Ellie Cooke is worried about keeping her job. The public relations firm she’s been working for is having problems. The partners split, and business has been slowing ever since. But there is some hope on the horizon. Nolan Reece is buying the company, and he has very specific ideas on what he wants to do with the firm. He wants to go green.
Nolan is a vegetarian and an environmentally conscious businessman. He thinks that companies are looking for an ethical, conscientious PR firm to represent them. So he is reinventing the business as Viridian PR and specializing in representing companies who are striving to make the world better.
Ellie is excited. It sounds like Nolan wants to breathe new life into the company, and it needs it. But she’s not so sure if she’s the right person to be there for it. She spends her weekends buying instant fashion at the stores of the energy-slurping mall, which she drives to in her big Mercedes. But she’s determined to do what it takes to keep her job.
Her first foray into environmentalism brings her to a demonstration outside the mall. She saw on social media that Nolan was going to be there, so she jumped in and got ready to participate alongside him. Only, it turns out that Nolan was just watching as the hardcore Warriors for the Planet showed their dedication to the cause by acting out the deaths of the animals killed by climate change and human interference in their habitats.
In order to prove her dedication to the environment, Ellie also fills the office with potted plants, dresses up as a plastic bottle for a potential client, and shows off her love of hemp underwear in an embarrassing moment in her boss’s office. But all this hard work pays off, as Ellie not only gets to keep her job but gets promoted to Nolan’s #2 in the company.
As Ellie gets to know their clients, spending time with them and getting caught up in their passion for their causes, she gets caught up too. The Mercedes gets traded in for a hybrid. The disposable fashion gets traded in for used and vintage clothes she finds online. And the previous, forest destroying boyfriend gets traded in for Nolan.
But when she finds something out that could destroy the firm’s ethical, environmental reputation, Ellie is faced with a dilemma—does she go along with the lie to keep her job, or does she stand by her newfound principles and stay true to her new green?
Going Green is the newest novel from laughter inducing British writer Nick Spalding. Although this book gets a little deep into some serious questions of morality, there are also several sequences where Ellie finds herself overthinking her way into awkward and hilarious situations, and in one instance, a septic tank. Finding a balance between the self-righteous and the self-indulgent, Spalding takes these characters to extremes for our education and enjoyment.
I really enjoyed Going Green. I liked the characters (except for the obvious ones I wasn’t supposed to like), and I enjoyed the story. There were laughs, there were surprises, there was a little bit of guilt for being such an evil consumer, but there was also balance. I recommend this one, or any of Spalding’s novels, for any reader looking for a bit of a laugh at the end of a long day. Lots of green fun!
Egalleys for Going Green were provided by Amazon Publishing UK through NetGalley, with many thanks.
