I’ve got your number: A Novel by Sophie Kinsella

Believe me or not I’ve got your number was released in Italy a few months ago (translation: Ho il tuo numero) , it hasn’t been released in english yet.

The original english version is usually the one I prefer but desperate times call for desperate measures and I needed something fun & entertaining, I knew I could rely on Sophie Kinsella.

From Goodreads:

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry the ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her ‘happy ever after’ begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring but in the panic that followed, she has now lost her phone. As she paces shakily round the hotel foyer she spots an abandoned phone in a bin. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!
Well, perfect except the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal life.
What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents… she soon realises that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

First of all it’s not that UNPREDICTABLE (stop here , spoilers are coming)…I read lots of romantic novels and I am always able to predict who ends up with who by page 10, what’s intriguing is how they end up together.

I’ve got your number is Kinsella at her best: fun & light & romantic & entertaining, I read it in 2 days.

Sam Roxton is DREAMY, not the sort of businessman I ever had the pleasure to work with, he is confident and a little obnoxious, loyal, has a dry sense of humor, has a BIG HEART when it matters.

So far Sam Roxton is my favorite male character created by Sophie Kinsella, this is saying something considering I read them all.

Poppy Whyatt isn’t Becky Bloomberg, she is a little too cute for my taste however she can get carried away and create some exhilarating situations.

Sam and Poppy work really well together, they find themselves sharing a phone for a while, reading each others emails and texts, developing a friendship.

… and then there is a beautifully written scene, I could feel the  butterflies in my stomach, and the ending…oh the ending! is spectacular.

It made me laugh a lot, plus as I mentioned I became very fond of Sam, it always happens when I read a novel written by Mrs Kinsella, by the end of the book we know a lot about HER and not to much about HIM so I sort of wish for a sequel in which I get to know Sam better.

It would be perfect on screen (if if if…I hated Confession of a Shopaholic, the movie!)

Enjoy

My grade: 4/5

Em

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Is there anybody out there who hasn’t read “The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella?

Did you maybe watch that awful movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic”  and forgot about the whole thing? BIG MISTAKE.

I don’t like the book’s cover, in the name of fashion  I recommend you check The Sartorialist and see if inspiration strikes. In my imagination Becky is a tiny framed brunette (think about a shorter Anne Hathaway) :

while Luke Brandon looks like a Christian Bale (He must be well over six feet tall with dark hair and dark eyes and . . . wow. Isn’t that suit nice?):

I read this book ten years ago (the year it was published, 2000) and it’s no secret that Becky Bloomwood is my favorite chick lit heroine ever.

After the movie this book was released again with a new title “Confessions of a shopaholic“, I hate it, this story is not only about shopping, I am a self-confessed bookaholic but I am not into fashion the way Becky is … surprise surprise my guilty little pleasure is daydreaming and Becky Bloomwood gave me plenty of material.

Reasons why Becky Bloomwood is the best:

1. Becky is a financial advisor who hasn’t got a clue how to save. She is a cheater. Does it ring a bell? Yes 80% of the time I spend working I have absolutely no idea of what I am doing

2. Becky can’t handle money and is highly indebted (OK. DON’T PANIC. DON’T panic. It’s only a VISA bill. It’s a piece of paper; a few numbers. I mean, just how scary can a few numbers be?) . Debt is a bad thing, Becky displays childish behavior, Becky deserves a lecture from her parents. All true but I couldn’t help laughing and laughing, those letters from her bank manager are hilarious. Becky actually freezes one of her credit card in a block of ice

3. Becky displays an unusual determination for a young woman, if she wants something (like a certain scarf) she will surely get it no matter what

4. Becky is into positive thinking,  what’s better solution than home-cooking in order to cut her spending? I couldn’t stop laughing when she devised the homemade-curry-plan (something we all try at some point in life)

5. Becky believes in friendship, has a big heart, a wicked sense of humor and a hyperactive imagination

6. Becky doesn’t take crap from anybody  and especially not from Luke Brandon

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic is not a real story, it’s fiction, it’s escapism…I read reviews in which fingers were pointed against the whole concept behind this series (this novel it’s the first in the Shopaholic series by Kinsella)I respect a different point of view, some people  really have sisters or friends whose life has been ruined by compulsive shopping.

Luckily I only  buy books compulsively and they are surely cheaper than Gucci’s boots.

I shamelessly enjoyed this novel, Becky might be superficial and she is clearly lucky, I don’t care, I couldn’t put this book  down, it happens to me every time when  Sophie Kinsella is concerned, I read all her books but this will always be my favorite.

My grade: 5/5 PLUS

Em