Surprise Me: The Sunday Times Number One bestseller

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The funny thing is, I’d never have thought ‘ability to flip burgers’ would have been on the list of attributes I was looking for in a man. But there you go. For each following novel that she publishes, part of me gets nervous that I won't like the next one. I am so happy to say that hasn't been the case for any of her novels and I have liked each with varying levels of enjoyment. Always, I have liked what she has written.

Try as I may, I cannot possibly relay just how truly moving the ending is. All I’ll say is: try to finish reading the book in private. You are very likely to get extremely sentimental. 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. Surprise Me is a bit different from other books by Sophie Kinsella's girl meets boy storyline and in this one, she explores a marriage. We meet our very likable main characters Sylvie and Dan at a Doctors appointment and the doctor predicted that they will live long enough to be married 68 years more. This sends some fear of routine and boredom to them and they decided to spice things up by doing a few surprises for each other. This brought on some laugh out loud moments that could be heard from us within the coulee and we really enjoyed discussing this and some of our own stories of surprises with each other. Along with the fun, there is some seriousness to this story and it has some layers to it and we see a deeper side to this story. We start to see Sylvie and Dan grow apart and come together as a couple. Kinsella is definitely one for creating a cast of eclectic and off-beat characters that you just can’t help but fall in love with. Sylvie is one that is such an enjoyable and well-developed character that transforms throughout the novel. Her friends are the greatest side characters with their outlandish ideas which gives the book that classic humour seen in many of the authors books. ❀ Meaningful Themes After 10 years of marriage, Sylvie and Dan learn that they could potentially be married for another 68 years. Worried that they will grow bored with one another, Sylvie comes up with the not so brilliant idea that they need to add some surprises to their marriage and launches “Project Surprise Me.” Things don’t go as planned, and the surprises that Sylvie and Dan plan for one another go painfully wrong, causing Sylvie to question whether or not she really knows Dan.

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Heartfelt . . . What at first seems like a light novel about familiar woes turns into a deeper story about trust, family, and perception.” — Publishers Weekly

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. After ten years together, Sylvie and Dan have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, and beautiful twin girls, and they communicate so seamlessly they finish each other’s sentences. They have a happy marriage and believe they know everything there is to know about each other. Until it’s casually mentioned to them that they could be together for another sixty-eight years . . . and panic sets in. 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! The writing is smooth and effortless. The characters are quirky, comical, genuine, and lovable. And the plot is an engaging, moving tale bursting with witty banter, embarrassing situations, awkward moments, hilarious hijinks, and sweet romance. 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.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.... After being together for ten years, Sylvie and Dan have all the trimmings of a happy life and marriage; they have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, beautiful twin girls, and communicate so seamlessly, they finish each other's sentences. However, a trip to the doctor projects they will live another 68 years together and panic sets in. They never expected "until death do us part" to mean seven decades.

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. Ms Kinsella did a wonderful job with wit and humor to show the readers the many intricacies a marriage can have. It was a well done treat for this reader and an author I will continue to seek out 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.For a time, this does seem like a frothy novel about keeping the spark alive in marriage before it becomes a deeper look at relationships between family, husbands and wives, work, and yourself. It’s when this novel goes deeper that I really enjoyed it. One of the funniest scenes in Surprise Me would probably also appear very familiar to many. In this day and age, we often rely on technology for answers to everything. Many of us tend to think that by Googling something or watching a few videos on YouTube we can become experts on any subject, even the ones that take years to master. You have to read the book to find out what happened when Tilda – a Google-taught brand new photography whizz – decided to help out Sylvie with a free professional photo-shoot. Thought provoking A lot of our conversations are like this. Overlapping sentences and half- thoughts and shorthand. I didn’t need to spell out, ‘I spoke to Karen, our nanny, about baby-sitting’. He knew. It’s not that we’re psychic exactly, but we do tend to sense exactly what each other is going to say next. 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.