Book Review: Sophie Kinsella – Can You Keep A Secret?

The rating for this one is just so hard!!! Because most of the time, I love love loved it. I mean, I LOVED it so much! What the heroine Emma Corrigan thinks and how she acts is just too funny – I had to laugh out loud many times. Staying true to Kinsella’s normal heroines, Emma is really clumsy and seems to have a streak of bad luck – she is constantly making a fool of herself in front of other people. I liked how this made me feel like everybody has these moments – and that it is alright. So I basically loved everything in this book, but one thing – to which I will come later.

So what’s this story about? On her flight back from Scotland from a business presentation, the plane Emma is on goes through some major turbulences, and Emma is certain that she will die – that no one will survive this flight. This certainty makes her spill the beans to her next-seat neighbour – she tells him everything, and by that I mean everything – all her deepest and darkest secrets. Obviously though, the plane doesn’t crash, and their plane ride together wasn’t the last time Emma saw this quite good-looking man sitting next to her…

So what did I think of this book? I think this is a classic Kinsella – a book that will make you laugh no matter what mood you are in, the characters are just too awesome and the plot is designed to make you laugh out loud! I liked that Emma has a best friend who’s always got her back, and that she experiences the same problems we probably all go through. Unfortunately, Emma has to deal with another, not-so-nice flatmate who makes her life harder, as well as a kind of mean-ish family… I mean, her parents are just ignorant of what really goes on, but her cousin Kerry is just horrible in every way, but she still manages to live a good life (most of the time).

Then, there is Jack, the (SPOILER but also not really hard to guess) love interest. He (or at least what he does) is partly the reason why I thought about giving the book a 1 star rating only, too! Now, don’t get me wrong, he is a business man and drop-dead-gorgeous and very nice and understanding and just plain swoonworthy, but there is a big BUT for me.

When Emma accidentally spills all her deepest and darkest secrets to him on the plane ride she believes will kill them all, she never expects to meet the stranger next to her so soon again – as her big, wealthy, influential boss! As much as I loved their growing relationship and all, I couldn’t really cope with what Jack did towards the end and what was depicted as not that much of a big deal… He actually reveals all her secrets on television! NATIONAL TELEVISION – while Emma is watching the interview with her co-workers! And there is no mistaking it is her he is talking about. And all Jack then says as an excuse is that he got carried away during the interview..? Well, this was definitely not enough of an explanation for my liking. Like, how could he?? I mean, I know this book is not to be taken too seriously, it is to be grabbed and enjoyed on a sunny afternoon, and when you’re done laughing you can happily put it back on the shelf and continue with your life, but I just thought I’d mention the one thing that irked me while reading this.

That’s why I will remember Can you keep a Secret as a book that made me laugh – actually made me laugh out loud – and not as the one with the greatest male character ever (although he was nice too, if it wasn’t for the big tv-exposure…), but that is fine. It still is a classic Sophie Kinsella, and I like Sophie Kinsella, like, a lot. I know she’ll never fail to make me laugh, so her books are a go-to for me.

What did you think of this book? Did you like the characters, and how did you cope with Jack’s exposure on TV? Tell me in the comments below!:)