Before I review, I must say thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this publication.

Now, I was a huge Sophie Kinsella fan, so when I saw she had a new book coming out I was keen to read it.

Notice I used the word 'was'.

The Shopaholic books were cute.... for the first few. But then Becky became... annoying. Silly.

So I stopped reading the series.

I loved The Undomestic Goddess. I also loved Remember me? Also her last book, My Not So Perfect Life was quite good as well.

I detested The Wedding Night. (Seriously, that much effort to keep people from NOT consummating their wedding?)

When I read the abstract for her new book, Surprise Me, I was intrigued. A married couple with twin girls, and the usual trappings of marriage, decide to start surprising each other to spice up their marriage and bring back the magic.

I am totally paraphrasing of course. But that was the basis of the plot.

Great! I thought. She's writing for a more mature audience, knowing that her readers have grown up along with her. Gone are the silly plots for 20-something single girls; replaced with more mature plots for the woman in her 30s with a husband, job, and family.

Yeah, that was my mistake.

The characters may have aged slightly but their actions have not.

Here's a passage direct from the book itself which shows the level of maturity of the writing, and her characters:

"Why is life like this? Just as you relax and start having fun... life looms up like a mean teacher in the playground shouting 'playtime is over!', and everyone trails off to be miserable and bored again."

Sadly that pretty summed up my reaction to this book. It was full of shallow characters, silly scenarios and of course only at the end did the heroine realize how wrong she was with all of her assumptions throughout the plot.

Oh, and the whole 'surprise each other idea'? The point of the book? Stopped about 1/3 of the way through.

This will likely be my last try with Sophie Kinsella. But again thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Loved every Word! I find Sophie's work to be inspiring, such a giggle and always a great read!

heartfelt but unimpressive

I would like to thank Sophie Kinsella, The Dial Press/Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After speaking with their doctor, Sylvie and Dan Winter are daunted by the prospect of sixty-eight more years of marriage. Realizing they know each other too well, Sylvie starts Project Surprise Me in an effort to keep them interested in one another. Most of their surprises go awry, though, and lead to unintentional surprises—like long-kept secrets with the power to shatter the bubble of ignorance in which they’ve been functioning. What starts as an effort to save their marriage…might actually destroy it.
_____

Spoilers

This book wasn’t a disaster, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t Kinsella’s best work.

There were two plots. The first, which I’ll call Project Surprise Me, had a light tone and themes of living in the moment and loving completely. It was instigated and propped up by an absurdly thoughtless and unprofessional claim made by their doctor. I think Sylvie and Dan took it way too seriously and lent it more credence than it deserved. It was a flimsy foundation for a plot that fizzled out in the end. The second plot, which I’ll dub Protect Sylvie, was darker and dealt with pride, disillusionment, and the depths of grief. The two were incorporated well but not seamlessly. Project Surprise Me eventually got lost in Protect Sylvie.

I could predict the direction the story was going in, but I couldn’t predict the details. The pace was a touch slow in the middle, and I believe some elements were unnecessary and could have been removed—for example, Mary ultimately served no purpose—but then this relatively short book would have been even shorter, and short books aren’t as lucrative.

The characters were okay, but I didn’t fall in love with any of them. I sympathized with Sylvie somewhat, but I think that was more a product of the first-person narrative than any emotional connection I had with her. Other than blonde hair, we didn’t have much in common, so it was difficult to relate. Also, Sylvie’s fear of heights was one of the unnecessary elements. I very much did not appreciate the demonstration of her courage at the end, because it killed the momentum of their reunion, which was more important than her irrelevant fear of heights.

Dan was nice, but his personal goals and motivations, other than to protect Sylvie from the truth because he thought it would break her, were enigmatic, and I didn’t fully understand him as a character. I still have questions. Was his work situation resolved? He was going to do some major expansions, but I’m not sure if he did or not. And I’m not sure why he felt the need to in the first place. To compete with Sylvia’s dad in wealth? He never felt the need before, so why did he suddenly want to compete? I’m not sure what changed.

And why, exactly, did he invite his old mates over for a sudden, random dinner party? We’re led to believe it was so he could see Mary again and start an affair with her, but we learn that was unfounded, so why did Kinsella bother to include it? Did Dan think catching up with his past would make him feel less stressed about his present? That’s a bit hypocritical, since he was always telling Sylvie to stop dwelling on the past. I think it was said that he “downloaded” on Mary—or at least he halfway wanted to, but never actually did, since Mary didn’t know jack squat. As a result, her only purpose was to torture Sylvie, and that wasn’t necessary, because Sylvie already suspected something fishy was going on behind her back.

I gotta say though, Mary handled the entire situation with eerie aplomb. Imagine a guy you dated over ten years ago suddenly tracked you down and, in the capacity of friendship, wanted to vent his problems to you. Wouldn’t that be at least a little weird? Not for Mary; she acted like it was totally inconsequential.

As for the other characters, Mummy was a psycho who thrived on denial. Mrs. Kendrick was a willfully ignorant woman whose tastes included everything old-fashioned and antifeminist. However, she was willing, even determined, to learn and modernize, which endeared me to her. The twins were just there, and Prof. Russell and Owen were unnecessary (though I liked them a lot). I liked Tilda, but Toby was useless. And lastly, I was pleasantly surprised when Robert’s attitude changed for the better.

But despite its flaws, Surprise Me is filled with heart and good intention. It contains a great message about marriage, love, and realistic expectations. Mechanically, the writing was skilled, and stylistically, it was classic Kinsella, with charming awkwardness and amusing inner dialogue tangents and fabrication. I eagerly await Kinsella’s next book.

noapologybookreviews.com

Standard fare from Sophie Kinsella. A miscommunication/misunderstanding between a married couple sets off a story that could be comical at times and rather bleak at others. Of course, all wraps up nicely at the end and ends well.
This was a nice break from all of the psychological thrillers I have been reading!

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this! I admit to requesting the book on account of the author, and expected a much light hearted book, but I was really surprised by how well written and developed the book was.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

In Surprise Me, Sylvie and Dan are married with twin daughters. While at a joint checkup the doctor mentions that they probably have another 60 years together. Then they start to worry, how will they keep each other entertained all those years. How will they keep things new and fresh. They decide to surprise each other. Hilarity ensues. There were some definite laugh out loud moments while reading this book.

As someone who has been married for 17 years already, I hadn't thought ahead to how much longer we would be married. So I brought it up with my husband and we had some interesting conversations. Hats off to Kinsella for giving this old married couple a new topic of discussion.

Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series has always been a 'guilty' pleasure of mine - I don't feel guilty about reading her, but many people don't feel that she is the kind of Serious Writer that a librarian like me should be devoting time to. To those people, I say, "whatever." Kinsella's wonderful at allowing her characters to be fully realized, human people, with all their attendant foibles.

In "Surprise Me!" the premise feels a bit thin - Sylvie and her husband, Dan, are given excellent bills of health at their annual physical exams, discovering that they can expect to live another 68 years together. Should be great, right? Except that both Dan and Sylvie find themselves a bit panicked, wondering how they are going to keep their relationship fresh for another six decades. Their solution? To start surprising each other in ways big and small. Some of the surprises work fantastically, while others . . . not so much. And now Sylvie has started to worry that Dan is panicked enough to leave their marriage entirely, especially since he has been growing increasingly agitated with her mother.

Sylvie's tendency to jump to conclusions, especially in a panic over her marriage, is something that anyone could relate to -- and the relief at the novel's end, when nothing turns out to be quite what it seemed, is a huge relief. This wasn't as much fun as some of Kinsella's other books, but I appreciated the depth of the characters and their emotional exploration of themselves and their relationship.

Things appear one way and reveal a depth & love that couldn't even be imagined. The truth comes out after a comedy of errors in the name of surprising each other to keep their marriage alive and vibrant...only to reveal the grand surprise.

Will leave a review on Amazon under name of Connie

I was very lukewarm about this book. I read it because I enjoy her other books but I was just not interested in these characters.

I have always been a fan of Sophie Kinsella and she didn’t disappoint with this novel either. What happens when you realize that you are married, for life, to the same person? What happens is a series of “what did I just do” moments. Kinsella did a great job blending the leading ladies daily life into a warm enjoyable novel. The reader can truly immerse herself/himself into Sylvie’s daily life and watch the midlife meltdown occur. Kinsella makes her characters very believable and the reader finds themselves rooting for Sylvie and Dan. The support characters are people you might meet on the street with issues and problems of their own. Thoroughly enjoyable read. If you like women’s fiction or chick lit this one is for you.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. This is a story of rekindled love. Just when Sylvie thought she had it all figured out she had a rude awakening. Glad everything was ironed out and a HEA ending occurred. I love this author.

I hate surprises. I'd prefer not to receive a present at all if it's going to be a surprise. So, what can I say? This book was a cringe-inducing experience for me. There's a light, fluffy plot line about a husband and wife surprising each other to keep their marriage alive. The surprises are supposed to be comical, but they're just really terrible. Then there's a darker plot line that has to do with family secrets. Also a bit hard to read because so much could just be solved if people would just communicate with each other and not try to hide things.

If you like surprises, you'd probably enjoy this book, but overall not be too surprised by the ending.

I really liked the Shopaholic series, so I was excited to receive an ARC of this new book from Net Galley. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. It was an easy and reasonably entertaining, but incredibly predictable. And where the Shopaholic protagonist was flawed, but likeable, I didn't find myself connecting with or rooting for any of the characters in this book.

Surprise Me is a charming read. The story acts like it's going to be about one issue, but then turns out to be about a completely different issue. The main character, Slyvie, experiences much growth as a person. For me, she became more and more engrossing. Another hit for Kinsella..

Surprise Me! is a delight! Sophie Kinsella has done it again! She delivers a sweet take on the trials sometimes encountered in marriage in a fresh and heartfelt manner. Expect to laugh, despair, and hope with Kinsella's Sylvie and Dan as they bring us on their adventure in keeping forever-love out of the mundane.

This book was nothing like I expected. The first half reads like typical Sophie Kinsella novel - laugh-out-loud funny, endearing/charming main character, a bit over-the-top. The second half takes on a more serious tone and there is actually quite a lot of depth and character development in the main character of Sylvie. More so than in any of her other books to date. I've been a rabid fan of Sophie Kinsella's since the first Shopaholic book and while I haven't adored all her books equally, I have adored each of them. She's the pinnacle of humor and story telling that so many other chick lit authors, myself included, strive to reach. While she doesn't need to change a thing to keep her readers happy, it's even more impressive to me that she does it anyway. Based on this book and My Not So Perfect Life (WHICH I LOVED) before it, I can truthfully say that I won't necessarily know what I'm getting when I read her next one. Except, of course, hilarious, charming, and brilliant storytelling.

Don't let the initial ditzy airhead portrayal of Sylvie turn you off of reading this novel. It is quite a surprisingly good novel!

When Dr. Bamford tells Dan & Sylvie that he expects they will have 68 more years together, their response is shock and terror at the thought of 'how can anyone expect to spend so much time with only one person'?

Longevity, loyalty and partnership prove to be prized promises as Sylvie discovers truths about her childhood, herself and Dan.

Left me smiling and feeling very positive.

I'm giving this book 3 stars. It wasn't awful, but it didn't grab me as much as I wanted it to. The beginning was interesting and funny, although the mishaps with the surprises were really predictable. The ending did a good job of tying things together, but the middle is where it lost me. I ended up skimming those chapters because they weren't holding my interest and I was determined to at least see how things ended.

This was my first Sophie Kinsella book and I liked it enough to check out some of her other works.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

This was one of my favorite Sophie Kinsella books, and I've read them all. What I liked about it is that I didn't feel like it was typical of her other books, and even "surprised me". I would definitely recommend this book to others!

Sophie Kinsella is someone that I used to love reading. but I found this story to be boring.