Also, for a light and fluffy, this had a substantial ending. I wasn't expecting the story to take its unpredictable turn, and this really impressed me. I feel that most women's fiction novels containing this scenario have a handful of options on how to end the book, and this wasn't one of those standard filler conclusions. I guess what I'm trying to say is, this was a fluffy with some substance. This is the type of "guilty pleasure" book that you can read and drop the guilt. Although, why people expect us to feel guilty about any genre we choose to read I'll never understand. I'm surprised at how connected I feel with the characters, as I'm still reminiscing about the story and feel a little blue about having to leave them behind and move on to something else. Recommended with gusto to those looking for a romantic read that's soft, moving, and hilarious. They start off by surprising each other with exotic lingerie and sex in unlikely locales, but ultimately they surprise each other discovering that there is infinitely more to learn about each other—and themselves. Also: we have slightly edited this story when we tell other people. Like, the low-cut hooker top. No-one needs to know about that.

This is totally random, but when I was reading this, my mind kept drifting to something I learned in a philosophy class about Simone de Beauvoir’s idea of idolatrous love. I definitely saw some of that at play in this novel. Since I majored in philosophy, I liked that.What can they do to keep their marriage fresh for that long? "We need surprises. That's what we need. Surprises." But as Sylvie's best friend and next-door neighbor Tilda tells her, "Surprises have a bad habit of going wrong." SOPHIE KINSELLA has always been one of my favourite go-to authors, so I was pretty excited when I was approved to read her latest novel, SURPRISE ME. I have enjoyed all of her books and to me they are such a treat to read inbetween reading so many thrillers. I like to be able to just relax and enjoy the humour within the storyline. SURPRISE ME definitely surprised me and I kind of liked the idea of Project Surprise Me too except for one of the surprises that Dan gave to Sylvie in the book which had me totally creeped right out! In the beginning it did start off a bit slow. It took a while for the story and the surprises to actually start, but once they did, they really took off. Many of the surprises were so hilarious, I found myself laughing out loud to myself. The scenarios were classic Sophie Kinsella. By 3.45pm we’re sitting in a doctor’s surgery, feeling pretty marvellous about everything, in the way you only can when you’ve got the afternoon off work, your children are at a playdate after school, and you’re stuffed with amazing food. In 2014 she published a Young Adult novel Finding Audrey about a teenage girl with social anxiety and her madcap family, and in January 2018, Sophie published her first illustrated book for young readers about the charming adventures of a mother-daughter fairy duo, Mummy Fairy and Me (also published as Fairy Mom and Me).

In his defence (he says now) he was getting over another relationship, and wasn’t really ‘out there’. Honestly, I only read as much as I did because of my love of Kinsella. You know those stories that start off fairly mediocre and you just keep thinking (in this case, HOPING) that it’ll get better? It started off mildly intriguing: life is perfect for this couple, they have two beautiful children, good jobs, a happy life, and they even complete one another’s sentences. *groan* The two go to the doctor to get physicals at which point the doctor informs them they are perfectly healthy and they should plan on living long, long lives. Then he says: “You should have sixty-eight more wonderful years of marriage!” And then everything goes wrong. Because of course, they didn’t even consider the fact that they’d live that long, never thought about long-term being that long when it came to being married.

Surprise Me is, ultimately, a story about marriage, secrets, commitment, family, introspection, and enduring love. It's classic Kinsella with well-crafted characters, humour, heart, a surprising twist and a delightful ending that will definitely make you smile. But he seems in a trance. He’s dropped his empty plastic water glass on the floor without even noticing. His face is ashen. Tentery: that taut, defensive way he behaves whenever the subject of my father comes up in conversation. (He thinks I don’t notice.)

And things do start going wrong: Sylvie's happy life starts to unravel. How well does she really know Dan? Is he keeping secrets? Is their happy marriage a sham? Sylvie and Dan are just hitting their ten year anniversary from the time that they first met when they get the news they just may have sixty eight more years of marriage. After a bit of a freak out the couple wonders how they will keep their marriage fresh and exciting for such a long time and decides to begin surprising each other to shake things up. This is a standalone book and starts off well with lots of laughs. Sylvie and Dan Winter, both aged thirty-two, visit a new doctor for their physical. He jokingly tells them that because they are in such good health, there is a good chance they will live to be 100 or beyond, meaning they could be married for 68 more years. Sixty-eight more years?! To the same person?! That sends them both into a tizzy! What a delightful, healthy couple.’ Dr Bamford sounds approving, as though he’s giving us a good school report. ‘How long have you been married?’ Of course, I loved how British this was. I’m American, but I love reading books by British authors and books that take place there. This book, like all of Kinsella’s books, had that quaint British charm. I especially loved where Sylvie worked. Willoughby House sounds like a dream.Along with fabulous female main characters and tear inducing laughter....Miss Kinsella always has wonderful female relationships and almost too good to be true men in her books....Tilda was a truly fabulous BFF and Dan really had the patience of a saint.... The prologue is a tease about Sylvie finding out some terrible secret about her husband, Dan. The first chapter starts with "Five weeks earlier". At the halfway point we've consumed two of those weeks and I'm alternating between frustration and boredom. I get it already: Sylvie and Dan have a surface bonhomie that buries some serious fissures with their lives.