This is Nick Spalding on top form. ‘Going Green’ has all you could wish for in a modern rom-com - a brilliantly funny and relatable heroine in Ellie along with a great supporting cast of characters, generous helpings of Mr Spalding’s trademark slapstick set-pieces including one starring a wayward parrot and another particularly toe-curling nightmare featuring a pair of planet-saving eco-knickers; there’s also a background of social comment about global warming running alongside a pinch of romance for good measure. Not wanting to give anything away, but there is also an skilful unforeseen twist at the end that completely made the whole experience for me and I turned the last page definitely wanting to give both Ellie and Mr Spalding a well deserved high five for reaching such a satisfying conclusion.

Thoroughly recommended. Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing, to Mr Spalding and to NetGalley for letting me read and review this very entertaining book.

Whilst I am not convinced that comic novels are the best vehicle for putting across serious messages ‘Going Green’ makes a decent fist of the attempt to piggy back serious environmental issues onto a humorous tale. In truth, the humour works better than the ‘green’ messaging. Nick Spalding has a rare gift that makes it difficult to read his books in bed next to a partner who is reading something serious. The stifled laughs - and indeed ripping guffaws and giggles - are always going to irritate someone who isn’t reading the same humorous text!

The storyline is fine, mixing as it does a bit of romcom, a slice of revenge, gentle mocking of green zealots and the deserved victory of good over evil......perhaps that overstates things, but the good guy (gal?) comes out on top.

If this book doesn’t prompt a fair number of laughs, chuckles and occasional hysterical laughter it may be that you need your sense of humour upgraded!

Recommended

A humorous look at environmental issues through the eyes of a thirty something woman desperately trying to save her job. The PR company Ellie works for has been in decline and begins laying off employees prior to being sold to a young, handsome entrepreneur that is moving the company into a different direction by taking on only environmentally sustainable companies to represent. Ellie embarks on a mission to prove that she is serious minded and fully committed to saving the environment thus making her the perfect employee to retain on the job. What follows are a series of somewhat humorous often disastrous events that Ellie finds herself at the center of. While I didn’t find this to be laugh out loud funny there were times I found myself chuckling. Through it all the message comes across that our planet needs our help and it is up to all of us to find our own way to help. * NOTE: as a reader from the US many of the terms were unfamiliar to me and I was thankful that I read this on my Kindle to quickly look up definitions.

Ellie decides to remake her life and become not only green but an eco-"worrier" when the PR firm she works over is taken over by ardent environmentalist Nolan Reece. Good idea and a good message but the novel itself felt frantic and slapstick-y at times. Spalding has hit all the tropes and caricatures of the green movement. It might make you laugh out loud in spots (I did once or twice) but you might also find yourself flipping pages to find out what happens. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

I love all of Nick Spaldings books and they never fail to make me chuckle. This one isn't my favourite but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

Ellie is such a hoot. She has mild to to no control over what she says or does. She acts completely on impulse, and it is delightful. This is the first book I've read by Nick Spalding, and I really enjoyed it. He has a very unique writing style that takes a minute to get used to, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I'm looking forward to checking out more of his work.

I thought this was adorable and funny. After a new owner takes over the PR firm Ellie works at, the new owner decides the new direction for the company is to be very environmentally conscious and friendly - it's a crusade for him really. So our MC, Ellie, also takes on that crusade - in a effort to keep her job.

But along the way she makes mistakes, sure, but most of them are really telling small lies and getting backed in to a corner. It also means, however, that she learns a lot as well - about how to be more environmentally conscious. Sure, the story was silly at times and there were a few times I cringe and chuckled, but this was the perfect, light, up-beat cute story I needed when I picked it up. So glad I gave it a try!

I found this to be a delightful romp in and out of love while trying to keep her career.
Often funny, and (perhaps unintentionally ironic.

Gets my recommendation !

Nick Spalding wrote a comical novel with a serious undertone about the importance of going green. He also showed the value of treating people kindly through the quick witted Ellie. She learns to be strong and stand up for what she knows is right after finding out her boss (and lover) is not who he leads people to believe he is . Other than the language being a little strong for my liking, I enjoyed Going Green.

A lighthearted book about a funny professional woman who realized that her made-up lie to keep her job is really a platform worth fighting for. We follow her from lie-to-lie as she pretends to be environmentally conscious to keep her job and as a result, gets herself mixed up in hilarious antics. But the deeper she delves into this world, she begins to realize that it's something that's actually important to her and she becomes serious in her quest to make a difference. A light, easy read that combines humor, romance and a lesson for all of us.

I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley.
This is the 2nd book I've read by Nick Spalding. The two that I've read are both a bit over the top and remind me of a Bridget Jones type humor which some people might consider over the top. I enjoyed this book about a woman who tries to impress her new boss by looking more environmentally-conscious than she actually is, but then she really gets into it. I laughed out loud several times while reading this book.

Ellie is going to lose her job. The PR company she works for has just been sold and the new boss need to makes some cuts. Ellie needs to impress Nolan, her new boss. And if it means going all green and environmental crazy., this is what she is going to do. But when in the process Ellie will really learn a lesson about the climate change and the importance of doing what we can and she will find her strength to become a better person, Hilarious, funny and wake up global consciousness.

Brilliant! Laugh out loud funny!

I have not read nick Spalding (something I will now be rectifying) before and was intrigued by this book synopsis.

From start to finish it was hilarious, I love the character of Ellie. She is so relatable. The book follows Ellie as she faces redundancy, turns her world view around in order to keep her job, and learns a lot about saving the planet and who she really is.

While covering a very important topic in a very down to Earth way, this book will have you shrieking with laughter at the scenarios Ellie find herself in.

The ending is a triumph and I truly hope Ellie succeeds in her new venture!

I absolutely LOVED this book by Nick Spalding, and was honoured to be able to read it for free, in return for providing an honest review.

I love his style of writing and this story is extremely witty, clever and well written. It flows so well, and I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen. Read it - you won’t be disappointed!

While climate change is a very serious topic, this is not a very serious book in many ways. Afraid that she is about to lose her PR job when the company she works for is sold to Nolan, someone interested in representing environmentally conscious companies, Ellie goes all out to make herself appear greener than she is. This leads to many blunders and at times can be a bit unbelievable. In the course of performing her new job as second in command, she actually does become very concerned about the environment, which only leads to more chaos in her life. Heartwarming in the end, Ellie finds her new path and hopefully makes a positive impact on climate change.

The publishers describe Nick Spalding’s style as “genre-spanning, humorous writing”, and that’s probably about as accurate as you’re going to get. His books are impossible to pigeon hole. Apart from the laughs — which are guaranteed — you can never be sure what you’re going to get.

I haven’t read any Spalding for a long time; not since his “Love … “ series, which I pretty much devoured. Based on that experience and the blurb for Going Green, I fully expected this latest novel to be a lighthearted romp of a romcom.

I couldn’t have been farther off the mark. Yes, it’s very funny, frequently in a laugh-out-loud, actual guffawing, spray-the-coffee kind of way. And, yes, there is a bit of romance in there too. But, there’s actually quite a serious commentary about climate change and the environment running through the narrative as well, which adds to the whole “genre-spanning” vibe.

It’s an odd kind of mix, and I’m not convinced that Spalding pulls it off.

The premise is sound: PR girl Ellie is forced to “go green” or risk losing her job, when the firm she works for is taken over by environmentalist Nolan Reece. Cue all kinds of crazy shenanigans, as she tries to prove her green credentials and impress her new boss.

Unfortunately, the farce quickly descends into a cringe-making kind of slapstick that actually becomes embarrassing to read at times. Instead of rooting for Ellie, I found myself being turned off by her crazy, manic behaviour and the increasingly ridiculous situations she gets herself into.

Spalding does attempt to rescue the plot towards the end, with an unexpected twist, but not quite enough to fully redeem it in my eyes. There’s a fine balance between funny and cringe-worthy, and I’m afraid he lost his footing on this occasion.

My thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy of this book.

The premise and message of this story are good. Ellie becomes more "green" and Eco-friendly. I don't necessarily agree with her antics, but it was good to see that after a discussion with kids she saw that she needed to be better educated, and needed to make some serious changes, so she did. That is a message I think we all can and should get behind. Maybe not to the extreme that she did, but doing more to make our environment better is a good thing.
This story is supposed to be laugh out loud funny, but I did not find it humorous at all. I was completely turned off by the constant f-bomb and the descriptions of the male anatomy. I do not know any female who talks like Ellie does, it comes off more as locker room male humor. This is the first book that I have read by this author and it will be the last.
While there was things I did not like about the book, I did finish the book because I was curious how it ended. The writing overall is decent and the story line did make me want to finish the book. I love how Ellie handles the ending of the book and that is my favorite part of the book.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher and net galley for an honest review.

Ellie Cooke is pretty sure she's going to get fired from the best job she's ever had. The company is failing, she just had a huge fight, culminating in a break-up, in front of the whole office... oh and her ex happened to be a huge client (or at least he was...). So, when her boss says he's selling the company at first Ellie thinks it might not be such a bad idea. However, tides quickly change when the new boss, Nolan Reece, explains that he intends to move the PR company forward with an environmental kick.

It's not that Ellie doesn't care about the environment, she just hasn't thought about it much, or at all. So when she finds herself on the bad side of Nolan, Ellie decides to do whatever she can to make sure she keeps her job, even if it means becoming an eco-warrior.

I really wanted to like this book, and actually, I did like it for quite a while. Probably about 2/3 of the book I really enjoyed, but the ending really ruined it for me. Without providing any spoilers I will just say that I found all of the characters quite irredeemable in the end. I wasn't sure who I was supposed to care about or who I was supposed to be rooting for, if anyone. Despite the fact that Ellie kept telling herself she'd changed, it really didn't feel like that to me. It felt like everything she did was a show and more-so for her own good and she did everything spur of the moment instead of putting any actual thought into her actions. As much as I wanted to like this book the ending really killed it for me. Reading 2/3 of the way through only, I would have given the book a solid 4 of 5.

2/5 Stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Amazon Publishing UK for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had no choice but to award this read 5 stars. For me it was funny AND it did not conclude how I thought it would!
Ellie Cooke is desperate to keep her job at Stratagem PR when it is taken over by Nolan Reece. Nolan is an environmentalist and is looking to represent ecological companies working hard to save the planet. Good-time, somewhat disorganised and hapless Ellie, is hardly the embodiment of all that is 'green'. For a woman in her thirties she comes across as rather immature, often in need of older brother Sean's wisdom.
However Ellie comes up with a plan to keep her job by pretending that she cares deeply about single use plastic, energy saving lightbulbs, not eating meat and protecting the oceans. And she needs to work fast, as she nearly ran over her to-be-boss Nolan in her clobberdy-bang (such a super word!) class C petrol guzzling C class Mercedes, so first impressions need to be reversed!
What then ensues is a hilarious collection of attempts by Ellie to impress. She starts by joining Worriors for the Plonet (the a's have been replaced by earth symbols) in a public demonstration outside a shopping centre where she is required to participate in a 'die-in'. The scenes and dialogue just kept me in stitches, aghast but entertained by the sheer lengths Ellie will go to, to fake her belief in promoting greener ways.
Along the way she meets some super characters, a Joanna Lumley look-a-like, Petal O'Hare who partners husband Mordred in their business Veganthropy, Kevin the inventor of the bamboo electric bike (where Nolan ends up careering across a roundabout and catapulting over the handlebars, whilst Ellie's nether regions suffer on the cement like saddle), and the 12-year old founder (not really, he just looks very young) of Hempaware, maker of all things hemp. The scene where she is itching so much from wearing hemp knickers had me crying with laughter, as did her meal with Nolan in the bird sanctuary. Basically whatever could go wrong does go wrong and yet you can't help willing Ellie to carry on doing good. She is the sort of person that would either irritate you in real life or charm with her ditsy-doings.
There is a romantic angle to the story too and a sense of someone changing for the better, actually learning more about the environment and instead of faking interest actually believing in a new way of living. She is helped along by her brother's Year 6 class and all the clients she builds relationships with. She might not be a fan to start with but she undergoes a huge transformation to the point where she becomes so obsessed she ends up in a septic tank!
As well as entertaining me, I too found the topic fascinating and it got me thinking about all the ways I could make a difference myself.
With an unexpected turn in the tale, Ellie Cooke will take you by surprise and prove that we can all do What We Can if we are brave enough to try.
(I am also going to start reading more Nick Spalding books.)

DNF

Not my cup of tea, could not warm to the lead character I’m afraid. Have awarded 2 stars as there is nothing wrong with the writing I just couldn’t get on with the book, I got about a third of the way through but didn’t finish.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.