Got you!’ I push my piece of paper towards Dan. ‘Although I didn’t say G&T. I thought you’d have champagne.’ I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ❃

Above all, Surprise Me really makes you think about relationships, marriage and the true meaning of love. The book has potential to make a real impact on the way you view them. And in the end, I wholeheartedly agree with the author’s point of view (spoken through Tilda): “If love is easy, then you are not doing it right.” Last year I read another book by Sophie Kinsella - My Not So Perfect Life -- and was thrilled to find the perfect “palate cleanser”. This year’s offering was also a palate cleanser but this one ended up being just a bit too fluffy and disjointed for me. There were things I liked, but it I didn’t take to the protagonist in the same way I have with some of Kinsella’s other books. We like The Bar. It has great food and we love the vibe. Dan and I like a lot of the same things, actually – films, stand-up comedy, walks – although we have healthy differences too. You’ll never see me getting on a bike for exercise, for example. 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 what are we going to do with it, Sylvie? How are we going to fill the endless, soulless years of mindless drone work? Where’s the joy in our lives?” He looks around the kitchen with a questing gaze, as though it might be in a jar labeled joy, next to turmeric.We’ve always been that couple. Blended. Intertwined. We read each other’s thoughts. We finished each other’s sentences. I thought we couldn’t surprise each other any more. Sophie was born in London. She studied music at New College, Oxford, but after a year switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She now lives in London, UK, with her husband and family. A generous dose of surprises mixed with a healthy helping of humour and sprinkled all over with beautiful thoughts, fascinating ideas and amazing quotes is what you get in the latest book from Sophie Kinsella– Surprise Me. In this particular case, you can and should judge the book by its cover. Surprise you it will!

Well, not bam as in instant love. Bam as in I thought, ‘Mmm. Look at those eyes. Look at those arms. He’s nice.’ He was wearing a blue T shirt which brought out his eyes. He had a chef’s apron round his waist, and he was flipping burgers really efficiently. Like he knew what he was doing. Like he was king of the burgers. I have yet to read a book written by Sophie Kinsella that hasn’t made me laugh out loud. Surprise Me begins with a bit of a serious discovery made by Dan and Sylvie. After finding out that their life expectancies and marriage will be 68 more years, they struggle to grasp what the future will hold. What becomes a fun and interesting exploration of how to spice things up through various surprises leads the couple on a path that is both revealing and at times quite funny. ❀ Eclectic and Off-Beat Characters I know you nearly put turbot.’ I can’t help showing off, proving how well I know him. ‘It was between that and the bream, but you wanted the saffron fennel that came with the bream.’ Dan was a terrible husband, all he did was lie to Sylvia non-stop for years, even when she asked him direct questions about what was going on and he could clearly see how distraught and worried she was he still lied to her. And then he had the nerve to take out his moods on her when the secret became too overwhelming. He didn't even feel guilty about constantly lying to her and keeping things from her, nope, he was only concerned about how much pressure he was under, and not about how hurt and upset Sylvie was about his suspicious behaviour. There was nothing stopping him from actually telling her the truth instead of concocting lie after lie and in the meantime making her paranoid and depressed. And his excuse about not telling her was weak, as well as insulting - he thought she couldn't handle the truth because a couple of years ago she was upset and angry when her father died, like any person would have been in her shoes. I mean, WTF?! How else was she meant to grieve? Her grief wasn't anything out of the ordinary but Dan and her mother made out as if her reaction to her dad's death was abnormal, when it was actually a normal amount of grief and upset. And at the end he didn't even apologise for lying about something so huge for years, nope, he was made out to be the good guy. She should have seriously thought about leaving him, if he could lie for so long without any hesitation once then he could do it again.

I really like the premise of Surprise Me--rather than the typical Kinsella premise of a single girl trying to get her life together and in doing so ultimately finds love, we have a married couple worried that their marriage has gone stale. While the premise was fun, Surprise Me didn’t quite have the magic of some of Kinsella’s other books. This book is touching and funny and fun. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to review this novel. This RELEASES IN U.S. FEB. 13. I have this secret little vocabulary for my husband. Words I’ve invented, just to describe him. I’ve never even told him about them: they just pop into my head, now and then. Like… Thank you so much to NetGalley, Random House, and Sophie Kinsella for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book to read and review!