My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

Title: My Not So Perfect Life

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Series: n/a

A well-crafted illustration of the age-old adage about books and their covers

I would like to thank Sophie Kinsella, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Life in London isn’t what Katie Brenner thought it would be. She doesn’t have a group of quirky friends to go out with, she has a hard time navigating the office politics, and she’s dead broke. She harbors both awe and resentment for her boss and idol, Demeter Farlowe, who has the creative vision, the important job, the fancy house, the designer wardrobe, the happy, beautiful family, the celebrity friends, and the first-class reputation that Katie covets. But she remains optimistic, knowing that if she works hard, does her best, and gets Demeter’s attention, one day she’ll be equally successful.

And then she gets fired, and makes a less-than-dignified exit. Without an income, Katie’s life in London is impossible. She searches frantically for another job, but in the meantime, she goes home to the family farm and helps her father and stepmother start a camping business for the elite. She’d done her best to leave country life behind, changing her appearance, disguising her accent, and going by Cat instead of Katie. No one in London knew her as Farrrmer Katie…so when perfect Demeter shows up to camp with her perfect family, Katie panics. But Demeter doesn’t recognize her—figures—and as Katie observes her former boss, she begins to wonder if Demeter’s life is really all that it seems.

Her father wants her to stay on the farm, and she despairs that she may never lead the life she wants in London. Also, Demeter just might recognize her after all… And the consequences are about to hit the fan. Katie’s goals had been simple—how had she mucked everything up so badly?

Yeah, I know. It’s not exactly an original premise, or a particularly exciting one. I thought that, too. But it’s a Sophie Kinsella stand-alone, and I’ve loved them in the past, so I wanted to give it a shot. And was not disappointed.

My god, this story was well-crafted. I’m so green with envy right now that you could call me the Hulk. Sure, it was predictable, because it’s a story familiar to many, but the details and the journey were so fascinating (I had never heard of glamping before, but it’s really a thing), and the characters were so lovable and sympathetic that before I knew it, twelve hours had gone by and the sun was coming up outside my window.

The beginning made me nervous, because I don’t find a play-by-play of the London commute enthralling. It didn’t draw me in. But I recalled some Kinsella books starting out slow and winding up favorites, so I stuck with it. Indeed, the first chapter or so consists of not-very-exciting character introduction and stage setting. Lots of exposition in Katie’s inner monologue as she explains what’s going on—but Katie was aware that she was long-winded and when she goes off subject, she calls herself on it. Doing so makes something obnoxious into something hilarious, and that’s when I began to like Katie.

Aside from the facts that I’m an American from the Midwest who can’t stand even small cities, I related to Katie so much that at times I’d find myself thinking, “I know exactly what you mean.” I’m sure a lot of people will be able to relate to her. If you’ve dealt with some crummy circumstances while longing with every fiber of your being for something more, something better, you’ll understand Katie. And hell, even if you haven’t, her character is so well written that you’ll understand where she’s coming from anyway. Kinsella did an excellent job with Katie’s arc—at the beginning she tread the fine line of being naive but not pathetic, just green, and her confidence and strength grew with every step she took. By the end, you knew she would earn extreme success one day—because she’d settle for nothing less.

I wanted to hate Demeter but managed to find it in the goodness of my heart to give her the benefit of the doubt, because one, it’s a Kinsella book, and two, the spot-on title. I knew nothing was going to be as it seemed and figured I’d end up liking the bitch. And I did. Mostly. She’s still a pretentious snot, but now she’s a mother who wants to spend time with her children, a wife who wants to keep her marriage alive, an employee who can be fired; a woman who cares, deeply, but has a piss-poor way of showing it. She even had an arc; it wasn’t just Katie realizing how vulnerable Demeter was inside. Starting out an ignorant fool who lost control of her life without noticing, Demeter became conscious of her own faults and makes an effort to be on the same page with the people around her.

Alex… I liked Alex. But…I don’t know. Something about him just didn’t sit right with me. He was adorable, and seemed to be a good man at heart… Maybe it’s that he seemed immature (which is funny, because he describes himself as thus when he and Katie meet, though he says it sarcastically), but that could just be the way I interpreted his character. His actions/plans were half-baked and he didn’t seem to fully consider how his actions would affect other people. Even his body was described as very lean and bony (read: skinny), like a kid in high school who’s shot up in height but hasn’t filled out yet. I had a hard time remembering that he was a thirty-year-old top-ranking business executive. Alex himself tells Katie that he isn’t cut out for management, that the position requires more responsibility than he’s comfortable with.

I had a hard time matching him with Katie. They’re not the types of people I would have imagined ending up together. Katie’s driven, decisive, and determined. She sets a goal for herself and doesn’t settle until she meets it. She can commit. Alex is flighty and rather selfish. Honestly, I feel that she could have done better. Another issue I had with their relationship was their apparent readiness to forgive each other. There were times when they were absolutely livid with each other, and they never really worked out those issues. The problems just blew over, and they moved on to the next scene. I think their relationship could have been better developed, but I’m not too bothered by it because I know their romance wasn’t the focus of the story.

There were actually only a few instances of disbelief on my part, times when I thought, “Seriously? Bullshit.” When Katie was blocking Alex from seeing Demeter: most people, especially a man with a sense of entitlement who was also a top-ranking executive—and therefore Katie’s boss—would have gotten absolutely pissed at her. Instead, he was amused by her antics, and she got pissed at him for not taking her seriously and trying to dodge past her. A little backwards, in my opinion, but that’s what made it even funnier. Second, it doesn’t quite add up for me that Demeter knew she had a hair appointment, was planning on it, but still had a box of Clairol in her desk drawer. At work. Very convenient. (How the hell did they actually accomplish coloring her roots at work?) Third, on the day Katie got fired, what were Adrian (top dog) and Alex doing in the kitchen on Katie’s floor? The most likely reason would be that they’d been on that floor to see Demeter, but that still makes no sense. One—at that moment, Demeter was on the top floor, where I would assume Adrian’s office was, so they couldn’t have been talking to her. Two—if they were there to talk to Demeter, were maybe waiting for her to show, why would they be in the kitchen and not her office? Three—if they, specifically Adrian, wanted to talk to Demeter, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for her to go to him, since he outranks her? I don’t know, perhaps I missed something. That whole day was kind of confusing.

Kinsella’s stylistic choices were expected and well-executed. She’s one of the very few authors I’ve read who uses parentheses in fiction, and she makes it work. Katie’s inner monologue was entertaining as well as informative, very rarely boring. I had an issue with the names of her friends Fiona and Flora—they were too similar, even in the shape of the letters, while the women were very different. It took me a little while to figure out who was who. (And I feel like she’s used the name Fiona (Fi) for the best-friend before in one of her other stand-alones. Yep, looked it up, the best friend in Remember Me? was named Fi. That threw me off, too.)

But what I admire most about this book was the fact that it seemed nothing came out of the blue; everything that happened toward the middle and end of the book had sprouted from seeds planted early on. It was all organic, and everything came full circle, as far as I can tell. While a few things were “convenient,” like my example above, there were no easy or lazy explanations, no deus ex machina. It didn’t work up to a climax where all was lost and a solution could not be reached and then boom, something or someone comes out of the woodwork to save the day. That level of story-telling takes study and skill—and eagle-eye editing—and I wholly appreciate it.

Overall: Despite its minor flaws, I loved this book, and I will be purchasing it so that it may join the other Kinsella books I reread frequently.

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