by Sophie Kinsella

This weekend,” she says, sotto voce. “It’s mad. It’s the maddest ever party, ever.” “Agreed.” “I can’t believe you’ve stayed hidden this long,” she adds. “You must want to leap out and say, Surprise!” “Nope,” I say. “Not even a tiny part of you?” I try to imagine Krista’s face if I popped up from under the brunch table, brandishing a pair of cheerleader’s pom-poms, yelling, It’s me! I mean, it would be quite funny. Until the recriminations and carnage began.

There’s a moment of silence—then I lift my chin firmly and walk into Greenoaks. Effie Talbot is in the house.

This book was a pure joy. It’s not deep, there are no serious issues tackled unless you count the importance of family and keeping the lines of communication open (hardly an uncommon message in chick lit, or women’s fiction if you will, or, OK, just fiction) I teared up a couple of times near the end, but it was hardly heart-rending. But it was one of those books that I not only enjoyed but made me happy. It took me back to those rare times when reading a book just engulfed me. Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt when I was a pre or young teen, Barbara Michaels and Georgette Heyer a little later, and recently, Milly Johnson, Kristan Higgins, and Mhairi MacFarlane. Also, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Effie as well as her brother and sister, have been estranged from their father since his divorce from their beloved stepmother and his new relationship with the avaricious but sexy schemer, Krista. To her horror, she learns the two are selling their huge, quirky, and beloved childhood home. Krista is throwing a big “House-cooling” Party, to which Effie, who has been Krista’s main antagonist, was not properly invited.

She decides to secretly infiltrate the party to save a precious childhood treasure. She hides in attics, secret alcoves, under tables, and behind bushes, all the while observing and listening to all of the goings-on. She learns a lot and is eventually aided by her sister and brother and her ex, Joe, her first love who broke her heart. The set-up is genius. It promises adventure, suspense, comedy, ah-ha! and oh no! moments, and romance. It delivers on all counts. And of course, we have some twists and surprises for the reader as well as Effie. All of the beautifully realized characters have their stories which, needless to say, all come to satisfying resolutions. It’s one of those books that you want to read slower so it will last but just can’t help just gobbling up. I think I need to add a special shelf on GoodReads for books like these.

November 11, 2021

By Sophie Kinsella

I had to speed read through a good portion of this one because I found the Heroine and the Ghost both so incredibly annoying. The Heroine, due to her blind obsession with and criminal behavior towards her ex, and Sadie, the ghost, for her unreasonable and constant screeching and selfishness. Lara’s great Aunt Sadie, who is a ghost, starts to haunt Lara. Sadie gives her the mission to find her missing necklace. It’s a fantasy. In the course of her mission, Lara learns many things. It kind of got bogged down, but things got back on track about 2/3 through when Lara came to her senses about her ex-boyfriend. The romance was pretty great, and the resolution was top notch.**3 stars out of 5**

October 4, 2016

by Sophie Kinsella

“When you read my texts, you saw a curt, miserable git. And you told me so. Maybe you’re right. But you know what I saw when I read yours?”
“No. And I don’t want to know.”
“I saw a girl who races to help others but doesn’t help herself. And right now you need to help yourself. No one should walk up the aisle feeling inferior or in a different league or trying to be something they’re not.”

This was a cute book with a likable heroine, despite her tendency to let people to run roughshod over her. Unfortunately the whole book is founded on a false premise. If you lose your phone, you do not ever lose your number, so the whole phone sharing thing was just dumb and unnecessary. It did help that at halfway through the book, Sam, the hero, told her some much needed home truths about her inferiority complex, neediness, and fear of not being liked. He nailed it when he needled her, “Please Like Me! Please Like me!”. Good for him, she needed that wake-up call.**spoiler**

I was very disappointed in Poppy when she went back to Magnus after he cheated on her(with that horror of a wedding planner, no less!). She did come to her senses, albeit not until standing in front of the altar. I liked the arc his parents took, from hateful to likable, when Poppy learned the truth.**end spoiler**

Enjoyed the sub-plot of the corporate intrigue at Sam’s company. Unfortunately, it was not apparent enough for me, that Poppy developed a backbone and sufficiently became a stronger more sensible person.**4 out of 5 stars**

September 6, 2016

By Sophie Kinsella

In Can You Keep a Secret? an ordinary girl with a kind heart becomes involved with the owner and founder of the multinational company she works for. She is a kind of a Bridget Jones character in a kind of Bridget Jones-type position. Jack, the founder of the company, is a Steve Jobs type (but a decent human being). It is an unlikely romance, and certainly kept my interest. There was a lot of chemistry between them. Emma has quite an inferiority complex due to her family circumstances, and is prone to get herself in embarrassing situations. Kinsella shows us rather than tells us how charming, and attractive she must be despite her self-deprecating inner voice that we, the readers, are privy to. A flight attendant upgrades her coach seat to business class for no apparent reason that is told to us, her best friend is a high powered brilliant lawyer, people she runs into are friendly, nice, and seem as fond of her as I was: the waiter at the high end restaurant Jack takes her to on their first date, Antonio the restaurant owner, and Aiden the barista. Not to mention, her boyfriend Connor. He is successful, handsome, nice, and quite a catch. He is crazy about her and heart-broken when she breaks up with him. I loved Emma from the beginning and was really invested in her and her relationships. Unlike the heroine in the other Kinsella I read, Remember Me?, she is not a doormat. She stands up for herself. I loved Jack as well. The scene at the picnic where he puts her mean cousin Kerry in her place is priceless. The inevitable misunderstandings and conflicts are understandable and resolved in a timely manner; neither party being too dumb to live. Oh, did I mention? The book was hilarious. The ending was very satisfying and I loved the epilogue. **5 out of 5 stars

July 27, 2016

by Sophie Kinsella

I’m a whiz kid! I have strategic visions of the future! I just hope I wrote them down somewhere.

This was very much a light-hearted take on an amnesia-stricken heroine. Both Kinsella’s writing and the story were very enjoyable, although I think, in this case, the intrigue of the amnesia plot was what kept me interested to the end and looking forward to reading the next chapter. I enjoyed the humor and funny situations Lexi found herself in, but the story really kicked in about 30% into it when she finally started to realize that not all in her life was as perfect as it appeared to be. The overarching mystery of the story was how she could have changed so utterly and completely from an awkward insecure unremarkable drone to a sleek, fashionable business dynamo in 3 years. I was afraid this would be a plot hole that Kinsella was not going to address, but at last she does, and very believably. I was frustrated by how naïve and trusting Lexi was of her reprobate sister who betrayed and lied to her time and again, although Amy did achieve some measure of redemption at the end. Also, no matter how many times she explains her amnesia to her mother (horrible selfish weak woman), co-workers, “friends”, and even her Knight in shining armor, they continually act surprised when she doesn’t remember something. This was really a weakness towards the end when Jon, her one strong and reliable ally, has his “I-can’t–believe-you-didn’t-remember-that” moment that comes within a hair’s breadth of causing a disaster and devastating failure. I do wonder if I would enjoy any of her other books as well as this one because I’m kind of a sucker for amnesia stories. **4 stars out of 5**

July 04, 2016