A wonderful tale of the lives of a group of women in Westenbury village. laugh out loud moments paired with several romances make it an ideal winters day read.

Yes, she’s done it again – another book I thoroughly enjoyed from first page to last! But I do think it’s only fair to mention that I suspect it might not be the most comfortable of reads for someone who hasn’t read at least one of the author’s books before – there’s an absolutely enormous cast of characters, introduced via the funeral that opens the book, then the female friends get a little more fleshed out with a night out in Leeds (complete with stripper…) that sets a few of the storylines in motion. But that was one of the things that made me love it – there are new characters too, but I already knew so many of them really well and was more than happy to be dropped back into their lives and see what had been happening for them all. There are small references too to the key storylines from earlier books – there were times it felt almost like being rewarded for being a long-time fan.

There are multiple storylines too, featuring different key characters – but the main story focuses on Grace, returning to work as a teacher at Little Acorns after her husband’s departure, being landed with the year group from hell. That night out brings a new man into her life, perhaps with the possibility of some happiness in her life after previous relationships have disappointed. But it’s quite a story – things take a bit of a turn, a situation that the author handles exceptionally well, before Grace realises that she’s perhaps not looking to the right person to bring her joy.

Juno, GP at the village surgery, and her family are also centre stage for much of the story (if you read Sing Me A Secret, you’ll already know them well), but her life’s not going quite the way you might have expected it to either. And while their stories drive the narrative, there’s another – and a really different one – involving the teenage characters, when you discover that Westenbury certainly isn’t immune to some of the problems you read about in the papers.

As always, one of the author’s strengths is those wonderful three-dimensional characters. I think the children and young people in this book really do deserve a special mention – I loved far-older-than her-years Tilda, Juno’s daughter, from the first time I met her, and I thought she had some of the best lines in the whole book (and she becomes more like a miniature version of her aunt Ariadne every day). That said, Grace’s adopted daughter Pietronella does come a very close second – there were times she had me in tears of laughter.

There’s perhaps a little less of the over-the-top humour in this book than there was in some of the others – the themes are pretty serious at times – but the author really wouldn’t be herself if she didn’t have you in stitches for at least some of the time. I’m so glad she brought back the character of Lithuanian lollipop lady Deimante, now with aspirations to become a teacher – sadly, her grasp of the language is always likely to be an impediment, but her heart’s certainly in the right place. A lot of the humour comes too from the relationships within the circle of friends – and the author still has that perfect balance between laugh-out-loud and those other moments of tremendous warmth and poignancy.

I enjoyed this book every bit as much as I’ve loved all the author’s other books – but (just so you’ll enjoy it as much as I did) I would suggest that you don’t make this one the first time you read her writing, do try at least one or two of the back catalogue first. But I’m now ready for my next visit to Westenbury – my kind of place, my kind of people, and Julie Houston’s certainly my kind of writer.

(Copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

This book was, sadly, not my cuppa tea. It was just a little too quaint and folksy for my taste. It wasn't poorly written or bad, just not for me. DNF.

🏘 Good plot points but weaknesses too🤔

3.5-4🌟stars

I found this novel difficult to rate because there were parts of the story I really liked, especially Grace's and Juno's romantic dilemmas and the subplot about worries that drugs are  infiltrating village life. Some of the children, like Grace's Pietronella, Juno's Tilda and Harriet's Thea are cute, very distinct characters that liven things up.  On the other hand, Grace's mother's appearances just made me roll my eyes🙄 thanks to her griping and unhelpful attitude.  Most of the men in the novel have undesirable character traits that sharply contrast with paragon David Henderson: handsome, wealthy, now single, generous, great with children and almost too perfect!

But, yes but, there are so many characters popping in and out to keep track of and the scenes with group gatherings, like the funeral in the very beginning of the book, are just too confusing.  I had never read any of Houston's other stories about the people of this small English village and dumping a new reader in the midst of dozens of characters and village gossip did not work for me at all.  I was considering abandoning the story but instead I just skipped ahead and found much easier going.  That's comparatively easier because these characters have such complicated relationships I almost needed a diagram to keep them straight.

As to the ending, it was abrupt and really did not seem complete.  I felt a bit cheated that the dramatic final scene was so short.

I am of two minds about whether I would seek out more books in this series to read.  I think I might now that I am familiar with the characters and interested in how their families get on.

Thanks to publishers Aria and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

This is my first Julie Houston book which I enjoyed. My only observation was that there were too many characters and I got lost as to who was related to who and which children belonged to which parent(s). I will read more of Julie's books, in the hope that some of the characters have been in previous books and I would have a clearer understanding as to what had happened in the past. Thank you for the advanced copy.

Thank you NetGalley, Aria & Aries and Julie Houston for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! 
	This was my first Julie Houston book and I had no problem reading this as a stand alone, but some of her previous book is set in the same town with the same group of characters! I always enjoy books that aren’t necessarily a series, but you get a little glimpse of the characters you fell in love with in the other books. I also love books that have a town full of side characters. It always gives me a Stars Hollow, Gilmore Girls Vibe! 
	When Grace returns to teaching after her husband leaves to ‘find himself’, she’s expecting to find herself, too. Instead she finds herself teaching a difficult class with one student who is determined to drive her crazy. Grace never expected her one night stand to be the student’s father! 
	This funny and friendship filled romance has a little bit of everything that leaves you feeling good. This needs to be your next read!

This book has been shining out of my tbr list like a Belisha beacon, and I've grinned like an idiot as I got closer and closer - all with good reason!

With the death of one of their own, the women of Westenbury are all agog to wonder who'll fill the vacancy she's left behind. Life is busy, and more so for Grace Stevens as, with her marriage totally broken down, she returns to full time teaching whilst parenting her two young children on her own. As if that wasn't enough to deal with, she has disharmony in the classroom, an upset parent to deal with, a drug ring to sort out as well as maintaining friendships and mourning her lack of a sex life!

Never a dull moment in this one; between personal and professional problems, the angst and joys of parenting and the absolute sheer fun packed into the pages I have relished each and every word. On the serious side, I now understand what the county lines drug trade is all about (first clear and concise explanation I've come across) as well as appreciating all the extra work our teachers face, while on the fun side I have never stopped smiling, snorting and giggling as my bemused husband can confirm. This is the most wonderful series of stand-alone tales and I recommend them to anyone who likes their women's fiction to be made up of love, life and laughs. Beautifully written and terrifically entertaining, this one easily earns all five shiny, sparkling stars.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley and to Vicky Joss for my spot on this tour; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

This was a nice, light-hearted read, perfect for the times we're in today.  However, I would highly recommend reading the previous book in the series so that you're not so caught up in trying to figure out who is who and get distracted from the story.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I couldn’t finish this.  It left me feeling a little lost in the first few chapters, I couldn’t keep track of who was who.  Maybe if I had read the first in the series I wouldn’t have had this issue.

Despite the good writing that gave me great visuals of homes and clothes, etc., this was an extremely difficult read because of the number of characters mentioned. It felt like I was being dropped into an episode of EastEnders five years in and expected to know everyone. It wasn't just the number of characters, which should have only been about three, max five. it was the names everyone had - so hard to remember.
Everything happened so fast that I wasn't allowed to sit in anyone's emotions for long enough before someone and something else was zipped to. Overall it was too much, too fast, too many with a zip-up ending that had no real burn other than one lusty look in a mirror. Apologies to the author. I wanted to enjoy it, and it could be a great book if 75% of the characters were missing.

A Village Vacancy, the laugh-out-loud new book from the bestselling author of A Village Affair, by Julie Houston

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:Romance, Women's Fiction

Oh no, women's fiction yet again. Men write romance, men read romance, lets stop with the silliness now. 

Anyway, I've seen a few reviews that mention this read being confusing in that they don't know the backstory of characters and tbh, that plays a huge part. Its not listed as a series but of you've read the earlier books you will follow and enjoy this one so much more. 

I've never been Grace' biggest fan. If she lived on a council estate she'd be judged very differently. Shiftless/feckless single parent would be the judgment. As someone middle class though it seems her behaviour is excused. Bah, its like those condemning folk they see as lower class for drinking too much, while snorting yet another line of the socially acceptable cocaine. Having brought that in the County Lines thread of this book was excellent. We do think drugs are something that happens elsewhere, only in the ghetto areas of cities for example whole all the while its being done in homes around us, by our kids, sucked in as couriers. 
I do feel for Grace with the on off husband, the affair with Seb was always going to come to nothing, but Jonty means there's always a tie. Then Dan's off again and it just seems like she's on the search for another man. She's got two kids now, Jonty and the adorable Peitronella. That kid was a show stealer, I loved her – and the cock porn/popcorn ( I wonder if amazon will let that one through?) She needs to be more responsible. I'd say that if it was Dan with the kids and Grace wobbled off too. Kids come first. 
The story kind of centres round Grace, but fortunately for me brings in many of the characters we already know from earlier reads, and it was great to catch up with them. 
It opens with a shock, I didn't expect that, nor the things that resulted from it. I love David, he's a true gentleman, and he always seems so wise, so responsible as well as being a killer businessman. 
I wasn't convinced of the romance here. To be honest for most of the book it isn't there, its just suggestions of what's to come at the end. I didn't think either party was really ready for it anyway. 
I love the school scenes, really felt for little Noah. I loved the Esme/Emsy bit – brilliant, perfect comeback when Esme was deliberately getting Ariadne's name wrong. I never think of stuff like that at the time. 
Loved Harry Trotter, and of course Tilda. I've a grandson like her, he' nine going on forty nine. He reprimanded me at the weekend for “ inappropriate behaviour” in front of the toddler. I was squeezing the rubber dinosaur, making its belly pop out....that's all ;-) Then was treated to a lecture about how the school are not taking social distancing seriously. 

Its a fun read, the village vacancy in the title actually has more than one connection. I loved catching up with past characters, and sympathised with Grace even when she annoyed me in her actions. Its hard when a partner leaves, even if its not a huge surprise. 

Stars: Four, a fun read again, lots going on, lots of laughs ( even though I hate it when a story promises me I will “laugh out loud” I hate that assumption). 

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publisher

After wading through the almost 20 different character names in the first chapter, I lost all impetus to read the rest of the book.  I made it to the end of the second chapter but could not continue.  This book was not for me.

The first book I read by Julie Houston was A Village Affair earlier this year (primarily about Carrie Beresford), and more recently, Sing Me A Secret, (primarily about the Sutherland sisters). This book features these characters, plus many more from previous books about Westenbury.

It did take me some time to get to know all the characters, there seemed to be a larger number of main characters in this book compared to the previous couple I had read. I enjoyed finding out how everyone had got on after the last book, but life quickly changed for many of the residents again with a car accident, an illicit dalliance, marriage breakdowns, false accusations and troubled teenagers.

There are many laugh out loud moments (especially with the children and the lovely lollipop lady), but also some darker moments, especially with the ‘county lines’ story.

I enjoyed my visit to Westenbury, and I’m sure that many other readers of the Westenbury series will enjoy their return visit too.

This was my first read from this author. Book was fine, sweet and cute. The writing is great. I love books about small towns. 
3.5 stars for me.

I might have liked this book more if it hadn’t taken me so long to get into the story and keep the characters straight.  There were so many characters in this little village and they all appeared without much introduction at all.  It’s as if we were suddenly dropped into this village and were expected to understand the backstories and relations among all these people.  Oh, and we’re blind since there weren’t many physical descriptions of the characters.

I stuck with the book and after I was about halfway through the book, I started being able to distinguish who was who and what their relationship was to the other characters.  Then I found myself much more interested in how things were progressing.  Characters would still pop up and I wouldn’t remember who they were and I’d go back to being confused again.

There were lots of references to the personal histories of these characters.  I’m not sure if those histories were explained in the earlier book, but it was still confusing.  I’m not sure why an author would want to so confuse her readers.  I’m not sure how many people will want to persevere with the book to get over the period of trying to figure everything out.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

I've read all of Julie's books & have loved them all. I wait in anticipation for the next book to be realised & this book did not disappoint!  I want to shout out the ending as it was so good but I won't spoil it for you all. All I hope is that Julie is busy writing the next book......please!!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy. 

A really interesting warm and funny book. 

A book that has you wanting to finish it all in one sitting to find out what happens next and how it ends. 

Set back in the lovely village of Westonbury in Yorkshire and the villagers  are mourning the loss of a woman who has lived in the village for years.  

Grace wants to move forward in her life, without her husband, whose off in search of his new life. So she returns to teaching and teaches pre school children. 

Learning to cope again with disasters in work and with the most troublesome pupil in her classes’ dad. 

Will she be able to sort these issues out, will she be able get closer to him than she thinks AND can Grace fill the vacancy within the village.

There are a great number of characters in this book.     It is a small village so everyone has some sort of friendship or relationship with everyone else.       I read the previous book in this series, but it has been long enough that I cannot remember much about anyone.

Grace is the central character in this story.        Grace has been called back to school to teach.      It comes at a perfect time.     At least that is what she believes.     

Her husband has left her, again.      She is raising two children.     One is a son from an affair she had.      The second is a little girl with special needs.        

The village is so small that it appears there are very few private matters in anyone’s life.    I have lived in small towns and I understand the idea.        But this would have been helped if there were some more explanations about village history.

I simply could not get excited about this book.

I did not like Grace.     In fact, it was difficult for me to find any adult who was very likable for me.    

I got the impression that Grace was happy to behave like a woman with little reason to be in a marriage.     In her defense, apparently her husband had a problem remembering his marriage.

I wanted to enjoy the book more and I believe it would have helped me to have more initial explanations about relationships and previous events.        Even as I read, I felt things hopped from one scene to the next without a lot of preparation.

This book was not for me.      I realize I am in a minority.       But, for me this was not a good fit.       I have to feel a connection to the main characters and I simply could not get there this time.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley.      I thank them for the opportunity.    I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are completely my own.

Lots of lovely characters. Maybe too many to remember who was who, but still enjoyable. As with a Village Affair, the odd giggle slips out now and then!

I LOVED this book - I've read all of Julie's books set in Westenbury and, I really think this is the best one yet It was funny, serious, emotional and there were a few twists and turns along the way. I hope there are going to be more books to follow because I can already see two extra stories starting to unfold. 
Julie is such a good author and I really recommend that you read this book if you love books with heart!