I enjoyed revisiting the village of Westenbury. It took me a bit to reconnect with the various characters and what happened before to each character, but it was an enjoyable recollection. I found myself shaking my head at Grace, and her obvious love of men. She is now a single parent with a child of her previous lover and an adopted child with special needs. I remember Grace and her then husband adopting this little girl in order to heal their marriage. The book opens with a shock for everyone, including myself, the reader, and a great part of the story revolves around this particular event and the subsequent ripples it creates throughout the small community. I love the friendship between Grace, Juno and the others. This is another excellent read from Julie Houston.

I would like to thank Julie Houston, Aria & Aries and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Unfortunately I couldn't carry on reading this book. It was certainly no fault of the writer, just me and my little quirks, one of them been fancy names I cannot pronounce, the other is lots of characters.
I haven't read the previous book so obviously an introduction of characters is needed which I fully understand. It was just far too many names to try to digest at the very beginning which put me off.

I struggled to get into this book. For me, the major stumbling block was the sheer number of characters to wrap my head around. I realise that starting a series with book 2 is a rather foolish endeavour, so this is reader-error, rather than book-error. The writing itself is great and I'm sure there are many readers who will love this book. I'm just not going to be one of them.

Characters the galore, but once you figure out who is who the book is fresh,spirited, and funny book. I was totally confused as to who was sleeping with who and whose kid belonged to what man, but what I did was go read her first couple books, which are considered stand alones as well, but the development of the characters I appreciated a lot more! 

However, after the first six or so chapters you will start to figure out the dynamics of the village! This book is so well written and put together once you get who the characters are that I was rooting for Grace! Poor Grace seemed to come out on the bottom each and every time that I kept wondering is she ever going to have her day in the ☀️! If you want to find out get this book and see or it might surprise you what the author has in store for this quirky lady! 

Thanks to all the wonderful authors and publishers who work diligently for us the readers!

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

DNF.
Gave up after 20%. Found it very confusing to begin with, too many characters introduced with obviously big connections between them all that are rapidly glossed over. It appears that whilst not officially listed as being part of a series it is connected to several other books written by the author. It's probably best to read them in order as this doesn't start off well to be read as a stand alone book. Normally I'd go back and read them in order but this didn't engage me enough to do that.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher.   I actually enjoyed this book, good storyline, good characters and well worth a read.

I absolutely love Julies books and this is no different. In fact, this might be my favourite book yet. I know I say that every book but this is definitely a great read. I have been completely torn between wanting to devour page after page and wanting to slowly enjoy each event as they have unfolded. </p>


This is another book with a beautiful setting, which I really wish I could escape to. Plus we have more fantastic characters. Our main character Grace will make you shake your head with disapproval throughout the book. She is a maneater and single mum oif a child who has additional needs. I honestly feel that this alone makes this a unique read and I wish more authors would touch on these aspects. </p>


The cover of this book is as gorgeous as previous books. It definitely makes you want to pick up the book. The cover is cute and sophisticated and definitely screams ''read me''.</p>


>I have to say Houston has covered the topic sensitively and as a reader you really do have a journey throughout this one. I can hand on heart say that this is a read which should be on everyone's TBR and is so highly deserving of a higher rating than five stars. </p>

Another fabulous escape to Westenbury. 

#NoSpoilers Julie Houston's latest addition to the Westenbury tales is fast and funny. Her storytelling doesn't pull any punches and is peppered with characters that you wonder about and miss long after you've finished reading.

A cracking story and a great read.

Highly Recommend.

In Which We Reunite With Grace....
A return to Westenbury where we reunite with Grace. Grace Stevens has now bid her husband an overdue farewell and is juggling life as only she knows how. Another entertaining entry in the life and loves of Grace Stevens, both amusing and enjoyable.

It was nice to be back in the village of Westenbury again. It did take me a while to remember who was who and what happened before to what character but once I did I enjoyed it. 
I have to shake my mature head at Grace who is in trouble again mainly because she likes men too much. She’s now a single parent with a child of a previous lover and an adopted child with special needs. As far as I can remember Grace and her husband adopted this little girl mainly to heal their marriage, how anyone let them adopt a child I don’t  know.
The book opens with a shock for everyone including the reader and most of the story revolves around this event and the ripples it creates throughout the community.
I love the friendship between Grace and Harriet and Juno and the others. Another good read from Julie Houston. I know these are stand alone books but if you read the others first you will enjoy it more.

A village vacancy is a nice story to spend a long weekend with. The characters and their lives pull you in enough to make this a good read.

A roller-coaster ride through the twists and turns of village life. Dealing with the ups, the downs and the gossip.

A tale of friendship, enemies, bed hopping and love.

Wonderful read. Lots of colourful characters that bounce straight off the page. A book that starts with a bump but the unusual first chapter setting is a great medium to draw the reader in. Grace, recently single and with 2 young children, one with a disability that pulled at my heart strings. A recently bereaved hunk. An idyllic setting. As a reader this book has it all.

Another great story from Julie Houston. We catch up with the residents of Westernbury, a real mix of likable and interesting characters and certainly some quirky names. A warm and funny story that I definitely recommend reading.

From start to finish in one sitting. Brilliant!

We return to Westenbury a small village with a lot of secrets! Condemned romances, dodgy characters and a few twists along the way! You don’t want to miss this! 

Praise for Julie Houston, well written easy read, but gripping!

I love Julie Houston’s books and her newest is a hoot. Filled with warmth and humor, A VILLAGE VACANCY finds Grace Stevens sans husband and looking to start life afresh. But life is life, filled with crises topped with a dollop of hope. Will she end up with the village’s most eligible widower? Can she help bring down a drug ring? Can she wrangle her classroom of disorderly pre-pubescents? Yikes! A charming respite from today’s wrenching pandemic.

4 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 22 Oct 2020

Thanks to the author, Aria & Aries, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#AVillageVacancy #NetGalley

This is a really interesting warm and funny book from the first page. The plot to the story really has you wanting to read more and you want to find out what happens next well worth reading.  The characters are brilliant and the plot is fantastic. 
We go back to the lovely village of westenbury in Yorkshire and they are mourning the loss I'd a woman who has lived in the village for years and can someone fill the vacancy of the widowers life. Grave wants to move forward with out her husband as he's off in search of a new life. She returns to teaching and teaches pre school children.  She has to start learning to cope with disasters with in work and with her most troublesome pupils dad. Can she sort these issues out and will she get closer to him than she thinks and will grace fill the vacancy with in the village. 
A simply must read this summer.

Struggled a bit with this one. The biggest is that I really didn't like the main character Grace. Might be my age, but felt her a bit young and hard edged at times. I would probably like this better if I was in my 20s. If you are, then I would recommend this one. If you are in your 50s maybe pass.

Three and a half stars.

I can't decide about my feelings when it comes to this book. I've read three of Julie Houston's previous books in what I would describe as a series although it isn't listed as such, all set in the same small village.

This book sort of centres on Grace's love life, although the plot barely involves Grace. If Grace were working class she'd be described as a feckless single mother, but because she's a middle-class teacher it seems fine that she had an affair with a much younger man, the son of her former school-girl crush, which resulted in a baby, then got back with her husband after he had an affair, adopted a baby and now, as this book opens she realises that she and her husband are no longer in love and need to separate.

Returning to work as a part-time teacher Grace is given the most challenging class in the local school. Then an erotic encounter becomes an embarrassment when her one-night stand turns out to be the married father of one of her most unruly pupils. If it wasn't for the friendship and support of her son's grandfather, the impossibly handsome and recently widowed David, Grace doesn't know how she could cope.

All the ins-and-outs of Grace's love life are mixed in with serious issues affecting even the smallest villages in the UK. Okay there was reliance on quite a few coincidences to drive the plot and I thought some of the big reveals were either telegraphed or actually stated earlier in the book, so not much of a surprise TBH.

But overall, a fun read with plenty of humour.

I was invited to read a free copy of this novel by the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I cannot tell you just how much I adored this book. I’m an avid reader of Julie Houston’s novels, and their heady combination of heart and humour draws me in every time. There’s something truly magical about following this remarkable group of women through their lives, each one skilfully brought to life by the author’s beautiful language and masterful grasp of human nature. This novel is no exception. We know Grace, Harriet, Juno and co; they feel like everyone’s favourite friends, and the warmth between them streams from the pages like rays of sunlight on the darkest of days.

Grace is trying to get on with things, having agreed to separate (once and for all) from her husband Dan, and also to take on a full time teaching post at the local primary school. Still reeling, like her dear friend Harriet, from the death of someone who has had a huge influence on their lives, she tries to ignore the stronger and stronger flutters she’s getting every time she’s around Westenbury’s most eligible widower. With the ‘help’ of her wild class of Year 5 students, an ill fated night out to see a very unlikely stripper and a mad five minutes in the back garden of a pub with a total stranger, this is harder at some times than others. But the incorrigible and indomitable Grace, with the help of her steadfast group of mates, isn’t to be cast down for long. Throw in a broad canvas of characters and madcap escapades, and you’re in for a real treat!

With enough twists and turns to keep you up into the night reading, and all the right moments of humour and anguish, ‘A Village Vacancy’ is a tour de force of beautiful, funny and emotional storytelling that will leave you, as it left me, desperate for the next instalment. I loved this book, and I know you will, too!