Review: Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Release Date: 2005
Summary:
Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:

Secrets from her mother:
I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
Sammy the goldfish in my parents’ kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.

Secrets from her boyfriend:
I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks.
I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.

From her colleagues:
When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.) It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.

Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world:
My G-string is hurting me.
I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.

Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.

But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from
the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse—Until they do.

Review:
First of all, I was really excited to get my hands on this book. Sophie Kinsella is like chick lit royalty, and the premise reminded me of Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble (I adore Meg Cabot), and it sounded really interesting. Single twenty-something girl blabs all her secrets to this guy on a plane who turns out to be her boss. Of course, I expect them to fall in love somewhere along the way. Also, I previously read Kinsella's other book Remember Me? (which I completely enjoyed). So, I guess I was setting myself up for disappointment (I really have to stop using parentheses).

Anyway, the book turned out to be pretty fast-paced at the beginning. It just jumps right in the middle of a particularly important event in the life of Emma Corrigan, the heroine. She's representing the company in a deal that could possibly land her a promotion. I won't tell you what happens during the meeting, but let's just say she meets Mr. Deliciously Mysterious Stranger on the plane soon after. That was the part I was looking forward to.

Sophie Kinsella always manages to create these amazing heroes that never fail to make readers swoon. Jack, the hero, is always slightly disheveled, a multimillionaire, and he GETS i.e. understands Emma (well, most of the time anyway).

Okay, I got a little sidetracked. Back to Emma. As a fictional character, Emma is pretty fleshed out. There are a ton of details about her that make her completely human, and the readers' hearts go out to her. However, I can't say the same for the other characters, except Jack maybe although he seems a little to similar to Jon (the hero from Kinsella's Remember Me?). Emma's friends, flatmates, colleagues, and family members didn't come across as real people to me. They were basically paper-thin stereotypes, and they pale in comparison to Emma's details and quirks.

Somehow, I think the book should have ended sooner than it did. It got a little draggy in the end. A lot of things that weren't supposed to happen happened, and I felt like they were just plopped in to make the book a little longer. There were also moments in the book that I think were supposed to make me feel all fuzzy inside, but fell flat.

Overall, I give this book a 7 out of 10. I got a couple of laughs out of it, and I couldn't help but feel for Emma. But that was it. The other characters were fun but they weren't that believable. If you want a light and funny read, then this could be one of your options.