Sophie Kinsella
Can You Keep a Secret? (2004)
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Chick Lit!
Plot Summary:
Emma Corrigan has a dreary job, unappreciative parents, and a really perfect boyfriend. When her plane ride home from a botched sales pitch almost ends in a crash, she confesses all of her secrets (she feeds her co-worker's plant orange juice, her Kate Spade bag is fake, her sex life is boring) to her handsome, bemused seatmate. When he turns out to be her company's secretive owner, Emma must deal with her revealed secrets and maybe embrace the exciting life she always secretly knew she was meant to lead...
Geographical Setting: London
Time Period: present day (2004)
Appeal Characteristics:
Emma is put-upon and witty, a twenty-something Everywoman. Her character is smart but underappreciated, clever enough to get her designer clothes at a thrift store, but not quite clever enough to find the top-secret celebrity club hidden in an anonymous London alley. The story is told in the first person, and it reads like Emma's inner monologue, with dialogue – very fast-paced and funny. Secondary characters are appealing, if not as well-drawn as Emma – Jack Harper is mysterious and charming; Connor is amusingly dull; her friends are alternately supportive and destructive. The almost-jet-setting London setting is also an appeal, and the narrative is peppered with references to British politics and slang and jabs at the field of marketing.
Read-alikes: Kinsella has written the popular Shopaholicseries, beginning with Confessions of a Shopaholic (2001), which follows London journalist Rebecca Bloomwood as she navigates love and credit card debt. Kinsella's madcap inner-monologue writing style is reminiscent of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (1998). Another humorous London chick lit author is Marian Keyes (Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, 1999), which, although light in tone, tackle issues more serious than shopping. Although they also tackle shopping. A more career-driven novel, also funny and set in London, is Louise Bagshawe's The Go-To Girl (2005), about a screenwriter who meets a big time director, and the ensuing hilarity.
Red Flags: A few curses and frank talk about sex! Sex!
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2003)
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Chick Lit
Plot Summary:
Rebecca Bloomwood is a twenty something Londoner who unhappily writes for a small finance magazine and she is buried in debt, yet she keeps spending. She spends money on clothes, shoes, makeup and numerous other items she doesn't need and she always finds a way to justify her latest splurge. Luckily, her friend and flat mate Suze has plenty of trust fund money so she helps Becky out when she can't cover her half of the bills. Her Visa bill keeps growing and she avoids opening her mail which has more and more urgent letters from her bank, urging her to contact her banker to discuss her account. Rebecca wants to avoid this meeting at all costs, so she stuffs the letters in drawers and throws them in a dumpster. She tries to cut back on her spending but she can't seem to stop buying things. At work things aren't going so while either; Becky finds work very boring and she only enjoys it when she can leave the office and attend press conferences with free champagne and press junkets where she gets free giveaways. Inspired by a friend who got a new, high powered job, Becky interviews to be a futures broker, which ends disastrously. Becky's love life consists of a drunken date with Suze's millionare cousin who she is unfortunately not attracted to and the handsome CEO Luke Brandon who asks other people if Becky has a boyfriend and he asks her to go shopping with him, but unforutnatly he's buying something for his girlfriend. SPOILER: Becky's financial situation hits an all time low when all of her credit cards are denied at one of her favorite shops and she is humiliated. Her bank account is frozen and she can't use any of her credit cards. She decides to visit her parents and run away from all her problems. While at home she discovers that her parent's next door neighbors listened to her half-hearted financial advice and they switched their investment funds shortly before their bank was bought out. Becky investigates the money issue further and discovers that her neighbors, and others, were basically tricked by their bank so they wouldn't receive the £20,000 long-term investors would get because the bank enticed them to switch funds by offering them a clock. A whirlwind of activity takes place when Becky writes a story about the scam for a tabloid newspaper and it makes her an overnight sensation. She then appears on a morning talk show and has a heated debate with Luke, who happens to be the CEO of the company that was behind the money scam. Becky is such a hit she is given a permanent spot on the show as their financial guru. After the show, where Luke apologizes for his company's actions, he and Becky have a "business" dinner where they discuss anything but business. The night ends happily with Becky and Luke sharing a romantic room in the Ritz and in the morning Becky transfers £1,000 into her account, so she can begin paying off her debt.
Geographical Setting: London and Surrey
Time Period: Present day (1999-2000)
Series: First in the Shopaholic Series
Appeal Characteristics:
The pace of Confessions of a Shopaholic follows a clear pattern; when readers are with Becky throughout her day as she sits through another boring press conference and shop with her for that perfect sweater, the pace is medium, neither especially fast nor slow. But, the pace picks up whenever Becky has to quickly get herself out of an embarassing situation and this happens often. The setting is in London and in Becky's parent's suburban home in Surrey. Kinsella makes the city feel familiar to readers because Becky constantly visits her favorite stores and restaurants. London isn't another character in the book and it definitely serves as a backdrop to the story. The tone of the novel is light and sunny, even though Becky struggles with debt. Becky's problems never seem insurmountable and because readers know she will pick herself up and keep going, no matter how many times she makes a fool out of herself, the tone of the story is bright and happy. Though Becky is never physically described to readers they do know a lot about who she is as a person and they come to know her through what she buys. Becky explains to readers why she bought a sweater, for her flat mate and best friend, or why she desperately wants an expensive green scarve; so others will think she's cool. Readers soon realize Becky deals with all of her problems by shopping, despite her growing money issues. The topics Kinsella chooses to write about, credit card debt and mindless consumerism, might not seem appropriate for a chick lit novel. But, because Becky, a warm, funny, often clueless character struggles with these issues, they seem to fit within the frame of this story.
Read-alikes: Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner, is about a talented reporter, Candace,who is in her late 20’s and ex-boyfriend writes a humiliating article about loving “larger” women, like Candance. She struggles with her weight and the men in her life that have treated her very poorly, all while holding her family together and writing a screenplay. Weiner’s book is heavier in tone than Kinsella’s novel but there are similarities between the book’s heroines because they both find humor even in difficult situations. The pace of both novels is fast as readerssee how the heroines mature throughout the stories. Something Blue by Emily Griffin is about two American girlfriends, one who is sickeninglyperfect and is engaged and the other who sleeps with her friend’s fiancé and realizes he is her true love. A review from “Booklist”illustrates why this book, though it is quite different from Kinsella’s novel, share many similarities with it. Kinsella and Griffin’s books have main characters that readers empathize with, though these women aren’t exactly perfect; one is materialistic and irresponsible and another who sleeps with her best friend’s fiancé. Readers will recognize a similar tone in the novels because both authors happily resolve difficult situations but don’t discount the obstacles they have to overcome. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marion Keyes is about a fun loving British woman in her mid 20’s who visits a fortune teller and learns she will soon be married. This leads her to consider marrying a slew of men she encounters, from a drunken Irish musician to her friend Daniel. Both novels deal with difficult issues, like alcoholism, depression and debt, yet have moments of humor, do their tones can be light and dark. Also, both novels are set in London, so readers looking for a cosmopolitan UK setting might find the book appealing. Readers who enjoyed Confessions of a Shopaholic (and then read the entire “Shopaholic” series) might enjoy Can You Keep A Secret which is about a tipsy woman who tells a handsome stranger all her secrets on a turbulant flight because she is convinced the plane will crash. After the plane lands safely she meets the man again and finds out he's the CEO of the company he works for. Can You Keep A Secret has many of the same elements found in Confessions, such as a heroine who endears herself to readers through her missteps and imperfections. The humorous tone of the book keeps it light and airy and the heroine’s romance with a powerful CEO is some of the similarities between both of Kinsella’s books. The Millionaire's Blackmail Bargain by Heidi Rice isn’t a chick lit novel like Kinsella’s book because, according to cataromance.com, the novel has “non graphic sexual scenes.” So, readers who are comfortable with this level of sexuality might like Rice’s book. It’s about a writer, named Mel,who lives in London and works for a tabloid. Mel sneaks into a writer’s (Jack’s) hotel room because he always shuns attention from the press and Mel wants an interview with him. One thing leads to another and Mel and Jack find themselves falling for each other. Readers who want to continue with the London/UK setting will like that this book is set in London. Another location plays an important role in both books- Becky and Luke and Mel and Jack have romantic encounters in the beautiful Ritz Hotel. Also, readers who found Becky’s short but successful career as a writer for a rather trashy British tabloid to be exciting might also like Mel because she too writes for a tabloid. Like Becky, her job in the press causes her to do some crazy and unprofessional things.
Red Flags: Some profanity, but it is not prevalent, and one instance of very mild sexuality.
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