Surprise Me

Surprise Me is another delightful Sophie Kinsella novel, this time a married chicklit novel instead of a hot mess single girl story. It’s quite hard to write this review, because if you like the sort of exaggerated characters and chicklit charm of her other novels, she’s done it again. And if not, well, skip it.

When Sylvie and her husband Dan are told they have decades of married life ahead of them, everything in their companionable relationship suddenly starts to feel stale and constricting. Or at least it does to Sylvie, who decides that they should try surprising each other to keep the excitement alive.

Actually, the surprise I want from my husband is that he actually put ALL the dishes in the dishwasher AND adds soap AND turns it on, but I guess some people like presents and whatever. Their surprises are fairly typical with sitcom-y results, but the cheery, gossipy writing style keeps pages turning.

The surprises start making other aspects of her life, like her mom’s endless jewelry-sales and MLM “parties” and Sylvie’s adorably old-fashioned fundraising job for an adorably old-fashioned historical home also require examining. Plus, there are some wild skeletons in the family closets. Everything works out in the end, with new job prospects and a renewed relationship, just as we expected. As always, the chatty style and quirky secondary characters are a delight.