Happy Release Day!
Congratulations Willa
on the release today of
A Gritty Little Tourist Town!
A Gritty Little Tourist Town: Bar Tales from Costa Rica by Willa Goodfellow
Published April 7, 2026 by She Writes Press
Fans of Bill Bryson will love this intimate and humorous memoir surrounding a group of expats as they entertain each other with their stories at a bar in a Costa Rican village.
Willa and her wife travel to Costa Rica to visit family—but what they discover is far more than they expected . In a sleepy fishing village on the Pacific coast, they meet a vibrant, curious group of expats who have come looking for paradise—or at least cheap beer.
At the Pato Loco, a local bar where stories flow as freely as the drinks, they meet Mama, the blind seventy-two-year-old co-owner of the place; her partner Mary, Willa’s sister, a bartender and installation artist; Richie, the aging hippie whose words are few but weighty; and a whole cast of unforgettable characters who will answer questions like:
- What is it really like to live in another country?
- How important is it to learn the local language?
- How does a tight-knit community face the pressure of development?
- Can you survive dengue—and would you want to?
- Oh, and how do you perform CPR on a fish?
A collection of stories full of humor, heart, and wisdom from unexpected places, A Gritty Little Tourist Town follows Willa as she discovers connection within this community of strangers—one bar tale at a time.
My thoughts about A Gritty Little Tourist Town ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
I've read other books similar to A Gritty Little Tourist Town—a book filled with stories of the people and places that the author has visited or lived around. And I have enjoyed my trip to those places right along with the author. And I love meeting the fun, sometimes quirky, people that the author comes across.
A Gritty Little Tourist Town took me on a little vacation to Costa Rica, where I got to know the natives and laughed right along with them, while drinking our beers at the bar. I enjoyed the camaraderie of the gang and loved the little stories that the author shared.
This is the perfect summer read since it is so easy to pick up and put down, enjoying little chapters here and there. I highly recommend it for a wonderful, fun escape.
I received an ARC of A Gritty Little Tourist Town and this is my honest opinion of the book.
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About the author
Willa Goodfellow is the author of Prozac Monologues: A Voice from the Edge. Combining comedic monologues written in the throes of hypomania with later edgy commentary and information about the bipolar spectrum, the book describes her being misdiagnosed with major depression and treated with a series of antidepressants that made her progressively more suicidal and led to her early retirement. She turned a corner as she researched her symptoms, discovered her bipolar diagnosis, and put together her own recovery.
After decades in more conventional ministries as an Episcopal priest, this graduate of Reed College and Yale Divinity School has turned her preaching chops toward mental health journalism and advocacy. Goodfellow is an author, blogger, tweeter, and public speaker. Still doing comedy, she is currently working on her next book, Bar Tales of Costa Rica. ~ Amazon
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