Not remembering could be a beautiful thing... or maybe not.

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

What would you do, if you wake up in the hospital and you can’t remember the last 3 years of your life? You not only have new people in your life (new friends, new husband), but you look totally different with a new body and new teeth. She walks into a job that she’s the boss from Hades and it looks like someone is after her job. As she’s trying to learn the new her, her new husband, and everything that goes with that, her husband’s architect won’t leave her alone. He keeps saying that she is his lover when all she wants to do is get to know her husband and get on with her life. As she tries to find herself in the plain clothes in her huge closet and the neat and orderly area of her office, she feels even more lost. Will she remember who she is before her life unravels around her?

This book is a beach read. That’s what I like to call a book that you can sit on the beach with plenty of distractions around and still know exactly what’s going on in the book. It’s an easy read with not a lot of action. Actually I got pretty bored with it and wanted it to be over before I finished. I have read a few of her books in the past and they are a fine read, but don’t pick up this book if you are looking for something that will stimulate your brain. If you need something that will distract you from the crazy world you are living in, then go on and pick up this book or one of her other books. But if you think it’s a big waste of time, I’m not going to argue with you.

Sorry this blog stinks.

Confessions of who knows what...

Confessions of a Shopaholic
by: Sophie Kinsella

Confessions Of a… if I had a book styled like this what would it be called? Probably “Confessions of a Banker.” It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it does it? Oh well. Confessions. Do you have something to confess? Guilty conscience pulling you down? Hum, interesting point to ponder. I have a confession, I ate 3 pieces of chocolate today. Bye Bye Diet!

The book is styled as if this shopaholic was confessing her inner thoughts to the audience. Some things are even too bad to share with us, while other thoughts and actions are just thrown out there for us to read.

So, here’s the second book that I’ve read by this author. I do have to say that I liked this book better than “Can You Keep a Secret?” First of all, it’s a series. I love finding series, it’s just nice to know that when you get to know a character in a book, that the story isn’t over at the end of book one. You can see some development in their story and you’ll have a few more to go before it’s all over with. Second, the personality of Becky Bloomwood is a very interesting character. Just the fact that this character is a financial journalist and she’s in serious debt is such a funny concept (not funny haha, of course). Becky is funny and witty and she’ll keep you smiling throughout the book (or gritting your teeth and biting your nails-but a reaction none-the-less). The third thing I enjoyed about this book is that it was a quick read. I went home sick from work one day, but I was in too much pain to go to sleep, so I read for the afternoon. Seriously, I read for 4 or 5 hours and knocked the book out. Which is a good thing since it took me 3 weeks to read the last book I read (A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin), quite refreshing!

There are a few points that I would like to make about this book. Just a little insight into my personality, I can’t be in debt. I hate debt, it stresses me out BIG TIME. I can’t sleep at night if I’m worrying about money. Because of this reason my husband and I keep a tight reign on our finances. Therefore when this girl is just spending money constantly and on ridiculous things I’m screaming “For real? Are you freaking kidding me, because you are RIDICULOUS!!!” Becky sees that she has two options for getting out of debt, 1. Spend less, or 2. Make more Money. When she tries to cut back on her spending, she just ends up spending more money, maybe more than she would have if she just kept to her regular shopping patterns (which is, walk by a store, go in, buy what she wants). K-razy!!!

A complaint I have is that the ending isn’t really that realistic. I have always thought that if you work hard, then you will be rewarded for your work. Without giving away the ending, you can’t get something for nothing. Your personality can only get you so far and you actually need to work hard to achieve your goals. Actually, come to think of it, her life isn’t very realistic. How can you get hired as a financial journalist without a credit check or knowing nothing about finances in the first place? I thought they did credit checks for every job these days, I know with Simon and I working at a bank, they did one on both of us, so wouldn’t someone writing for a magazine on finances be about the same? Again, without ruining the ending, there are some very unrealistic things that happen at the end. I hope that the movie does a better job of making it look like real life. The transitions in the book didn’t work for me. Speaking of, I think I’m going to make my husband take me to this movie for my birthday, yay!!!

As a whole, the book was good, it was kind of predictable, but a fun read none-the-less. This is one of those books that it is a brainless, fun read, which is a good change of pace. Please read the book and let me know what you think. Am I right? Am I wrong? Let me know… also, if you see the movie, let me know what you think about that as well.

P.S. Please use discretion. I would say this book is PG17, There is some language and sexual content.

Secrets Don't Make Friends!

Can You Keep a Secret? By: Sophie Kinsella

That is a good question. Emma Corrigan is just an average girl, petty, smart, funny, but average. She has an average life, a good boyfriend, a good job, a good flat, but nothing spectacular. Until one day she gets on a plane, after having a little too much to drink, hits a little turbulence and here comes every secret of her life. Of course sitting next to her is a silent, handsome stranger that she thinks she will never see again. Boy is she wrong. The fantastic plane ride is on Friday, well on Monday the owner of the huge company that Emma works for comes for a visit to the London office. Jack Harper. Stranger no more. As she tries to keep her distance he is always there, it’s like he’s drawn to her. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens. I’m not spilling the beans.

When I think about my life and whether I can keep a secret, I rather think I’m a good secret keeper. I think my one problem is that I trust too many people. I tell things about myself and trust that they aren’t a big mouth. I am an open book, you ask me a question about myself, I’m going to tell you. I don’t see the point in secrets. I really don’t have any. Now keeping secrets about other people, it’s a vault, lock down. Most of the time…

So, back to the book, I liked it. It was a cute book about a fun character. Sophie Kinsella’s writing style is a lot like Meg Cabot or vice versa(author of the Queen of Babble series), fun, quick wit, charming. Although, when I started the book, I had to look at the cover and make sure I hadn’t picked up Bridget Jones’ Diary again. The main character’s inner monologue was exactly like Bridget’s. Then when the gut spilling episode happened I thought, OMG, this is just like Queen of Babble. Now, I didn’t do any research, but I’m going to guess that someone is copying each other. One instance is on a train and the other is on a plane, but still it is the almost exact scenario. Also, Kinsella has the “Shopaholic” series and the first three in the series are Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, and Shopaholic ties the knot, while the Queen of Babble series is Queen of Babble, Queen of Babble in the Big City and Queen of Babble gets Hitched…. Um, Really?!?!? Someone is copying.

One other complaint I have is, wow… the F-bomb. I have never read a book with the F-word in it so much in my life. I really am ok with profanity in books if it matches the character, for instance, if there is a man that is a drug addict, beats his girlfriend, and is unemployed, when he stubs his toe, he better not say, “oh darn it” that would just be out of character. But over use gets annoying. I guess let that be a warning to a younger audience, F-Bomb will be blowing up!

Ok, so I do have one more complaint about the book. I know I am an over excited person. When I’m writing I exclaim a lot, but the over use of the exclamation mark in this book was insane. I can understand some use of it in a book, but really? Is everything being screamed in this book? I finally just ignored it, but it did get on my nerves. Settle down, breathe in, breath out.

I know it seems like I’ve only complained about the book, but it was quite cute. British humor is my kind of book. The things I really enjoyed about the book would ruin it for the audience, so please pick it up and let me know what you thought about it.

This book was loaned to me by a dear friend that reads, so if you have any suggestions, leave me a comment and let me know what should be on my list!