The Nanny Diaries" if you've read that one, but found "Diaries" a bit depressing since I know parents like that. I haven't read any of the author's other works, but I have put them on my "to read" list. I prefer not to give too much of the story line away in a review, so forgive me if I don't tell you much and you want more. I feel like it makes it pointless to read the book if someone tells me too much of the story in a review!The book wasn't quite what I expected from reading the blurb on the back. I'm not really sure what I expected, but it wasn't the light-hearted, humorous story I read. The book mainly focuses on the completely separate, yet totally intertwined lives of good girl Grace and bad Belinda. Both work in publishing, Grace for publishing house that seems to be on the verge of going under and Belinda writes a small "celebrity gossip" column for the local paper. Grace tends to be slightly depressed and very insecure, Belinda thinks much of herself and tends to be a complete (w)itch. Even though our two main characters don't run into each other until the end of the book, they share a maid and compete for men. Thank goodness for the Disney like world of light hearted, humorous novels - each gets everything they deserve in the end! Possibly the best part of Gossip Hound is the cast of characters. All of them are fantastically quirky. Matchmaking maid Maria is from some Eastern Bloc country and just cracks you up with her spells, Champagne D'Vyne is a wonderful blonde bombshell starlet (?tartlet?), you just feel sorry for poor Henry Moon - he never seems to get a break. Grace's slightly slutty co-worker Ellie is a hoot. Competition Belinda Black will do anything (and pretty much does) to get her story. Red Champion gives real stars a run for their money when it comes to going incognito. Poor Louis de Bernieres just needs a good podiatrist (or perhaps some steel toed shoes).
Rating: 
Summary: Not her Best ? But O.K.
Review: Gossip Hound is the story of a young girl who works in PR for a publishing company named Grace. Thrown into the mix is a gossip hound named Belinda Black that writes trash about celebrities for a paper. I found the story hard to get into. Wendy kept loosing me in which character she was talking about. They didn't seem to be very well defined. About ¾ of the way through the story she pulls it together though. By the end of the story I was enjoying the book and found myself hoping Grace could get it together and not loose herself too much. The problem is keeping the book open until you hit this point. Grace is a wonderful character that reminds me of a lot of other Wendy female characters in her man troubles and outlook on life. Belinda is exactly like most of Wendy's money-crazed freaks. Although by the end of the story both of these characters have evolved and are more true to real-life than some of her others. A worthwhile read - just a slow starter.
Rating:
Summary: Not her Best ¿ But O.K.
Review: Gossip Hound is the story of a young girl who works in PR for a publishing company named Grace. Thrown into the mix is a gossip hound named Belinda Black that writes trash about celebrities for a paper. I found the story hard to get into. Wendy kept loosing me in which character she was talking about. They didn't seem to be very well defined. About ¾ of the way through the story she pulls it together though. By the end of the story I was enjoying the book and found myself hoping Grace could get it together and not loose herself too much. The problem is keeping the book open until you hit this point. Grace is a wonderful character that reminds me of a lot of other Wendy female characters in her man troubles and outlook on life. Belinda is exactly like most of Wendy's money-crazed freaks. Although by the end of the story both of these characters have evolved and are more true to real-life than some of her others. A worthwhile read - just a slow starter.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best...
Review: I love Ms. Holdens work, especially "Farm Fatale," but Gossip Hound was just not up to par. It had a slow start, very few twists and turns and a predictable ending. The only reason I'm giving the book 3 stars is out of loyatly.
Rating:
Summary: Excruciating
Review: I started to read this book about six months ago and stopped after the first chapter. I then attempted to read it again and literally forced myself to get through the first third before once again placing it back on the bookshelf and fighting the urge to just throw it in the trash. This book is incredibly boring. I did not enjoy a single moment of what I read. There is absolutely no character development- the characters are as boring as the plot (which is non-existent.) Am I missing something here? I do not understand how anyone could find this book funny, much less amusing, and even less so-entertaining. This is the only book I have ever had to stop reading-twice! This is the first book by Holden that I tried. I recently noticed "Bad Heir Day" was on sale for $2.99...three bucks wasn't worth another book like this one.
Rating:
Summary: I can't believe anyone thought this was good!
Review: There are two things about this book that are really fascinating...
1) how the hell this tripe ever got published, and
2) that the author is (supposedly) female when all the women characters in the book are so stupid, irritating and vacant.
I bought this book for 25p at a jumble sale and it wasn't a bargain, it was about correctly priced (despite being hard back in perfect condition).
I have struggled through it. This is desperate writing at its worst. The plot is horrifically obvious, the characters one dimensional and pathetic and the "jokes/puns" are strained and neither witty nor funny.
If the two main characters were real women they would not have jobs. No one can mess up as much as these two brainless bimbos and remain employed...let alone receive promotions like these two do. The characters are so stupid that the reader is ten steps ahead of them all the time (which is so boring).
Save your time and your money and read something else
Rating:
Summary: Very Funny Fluff
Review: This is an easy read, with some genuinely hilarious moments, especially the tart thoughts of the heroine. As usual, (if you've read Holden's other books,) Champagne D'Vyne turns up, and after much tribulation, all ends happily. Holden is clever and engaging; so much so that you don't resent her obvious delight with her own cleverness. She has an almost Dickensian knack for picking names of the supporting characters. As long as you don't mind knowing how it will end before you pick it up, you'll have a good time. If you are interested in comparing/contrasting the same type of thing, circa 1950 or so, find Margery Sharp's Something Light.
Rating:
Summary: What's with these women?
Review: This is one of the worst Bridget-Jones knock-offs I've ever read. At first I hoped that it would get better, but midway through I knew that wasn't going to happen and it was all I could do just to finish it. The characters were entirely unlikeable and the hijinks ridiculous.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing style, needs slightly smarter heroine
Review: WARNING: If you are considering reading this book, this comment might give away some plot points.
There are two parts to this comment: The first is about Holden's writing style, and the second is about her plot and characters.
Five stars for Holden's narrative style, which cuts to the marrow with delicious sarcasm and humor. Her descriptions of various socialites and the catty, whispered conversations between them at literary events cracked me up. Holden created and captured a world in which shallowness is a virtue, and her subtle and crafty use of language enriched Gossip Hound's world brilliantly to that end.
Unfortunately, I not only appreciate clever writing, but I'm also something of a feminist, and it's a bit of a letdown from that point of view. I found the main character, Grace, to be disappointingly weak, and most other female characters to have traits that ranged from sluttishness to enormous superficiality to downright evil. The men were not so well developed in their vices, making it seem as though there's a shallow subculture of women constantly trying to one-up each other, while men always play by the rules and never, ever get into pissing contests with one another. Yeah, right.
I did enjoy the fact that the Texan, though he was the sterotypical brash sort with bull heads mounted on the wall (we're not all like that, I swear!), wound up being a pretty decent guy.
Essentially, Gossip Hound is a charicature of one small slice of modern culture. Don't take it too seriously, listen to the language and have a good time with it.
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