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

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