“Shopaholic” Author Still Entertains

Sophie Kinsella has struck another hit with her latest book, “Remember Me?” Author of the popular “Shopaholic” series, Kinsella has shown that she has not lost her touch.

“Remember Me?” follows the protagonist, Lexi Smart, after she wakes up from a coma believing that she is in the hospital due to the fall she remembered from the night before. However, much to Lexi’s surprise, it is three years later, her hair is gorgeous, her teeth are perfect, she’s the head of the department she used to work in, and she is married. When she is reintroduced to her stunning multi-millionaire husband, she feels that she is the luckiest girl in the world. That is, until she goes back to work and realizes that none of her old friends actually like her anymore and learns that she is a “bitch-boss-from-hell.”

Unfortunately for Lexi, her mind and personality still believe and feel as she did in 2004, and she attempts to rekindle the friendships. As she deals with that stress, she also has to attempt to remember how to do her job and be respected, but the biggest shock does not come until her her husband’s architect confides his own secret. Now Lexi has to figure out fact from fiction, and learn what drove her to become so ambitious.

The book was a fairly easy read for its 389 pages. Kinsella’s writing has a certain simplicity about it, but she still remains quite eloquent through out the book. There are also plenty of laughs along Lexi’s journey of self re-discovery.

Kinsella keeps the story believable with her flawed, but sympathetic protagonist, and her references to the culture in 2007. When Lexi first learns that it is 2007, she flips through a newspaper frantically only to learn that there is a new Harry Potter book out, and another on the way and Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have broken up. The song “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter plays a small, but important role at the end of the book.

My one annoyance about the book is that Kinsella’s protagonists all began to remind me of each other. The three female leads that I have read about – Lexi and Rebecca Bloomwood from the “Shopaholic” series, and Emma Corrigan of “Can You Keep a Secret?” – all share very similar characteristics. The three of them have a naiveté about them that makes me sometimes wonder if I’m suddenly reading about Rebecca in the middle of “Remember Me?” Both Lexi and Rebecca are high end shoppers who lived in small flats before marrying into money.

“Remember Me?” is a decent book for those who want to unwind from their daily stress. It is also currently available at the Yuba College, Marysville Campus Bookstore.