Another Funny, Magical, Heart Warming Book From Kinsella (Twenties Girl - Sophie Kinsella)

Member Name: DixieChick101

Product:	Twenties Girl - Sophie Kinsella
Date:	06/11/09 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An awesome book, a really good read and one I would really recommend

Disadvantages: It's slow to get off the ground

After reading pretty much everything that Sophie Kinsella has written now, when she released her latest book I really wanted to read it, but a busy summer and lack of funds meant I didn't get to read it until 2 months after its release and in the end got it from the library.

Looking at this hard back cover book with 400+ pages, I was a little sceptical if I was going to enjoy it or not, this was down to the plot, which seemed a little out there, and the one reason I liked Sophie Kinsella in the past, as she allows the audience to relate to the characters, how can you relate to someone who is talking to her great aunt, who happens to be a ghost? Below is a bit more about the plot.

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The Plot
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The book follows Lara, a young girl who is not the most average of girls. She's a bit of a flake and because of this; her life has ended up in tatters. She is left to run her company without her best friend who helped her create the company, and she has just broken up with her boyfriend. She's not having the greatest time, and is made by her parents to go to the funeral of her great aunt Sadie.

Before this day, Lara had never met Sadie, and whilst at the funeral a young, pretty woman sits down beside her, and Lara is the only one that can see her. This young pretty woman happens to be none other than Lara's great aunt Sadie.

Lara has to help Sadie cross over by finding an item of hers that has gone missing, along the way, these two women from completely different times begin to find themselves becoming the best of friends and along their journey they find romance, laughter and a lot of embarrassing situations.

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My Opinion
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I had this book on my bedroom floor for quite a while before actually taking the time to pick it up and read it. Like I said before, I was a little bit sceptical due to the blurb of the book. This is the sort of book that I would expect from Cecelia Ahern, and I would probably not enjoy it. It's very different from her usual stories, and because of this I didn't think I'd enjoy it.

It took me about 3 chapters to get into it, it didn't seem to be going anywhere, and then the breath of fresh air that is Sadie comes into the book, and the pace of the book speeds up and I found myself reading the book in a 2 hour sitting. It was very easy to read, it's one thing that Sophie Kinsella does brilliantly, she never patronises you, but her books are very easy to read, there's not too many big words and not too much to really understand. Its easy reading and an enjoyable read.

The characters are very well developed; the best character by far is Sadie, she is outgoing and gives the audience a lot of laughs in her actions. She needs Lara's help to find her necklace, and to get Lara to do this she needs to help Lara along the way. This requires attempting to get Lara's ex boyfriend to like Lara again and even to get people to help Lara at her time of needs. This is done by Sadie screaming in their ear, this made me laugh, everyone has heard a voice in their head telling them to do something, or not to do something, and the way they put the idea that it's actually someone from the other side screaming at you, is brilliant.

The descriptions of the people, the pictures, the necklace, everything is done so well that you can almost imagine them in your mind; she is very good at describing things, but not overly too much, and you can form a picture in your mind. This makes the book run a lot smoother, only brilliant writers are able to do this in my opinion.

The clothing within the book sounds amazing, a lot of research obviously went into this book as Kinsella describes the 1920's brilliantly and everything sounds so authentic and a lot of charm was added to the book as Sadie describes her life back in the 1920s.

There were things that I thought could have been added, the book was long anyway and I understood that things like what I'm about to suggest would have padded out the book but I think a lot more laughs would have originated. Sadie is from the 1920's, why wasn't she more afraid or sceptical of modern technology? I would have thought that if you came from a time like that and found yourself faced with a toaster or things along those lines. Wouldn't she be a lot more spooked? Just a feeling.

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Final Opinion
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The book was very good, I love the characters. I was a little bit worried you wouldn't be able to connect to the characters due to the storyline but it turned out to be very easy to connect to the characters and imagine them in your mind.

The ending was predictable, however I still was a little disappointed when it happened, I don't know why still, as I knew it was going to happen, and I knew it had to happen that way, but I just wanted more. It was an outstanding book, and a great read, probably one of the best books I've read from Sophie Kinsella.

Don't give up with this book, the beginning can be boring, but it really is worth the read. Another chick lit book which is awesome.

(C) Kirsty 2009

Summary: Don't give up with the book, it's slow to begin, but it's well worth the read.