Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

In preparing for a trip overseas this past summer, I purchased a few ebooks for my Kindle. I wanted to be sure that once I boarded the plane, I had some choices of what I could read. Sophie Kinsella’s book I’ve Got Your Number was one of those books.

I ended up reading this towards the end of my trip, finishing it on July 17th, when I was burned out from two heavier novels. I knew I needed something more lighthearted. I was not wrong! I nearly finished this in one sitting!

I’m not sure how I missed this 2012 book from Kinsella, probably because I was in my fifth year teaching full-time language arts, grading lots of middle school essays, and my reading life suffered. Checking through my Goodreads account, I see that I’ve read twelve other Kinsella books, and I’ve enjoyed all of them.

Right away, I noticed something unusual (for me) about this book. It has footnotes! This is not usual for a work of fiction, although I am aware it has been done with great effect in Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I haven’t read this 800-page clunker but my husband, who doesn’t read much fiction, loved it!

The concept of footnotes in a work of fiction seemed very intriguing to me, however, I’m not sure it works that well on a Kindle. Kinsella says in the notes at the front of the novel that clicking on the footnote number in the text will take you to the footnote and clicking on it again will take you back to the exact same place you last read, but it did not work for me, so eventually I gave up and just read all the footnotes at the end of each chapter.

Now, for the real reason you read book reviews, what did I think about this book! I really enjoyed it! Kinsella has a way of drawing you in from the get-go and before long you are rooting for the heroine who has gotten herself in some kind of messy situation. With this novel, however, you get a twofer, as you also get a hero (anti-hero?) to cheer for as well, it just takes a while for you to get to know him.

The main character, Poppy Wyatt, is engaged to be married and somehow, at a bridesmaid tea, manages to lose her enormous antique emerald engagement ring in the ballroom of a London hotel. There is so much angst in this book, Poppy loses this family heirloom, she has a shaky relationship with her future in-laws, and she is on thin ice at work. But the worst of all is that her cell phone, which I think we will all agree is our very lifeline to the entire world, is stolen right out of her hands.

When reading reviews of this earlier work of Kinsella, I see a lot of people talking about her books as “guilty pleasures.” Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we need to judge ourselves this way? I strongly feel that you should read what you want, what you like, and not worry about what others might think about it. I also don’t think we should feel badly if we don’t like a book that everyone else loves, or if we love a book everyone else hates! Just read!

I look forward to many more very “pleasurable” hours spent reading Sophie Kinsella books. I hope you do as well!