Twenties Girl
Posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Product Description
Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?
When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie–a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance–mysteriously appears, she has one last request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, and Sadie cannot rest without it. Lara, on the other hand, has a number of ongoing distractions. Her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, her start-up company is floundering, and she’s just been dumped by the “perfect” man.
Sadie, however, could care less.
Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from each other along the way. Written with all the irrepressible charm and humor that have made Sophie Kinsella’s books beloved by millions, Twenties Girl is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family.Amazon.com Review
Amazon Exclusive: Sophie Kinsella on Twenties Girl
Sophie Kinsella is a former financial journalist and the author of the best-selling novels Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic & Sister, Shopaholic & Baby, Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, and Remember Me?. She lives in England, where she is at work on her next book.
Writing Twenties Girl was like going on my own magical mystery tour. My U.S. editor Susan Kamil had once said casually, “You should write a ghost story one day.” This comment stayed with me for years. I loved the idea, but didn’t know who my ghost could be. I’ve always loved the glamour and spirit of the 1920s, and the idea came to me of a flapper ghost. A feisty, fun, glamorous girl who adored to dance and drink cocktails and get her own way. I wanted her to be a determined character who would blast into the life of someone with no warning and cause havoc. I then decided she should haunt a thoroughly modern girl, with all the culture clashes and comedy that would bring.
Having come up with this idea I loved it, so it then remained to plunge myself into 1920s research, which was no hardship at all, as I find the era fascinating. I researched vintage make-up, vintage dresses, read fiction from the period, investigated 1920s slang, and tried to channel as much I could of those feisty flappers who cut their hair short (shock!), smoked cigarettes in public (shock!), had sex (shock!) and generally rebelled in all the outrageous ways they could.
The book isn’t a period piece though. It’s a modern story about two girls and their sparky friendship, right here in the 21st century. One of them just happens to be a ghost from the 1920s. It’s a quest, a romance, and a coming of age… and above all a comedy. It’s no exaggeration to say that writing the character of Sadie made me look at life differently, and I hope some readers feel the same way. —Sophie Kinsella
I love all of Sophie Kinsella’s books, and was looking forward to buying this on my new Kindle. However, I can get it for just a little more at the bookstore, so I’m going to buy the book instead. I’m sure there will be lots of reasonably priced books for me to enjoy on my Kindle.
Rating: 2 / 5
This book was so bad that I tossed it midway through. One of the worst books I have ever read, hands down.
Rating: 1 / 5
This book was definitely a good beach read, despite the fact that the main character was SO annoying. The whole first half of the book she just complains and complains about her break-up. I had to jump a couple paragraphs because I got tired of just READING about her whining! It was a good premise, but some of the story lines feel unfinished and not fleshed out enough. A quick, light-hearted read, but I do wish that I had waited and bought it cheaper in paperback!
Rating: 3 / 5
Sophie Kinsella is credited by many as the author that got them into chick lit. Readers stumble upon the Shopaholic series, and it explodes from there – I’ve heard the story many times, and it is applicable to myself, too. I wonder if anyone who had not heard of the Shopaholic book series before watching the movie have now decided to follow up with Shopaholic and Baby?
Due to lack of Kinsella novels to read (I have read them all), I recently reread Remember Me? and had plans to reread the Shopaholic series… until I found out she was publishing another book.
In steps Twenties Girl – a novel about two young women, one of them being a ghost. The basic plot made me a little wary – for some reason I’m not big into ghost novels – and I remained wary for the first few chapters, but there was no denying that this book was written by the talented Kinsella, and that fact alone kept me hooked.
I will admit, I was starting to get very annoyed with the bossy ghost – because of her ghost attributes, she was able to manipulate many situations, and sometimes I found it utterly annoying. Most of the novels I read have very real scenarios, and while I’m not saying ghosts don’t exist (because really, who knows?) I haven’t heard many stories about ghosts talking to people this much.
After about halfway through the book, pieces started fitting together, seemingly unrelated plot lines started intertwining, and I found myself reading the second half of the book in one sitting (which was no easy feat, this isn’t a short novel). Perhaps if I had been paying attention I would have caught on to some of the things that transpired, but I am never good at that anyway, so instead I was shocked at some of the events.
This book gets an additional thumbs up because it was held to a higher standard than I usually hold books – because I had read a multitude of Sophie Kinsella books, I already expected to enjoy this one, and could have very easily been let down (I wasn’t).
Sophie Kinsella fan or not, this was a great summer read. I even (gasp) took a break from my Sookie Stackhouse books to read it, which should say a lot if you’ve been paying attention to my other reviews. The only downside is that now I don’t have any other Kinsella’s to read. I guess I may end up rereading the Shopaholic books after all.
Rating: 5 / 5
“Twenties Girl” by Sophie Kinsella is a beautiful and funny book about love, family and the most unusual, unique and hilarious ghost.
Lara Lington’s life is about to get even more complicated and weird (as if it isn’t bad enough that her boyfriend Josh just recently broke up with her, that she has financial problems, that the partner in her firm just doesn’t want to come back from her holiday and that Lara has to work like crazy to keep the firm from going under) when she starts seeing the ghost of her Great Aunt Sadie. Sadie wants Lara to find a necklace that Sadie always wore and now has disappeared. Of course Lara is shocked to see Sadie in form of her ghost especially because she never really knew her before and only went to her funeral out of family obligation. But still Lara is willing to help Sadie find her necklace and her peace.
Soon afterwards Lara realizes that there is more to the missing necklace than she first thought and that to find it she has to uncover some family secrets and learn more about Sadie’s life. Lara and Sadie soon become friends and the story takes another turn when through Sadie Lara meets Ed (he’s an American businessman currently working in London) and goes out on a date with him so that Sadie can experience one last date through Lara. What starts out at as favour for her aunt’s ghost soon develops to a chance of a new relationship for Lara. But to have a future with Ed Lara first has to solve the mystery surrounding the necklace, her relationship with Josh plus her frustrating work situation.
Normally I’m not a big fan of stories with ghosts but Sophie Kinsella really made it work for me. Sadie gives the story so much depth and I love the relationship between Lara and her, especially because she wants Lara to be happy and has some very special ways to help her.
Lara is the kind of heroine I love. She’s a kind person, sometimes not sure about what to do with her life and willing to help Sadie even though her own life is already complicated enough. I also like that the book has a first-person narrator because experiencing the story through Lara’s eyes is just wonderful and often very funny.
I love how Lara finally realizes that she doesn’t need (and want) Josh in her life and that maybe Ed is not really the snobby American she thought him to be.
Ed is another great character and the relationship between Lara and him is very lovely but the book is more about Lara and Sadie and not mainly about Lara and Ed. Even though I like books where the relationship between heroine and hero is the main part I love how Sophie Kinsella made Lara and Sadie the two central characters of the book. The scenes between them are just perfect and make the book extra remarkable and great.
So all in all I just love “Twenties Girl” and can recommend it to every romance fan. The book left me with a big smile on my face and a warm feeling in my heart so it’s easy for me to say that you should give it a try.
Oh, and if you can choose between the British and the US version go with the British one because the cover is just beautiful and perfect for the book.
Rating: 5 / 5