There’s having a bad day . . . and then there’s having a Very Bad Day.
Thirty-something single mum Jenny James is used to the typical run-in-your-tights, milk-turned-sour, break-a-nail bad kind of day. Attitude from her teenage son? Count on it. Car problems? To be expected. Never quite enough money for monthly expenses? Guaranteed.
And then arrives the Very Bad Day–when Jenny finds out her dull but reliable office job is in jeopardy, her car totally and completely breaks down, and she arrives home (on foot) just in time to see her modest-but-cozy cottage sliding off a cliff into the sea. Jenny’s life–not to mention her home–has reached its ultimate low point.
Estranged from her parents since she became pregnant at age eighteen and set out on her own, Jenny has nowhere to turn when she and her son, Charlie, find themselves without a place to live. Her neighbor, the reclusive but attractive Luke who lives alone with his dog in a surprisingly homey RV, opens up his camper–and his vagabond lifestyle–to Jenny and her son.
As the unlikely threesome–four including the dog–hit the road, Jenny finds herself experiencing a new sense of freedom as she reflects on who she was, who she is, and who she could become. Maybe when you fall, you actually find the best way to move forward.
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My Review
This book is about hitting rock bottom, pressing reset, and discovering that it’s never too late to put yourself back on your own list. Jenny James Is Not a Disaster begins with an epically awful day—one of those catastrophes that instantly makes you feel better about your own—and turns it into the starting point for reinvention.
Jenny is a single mum in her thirties who has spent her entire adult life putting her son first, and the relationship between Jenny and her eighteen-year-old son, Charlie, is one of the book’s greatest strengths. Their bond is warm, supportive, and full of love, and Charlie’s encouragement of his mum’s dreams is genuinely heart-melting.
Enter Luke Henderson, a man described as “an enigma wrapped in a mystery,” wise, kind, and carrying his own quiet regrets. After crossing paths on Jenny’s very bad day, he becomes the unexpected catalyst for change, offering Jenny and Charlie an escape in his camper van, Joy. What follows is a physical and emotional road trip across England, filled with self-discovery, healing, and laughter.
Debbie Johnson’s writing is witty, sharp, and laugh-out-loud funny. Jenny’s voice is a joy to live in, making this a comforting, uplifting story about self-love, courage, and new beginnings.
My Rating
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