I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella

review by Maryom

When Fixie Farr saves a stranger's laptop from certain destruction, he, Sebastian, is so grateful he scribbles her an IOU. Does he really intend her to take it up? Certainly, Fixie treats it as a joke, until former boyfriend Ryan re-enters her life down on his luck, and she decides she has the perfect way to help him by taking up Sebastian's offer. 
Fixie is known in her family for being able to solve any problem. Show her something wrong, and she can't help but try to put it right. The only thing she can't seem to fix is her own life.



This is another enjoyable rom-com from Sophie Kinsella. It's an easy, light read; comforting in its familiarity as the story-line progresses from meet-cute, through various troubles and misunderstandings, to happy-ever-after. 
Fixie is similar to many of Kinsella's heroines - naive, gullible, put-upon and manipulated by family and friends, and too easily taken in by a guy's handsome appearance - but one I quickly sided with. The guys seem to polarise between kind-hearted good guy and irritating manipulators, and none of them seem to really appreciate Fixie's charms or intelligence. All of this is, again, par for the course with rom-coms, but familiar and comforting were what I was looking for when I picked this up, and this soothing predictability worked its charm on me.

Maryom's review - 4 stars

Publisher - Black Swan (Transworld)

Genre - adult fiction, romcom, 

Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella

review by Maryom

Sylvie and Dan seem to be a perfect couple - they've been together ten years, have a happy marriage, twin daughters, and a lovely home. They've grown so close, they can tell what the other is thinking, can finish their sentences, predict their every move. They're looking forward to a long life together  ... till someone mentions that could be sixty-eight years! Sixty-eight years! How can any relationship survive that long, especially when they know each other so well? Suddenly the future is stretching out before - filled with boredom! What they should do, they decide, is surprise each other more often - with unexpected gifts, sexy lingerie, brunch dates, even a new pet - but soon Sylvie begins to think Dan is not so much trying to surprise her, as keep secrets from her.
Sylvie's professional life is also under scrutiny, as the niche museum she works for finds itself being roughly dragged into the twenty-first century.

Surprise Me is the latest stand-alone novel from Shopaholic series author Sophie Kinsella - and a little bit different to her other books. It starts out pretty much as you would expect from a romcom  - light-hearted, with misunderstandings and pratfalls, as the couple try to outdo each other in their attempts to liven up their marriage, but the last third of the book moves into murkier territory as the secrets Dan's been keeping are gradually brought to light. Even so, I really enjoyed it. It's perhaps on the whole, not as laugh out loud funny as other of Sophie Kinsella's work, but that's balanced by a deeper insight into long-term relationships, and the secrets families hide beneath a happy exterior.

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Bantam Press
Genre - adult, romcom

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

review by Maryom

Katie likes everyone to believe she's leading the perfect life - a dream job in London, a fancy apartment, wining and dining at the trendiest places - but really nothing could be further from the truth - her job is entry-level admin, she lives in a tiny room in a house shared with dreadful house mates, and her insider knowledge of where to eat comes from newspapers and magazines. One day, her life will match her dreams, until then she endures the commute, manages without space for a wardrobe, and stalks her mega-talented, oh-so-successful boss Demeter, who really does seem to be living the dream.
Could Katie's not-so-perfect life get worse? Unfortunately, yes. The gorgeous man she's just met turns out to be having an affair with Demeter, and on top of that, Katie loses her job. There's nothing for it but to head home to Somerset and help with her dad's latest project, turning the family farm into a swish glamping location, pretending all the while that she's merely on sabbatical ...

As you'd expect from Sophie Kinsella, this is a light, fun read - one to curl up with and forget the world, like comfort food in a book. I'm happy enough to read a gritty thriller, or a heavy literary classic , but there' still space on my shelf for a well-crafted romcom, and Kinsella is one of my favourite authors in this field.
The characters are vaguely familiar - a young, impressionable woman, trying to live the dream but frequently disappointed; a tall, handsome man with a twinkle in his eye that says he'd like to know her better, but (of course, there's a 'but') he might not be as free as Katie thinks; and the formidable 'other woman', in this case Katie's boss, Demeter - but familiarity is part of the comfort of a light romcom read. It's funny and a little wicked, as Katie tries to get her revenge by coaxing Demeter into joining in bizarre spiritual rituals, because "Gwyneth" does, and we can all laugh, because we'd never be persuaded to do that, right?
 There is, if you like, a message here too - that, no matter what you read or how you feel, everyone else is NOT leading that perfect life, that social media and aspirational blogs only show a slanted view of life, capturing the good times, and ignoring the bad - so don't believe everything you read on the web ...

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Bantam Press
Genre - adult, romcom

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Toddler Tantrums
review by Maryom

Beckie Brandon (nee Bloomwood) and husband Luke now have a two year old daughter, Minnie - and guess what her favourite game is? Yes, shopping - or more accurately, grabbing everything in the shop and yelling "Miiine". Not, of course, that mum Becky would let her have everything she wants, would she? But after all, she's not buying things for herself and even in a major financial recession with banks closing down and everyone (even Mum and Janice-next-door) having to cut back, who can resist a toddler..
Minnie is worse than your average toddler in other ways - being thrown out of playgroups and banned from Santa's Grottoes, leads Luke to decide it's time for some professional help in the form of Nanny Sue, a 'supernanny' type who claims to be able to sort out all tricky family problems. Meanwhile Becky thinks that the best thing to cheer everyone up in the midst of such gloom and doom is a surprise birthday party for Luke.

This time Becky is discovering the competitive cut-throat world of being a modern mum and the delights of 'pound shops' and bartering in her attempts to make money go just that little bit further. In typical Becky fashion, things don't go totally according to plan but there's lots of laughs on the way to (hopefully) a happy ending.

It's no secret that in between grisly murders and thought-provoking literary fiction I'm a Shopaholic fan and this new addition to the series is a lovely, laugh a minute, escapist read - of course, my toddlers were never anything like Minnie!

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Transworld Publishing

Genre - Chick lit

Buy Mini Shopaholic from Amazon

Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella

How Did She End Up Like This???
review by Maryom

Lexi is down on her luck - no bonus from work, stood up by her boyfriend and her father's funeral in the morning. To drown her sorrows she goes out with her best friends, trips while running for a taxi ....... and wakes up in hospital to a changed world - she's older, richer, been promoted, married, she's even had her teeth straightened! The down-side is, she's no longer the cheerful friendly person she was but has turned into a bitch-boss from hell. The intervening years are a blank, so how did she get this way and can she rediscover the old Lexi?

This isn't a new book but something I came across in a box of books we picked up through Freecycle and has been sitting in a to be read pile for far too long. The Shopaholic novels from Sophie Kinsella have to be my favourite laugh out loud chick lit series and I think even from the same author they take some living up to. Having said that, I think this is one of Sophie Kinsella's better non-Shopaholic stories. I picked Remember Me up off the shelf after a run of tense thrillers and heart churning rollercoasters when I was feeling in need of something light and amusing - and it fitted the bill precisely. It's fun and enjoyable and sometimes that's what you're looking for.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Black Swan/Transworld
Genre - chick lit


Buy Remember Me? from Amazon

Shopaholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella

Becky Bloomwood's back - this time taking on New York.
review by Maryom

Continuing my Shopaholic reading challenge with OneMorePage.
Confessions of a Shopaholic finished on a high note - Becky had got a new job with more pay and paid off all her debts, BUT, in the months since then, 'taking the long view' and 'investing' in her career have started to run up the bills again, and her favourite bank manager has retired to be replaced with someone far less sympathetic.
Now she's off to New York with her entrepreneur boyfriend, Luke, who's looking to expand his business there. Unfortunately, it's a place full of opportunities to spend - from bijou shops to flashy department stores, sample sales to the Guggenheim Museum, everything says 'buy me' and this time her debts really are going to catch up with her in a most unpleasant way.
Another wonderful Shopaholic book, in many ways funnier than Confessions. Who but Becky would try to get round packing for the weekend by having their clothes delivered by courier, direct to the hotel? Who else, out to impress their boyfriend's mother at an important lunch, would get mistaken for a waitress? but when it comes to the crunch and Luke's business is failing apart around his ears, who but Becky can save it?

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Transworld Publishing

Genre - Chick-Lit


Shopaholic Abroad can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Shop Till You Drop
review by Maryom

I was inspired to re-read this by the Shopaholic challenge at onemorepage.co.uk I don't think I'm likely to finish all 5 books before September, but I thought I'd give it a go.

This is undoubtedly one of my favourite chick-lit feel good reads. Becky Bloomwood is a financial journalist who knows all about finance - unless it involves her own personal spending. Starting with an interest free overdraft after leaving university, she just keeps adding to it - and ignoring any nasty little bank and credit card statements that turn up in the post. At last though, she feels some action is needed. First she tries Cutting Back - this somehow leads to MORE spending. Then she tries Making More Money - hhmm, no that doesn't work either. How is she ever going to sort out her finances?

I actually prefer its original title of Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic because so much of Becky's time is spent in that dreamworld - where she will win the lottery, be photographed on the street for magazines, be swept off her feet by a movie star - rather than the dull one of financial journalism. It's only when she starts to take her journalism seriously, instead of it being a stop-gap job on the way to bigger things, that she accidentally finds a way out of her financial mess.

I've heard the Shopaholic series knocked for portraying Becky as a scatter-headed bimbo, saying it doesn't provide a suitable role model for today's young women, but chick lit is meant to be light, fluffy and escapist, and that's what the Shopaholic books are all about. I love them!

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Transworld Publishing

Genre - Chick-Lit


Confessions of a Shopaholic can be bought from Amazon