Book Review: Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Title: Can You Keep a Secret?

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Publisher: Bantam Dell

Pages: 416

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Published: December, 2005

Price: Rp113.000 (Periplus)

Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Date started: June 7, 2015 - Date finished: June 8, 2015

Synopsis:

Emma is like every girl in the world. She has a few little secrets.

Secrets from her mother:

1. I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom to Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben Hur.

...From her boyfriend:

2. I'm a size twelve. Not a size eight, like Connor thinks.

3. I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.

...From her colleagues:

4. When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day)

5. It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.

...Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world:

6. My G string is hurting me.

7. I faked my Maths GCSE grade on my CV.

8. I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is...

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

Review:

Emma Corrigan is a marketing assistant in a big company, but not just any company. She works for the Panther Corporation, the company that is responsible for Panther Cola, which is quite the popular soda in the world. One day, she was given the chance to impress her boss by attending a business meeting in Glasgow but it all went awry.

On the plane ride home, she was uprooted from coach to business class because the flight attendant was nice enough to upgrade her. All of a sudden a terrible turbulence occurred. Because of panic, Emma ended up spilling all of her secrets to the man sitting next to her (even her most hidden secrets) because she thought she was going to die. Well, the funny thing is nothing bad happened to them and they ended up still alive. But Emma has got a problem now, the man next to her knew all of her innermost secrets but she figured she won't meet that man again.

Unfortunately, that man who Emma spilled her secrets to is actually her boss. He is one of the founders of the Panther Corporation, Jack Harper and now he also knows all of her secrets. How can she work under a man who knows everything about her?

“The truth is, some relationships are supposed to last forever, and some are only supposed to last a few days. That’s the way life is.”

This is actually my third Sophie Kinsella book, I've read the first two books of her Shopaholic series. I also own some of her other works and also one of the books where she wrote under her real name, Madeleine Wickham. I must say I really enjoyed this book even though the plot and the ending was quite predictable. Nevertheless, it was a light, funny, makes-you-cringe-and-smirk kind of book. The main character, Emma Corrigan is one funny girl! Jack Harper though was not really a charming male lead character for me, none of his actions scream romantic to me it was just usual romantic gestures.

There are many scenes that I liked from this book, some of them are like all of Emma's interactions with two of her roommates. The "date-planning-attempt" that went not at all according to Emma's plan. Those were some scenes that made me laugh. You know you can really count on Sophie Kinsella to write an entertaining book that doesn't require you to think too hard about it.

I found some things that are quite illogical for my sense. I mean having Emma as an employee would be bad wouldn't it? I mean she doesn't even get some basic marketing terminologies such as "logistics." If you think about it though it's kinda funny. But, in her defense she's just a marketing assistant.

“Relationships are a battle. They are a chess game. And what did I do? I just threw all my chess pieces down on the board at once, and said, "Here! Have them all!”

I would gladly recommend this book for people looking for a light, fluffy read.

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