My Not So Perfect Life: A Novel

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My Not So Perfect Life is a delightful, adorable, uplifting read, a great company when you hate the world and/or your life and/or your face and you're on the verge of drowning in self-pity. Or when you look for a boost to make you forget your crappy day. Or simply when you need something fun. In the end you get to work, and commence your boring tasks while you day-dream that one day they'll recognize your talent and promote you.

Sophie’s latest novel, Surprise Me, published in February 2018, presents a humorous yet moving portrait of a marriage—its intricacies, comforts, and complications. Surprise Me reveals that hidden layers in a close relationship are often yet to be discovered. And never fear --the story does have a touch of romance. Personally, I could've done without the added element of a love interest. I think the inclusion only serves to weaken the novel, and Katie's story would've been much more powerful without the unnecessary distraction. Even if you disregard for a second my disconnect from Katie and her overlong and dull story, even if you forget the uninteresting love interest, much is built up around the whole "finding out Demeter is not actually all she first seems" angle, but this was unsatisfying to me, too. Her rudeness is explained away through misunderstandings, and while some revelations about her draw sympathy, am I really supposed to feel sorry for her because - oh my gosh - she has a few home troubles and a mortgage? I actually cringed when she complained about the beautiful stone steps outside her house and how hard it is to get a pram up them. Boo freaking hoo. Then some other stuff happens and Katie is found out and some other stuff happens and then Alex gets involved and then all hell breaks loose and it's just so good y'all ! I laughed and cried my way through this book. I just love it so much. Yay me! =)

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What makes My Not So Perfect Life different from Kinsella's other books is that the plot is not solely focused on romance—it’s more about a girl struggling to find her identity in world that is obsessed with the images people portray online. There’s a little bit of mystery, some romance, and revenge on a seemingly horrible boss. This is an enjoyable read, and I highly recommend for a bit of fun! My not so Perfect Life has been one of my most surprisingly good reads this year and also one of the most hilarious books I’ve read ever (The Panini and “Vedari” incidents had me wiping tears of laughter. I swear.) and if a book could make me laugh this much, I believe it deserves five stars. I'm logical that way. Kinsella is my go-to for fun, feel-good reads that demand very little of me. After all these years, since the very first shopaholic book, I know exactly what I'm going to get from her and I'm totally good with that. Unfortunately, though, a huge chunk of My Not So Perfect Life bored the pants off me. Out with the serum in the curls, the unfamiliar straight, tortured hair, the most important steps at a front door, away from the biscuit people, the naked-man coat stand, the amazing giant plastic flowers, and in with a little bit of amorous huffing and puffing in the cow dung on her way to find a considerate man, number one, but, number two and three, a man of quality who values her. Fun becomes such a last-year's kind of vintage rhetoric in the end, oh so like Alex Astalis, for instance. But wait, that's only in the hunt for the perfect partner. On the farm fun is the buzz word for chia seed, organic ginger, and special seaweed-groupies with a Gwyneth Paltrow-lifestyle craze.

Others have noted the similarities between this and The Devil Wears Prada, and that is especially true of the book's opening. I would say it is practically identical. Katie Brenner is starting her new job at a trendy marketing/branding agency in London. It all seems very glamourous, but her reality is running errands and filling out spreadsheets for her boss - Demeter - who also happens to be selfish and insensitive. Demeter has the dream life, it seems, and everyone hates her. Just like the alphabet, bitch, I come before U. Yep, Demeter Farlowe(the goddess of the harvest, but also Mrs. Wilton in her other life), a proper Godzilla II, heads a team of pretty, but nasty nails on parade in the advertising world; a goopy pudding of gals, fluffed up by high heels, the secret Wednesday Bacchus devotion, and Ya Ya-sisterhood to die for. There’s something about Sophie Kinsella’s books that not only draw me in, but also make me laugh and smile. Her characters are usually flawed but likable, and the main character in this book, Katie Brenner, follows suit. Every time you see someone's bright-and-shiny, remember: They have their own crappy truths too. Of course they do. And every time you see your own crappy truth and feel despair and think, 'Is this my life?', remember: It's not. Everyone's got a bright-and-shiny, even if it's hard to find sometimes.” After all of the heaviness of my last read, American Dirt, I needed a little light in my life. I needed fun. I needed fluff. I needed to feel good.Sophie Kinsella has sold over 40 million copies of her books in more than 60 countries, and she has been translated into over 40 languages.

And then she arrives. Demeter. Your boss. The woman who inspires you with her brilliant ideas, her glossy hair and designer clothes, the woman who can't even remember your name. But-wait, she asks you to join her in her office! This is it, you think and your chest is ready to explode. This is your chance. And so, you enter her office, nervous but overly excited, preparing your thank you speach, until the moment... she asks you to dye her hair. Working in the behavioral health field, I see how people present themselves while in the waiting room and then I see the real deal once in my office. The difference can be as extreme as night and day. Lesson? Everything ain't always as it seems. 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. 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). It has heart. It has joy. The life lessons that Katie encounters are ones that we have all had to learn and are, possibly, still learning. I believe most readers will find something relatable in Katie's journey, regardless of where they are on their own life path.Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game, can be regarded as the general mantra for the miniskirt brigade coming with the high-prized hype and pretentiousness. Welcome to Cooper Clemmow branding company. The second thing I liked, was Demeter. I wish she were real. She was an amazing supportive character. Then, when things couldn't get any worse, she is fired. Without an income and no prospect for a new job, she's forced to return to her family's farm in Somerset. There is a rare authenticity in the prose of Sophie Kinsella, a deep connection to your reality that makes you see yourself in Katie. She is such a relatable and wonderful character, you can feel, truly feel her inner battles, the way she is torn between two lives, and two sides of herself. The cool, classy London girl or the farmer's daughter. Kat or Katie. The girl with the perfect life and the girl with the not-so-perfect life. And you realize that the latter, the not-so-perfect part, is the one that fills you with contentment, a genuine euphoria you want to touch, cuddle, put in a box and preserve forever. Your face hurts from smiling, and your heart flutters like a bird every time Alex appears (the aforementioned funny and gorgeous guy whom - of course - I pictured as Henry Cavill because apparently my mind is not capable of conjuring another man's face) PDF / EPUB File Name: My_Not_So_Perfect_Life_-_Sophie_Kinsella.pdf, My_Not_So_Perfect_Life_-_Sophie_Kinsella.epub