Surprise Me

Sylvie and Dan have been together for so long that they can finish each other's sentences. One comment from their doctor at their annual visit that they'll likely have almost 70 more years of marriage throws them into an emotional tailspin. They vowed to be together forever so they decide to cope by surprising each other with random and fun ideas. However, the biggest surprise ends up unveiling a huge secret. Will they still be together forever?

Typical of a Sophie Kinsella book, Surprise Me had my cheeks either aching in pain from laughing so hard or burning from secondhand embarrassment from Sylvie's mishaps. Sophie Kinsella has also crafted a wonderful tale by portraying several of the different types of love through varying show more characters. Eros (sexual) love with Sylvie and Dan, Philia (friendship) love with her neighbor Tilda, Storge (familial/parental) love with their daughters, Agape (altruistic) love with their elderly neighbors on the other side, and Ludus (playful and/or flirting) with Robert. These many characters blend into a fun plotline that hit me with a MEGA surprise plot twist.

I highly recommend this book for any adult looking for a fun romance that balances the seriousness of the effects of grief and misunderstandings. My favorite characters were the elderly couple that lived next door and had such pure love and both came across as genuinely sweet.

I would not recommend this book for anyone who might be triggered or offended by the following: grief, parental death, sexually suggestive scenarios, and foul language.

Please note: an electronic ARC of this novel was generously provided through the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

A special thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have also had the pleasure of reviewing My Not So Perfect Life and couldn't wait to read Surprise Me. Sophie Kinsella, you've done it again! I absolutely adore your writing and your words make me smile. (If you haven't listened to one of Kinsella's books, I highly recommend it, especially if narrated by Jayne Entwistle.)

This witty and at times emotional novel takes a closer look at marriage and how we can still be surprised by those we think we know best. Sylvie and Dan have been together for ten blissful years. They have a lovely home life complete with twin girls, fulfilling careers, and an envy worthy relationship. A trip to show more the doctor predicts that they will live for another 68 years—this gives new meaning to "until death us do part" when it spans seven more decades together.

To keep the marriage alive, Project Surprise Me is born. The couple will surprise each other to keep things fresh and exciting. But is seems that each "surprise" exposes the flaws in their relationship and drives them apart.

Sylvie seemingly enjoys her work at a museum even though there are some pretty archaic systems in place—the owner, Mrs. Kendrick resists technology and Sylvie chalks this up to as charming. Mrs. Kendrick's nephew, Robert, takes an interest in the operations of the museum and questions their methods and systems. Is he trying to close down the museum and turn it into two-bedroom condos?

Facing changes both personally and professionally, Sylvie experiences a tremendous amount of growth. She adored her late father and has kept up the Princess Sylvie persona he created as a way to honour him, when in actual fact, she is doing herself and her family a disservice because she is not being true to herself.

I fell in love with the supporting cast of characters, this is really where Kinsella excels at writing. The tender exchanges between Sylvie's neighbours John and Owen were some of the most beautiful writing in the book. One of my favourite quotes is when John says "Love is finding one person infinitely fascinating."

Kinsella's latest work is charming, thoughtful, and simply delightful. show less

Sylvie and Dan Winter have been together for ten years, married for seven of them, and have a set of five-year-old twins. Sylvie says “We’ve always been that couple. Blended. Intertwined.” But on the tenth anniversary of their relationship, everything changes. It begins when they both get their annual physicals and the doctor predicts they will both live long lives: “You should have sixty-eight more wonderful years of marriage!”

Instead of heartening them, it fills them with anxiety. How will they maintain interest in one another?

Dan works out how many more times they will have sex: 11,000. “Give or take.” And they enjoy sex, and in fact have sex to celebrate their longevity. The sex is great. But as Sylvie says after they show more do, “. . . it was amazing. And I do love him. But - totally, absolutely honestly - there’s also another tiny voice in my head. Saying: One down. Only another 10,999 times to go.”

Sylvie decides they are living in "a marital Groundhog Day” and they need to mix things up: “We need to be jolted and entertained and challenged with lots of little surprises. And then the next sixty-eight years will whiz by. Yes. This is it!”

But there is trouble in paradise, and the surprises don’t all turn out positive. For one thing, Sylvie is convinced Dan dislikes her family, particularly her needy mother and the memory of Sylvie’s late father. Sylvie was a daddy’s girl; she thought of her dad as handsome, dapper, and charming. He died two years before in a car crash, but Sylvie remains bereft, and even still keeps her hair long, like Rapunzel, because that’s how her dad liked it. She thinks Dan resents her relationship with her dad and her dad’s elan and financial success.

After a contentious day they spent with Sylvie’s mother, Sylvie thought: “I can’t possibly contemplate being married to Dan for another sixty-eight years. The last sixty-eight minutes have been bad enough.”

In addition, Sylvie soon comes to believe that Dan already has gotten tired of her, and is having an affair. She thinks it is with an old flame Dan has never mentioned before:

“…all Dan’s former girlfriends [are] logged in my brain, in the same way that FBI agents have America’s Most Wanted. There is not and has never been a Mary. Until now.”

Dan invites Mary and other old friends over for a dinner. Sylvie declares to herself:

“This is officially a Marital Situation. And actually I’m quite freaked out, in a way I really didn’t expect to be.”

So Sylvie does some sleuthing, and finds out there is indeed a lot about Dan she didn’t know. And she has to figure out what to do about it, and to find her own identity in the process.

Evaluation: As with previous books, Sophie Kinsella manages to find delightful humor in sticky domestic circumstances, and to provide many laugh-out-loud moments. I thought the initial premise of this book about longevity was a little hokey, but once the author got into the “meat” of the story, it vastly improved. show less

It doesn’t matter if the plot is about indulgent shopping or about more serious subjects, it is always a joy to read a Sophie Kinsella book. In this novel, a happily married couple is given the great news from their doctor that their health is so good, they can expect to live to be 100. And to be married for another 68 years. And suddenly those decades loom ahead of them as too much time to filled doing the same things day after dreary day. Sylvia decides to keep things fresh, they should surprise each other with unique experiences. But as she and Dan try to come up with new ideas, things don’t always work out as planned. Before long, Sylvia gets a surprise that shakes her to her very core. Well written and with surprises along the show more way, this story and its characters will entertain you as well as make you think about what you might do in similar straits. show less

Sylvie and Dan are so compatible. They can predict what each other are going to do or say. They finish each other’s sentences. They’re so happy together, right? So it would seem until a doctor tells them that they’re both in incredible health and likely to live another 68 years, give or take. Good news or have they just been sentenced to 68 years of same old, same old, with nothing new to look forward to? In order to keep things exciting, they plan to surprise each other, keep things interesting and unpredictable. As Sylvie’s friend Tilda advises, surprises have a way of going wrong. Sylvie and Dan discover this pretty quickly as he buys a sweater in a terrible color for her, gets her a snake, and takes her to lunch with connect show more with an old friend who isn’t really that much of a friend. Sylvie’s surprises don’t go as well either, especially the hilarious photo shoot for boudoir pics where Tilda’s son walks in.... well, you get the picture. As the story progresses, Dan becomes more distant, and Sylvie is convinced he is having an affair after one of his surprises when she first learns of his old girlfriend, Mary.

Every time I read a Sophie Kinsella book, I find myself very uncomfortable. As each story progresses, and I get to know and like/love the characters, I find a way to deal with my distress and connect with the story - I have to know how it all ends! Kinsella is masterful at creating that tension, but also at creating heart and humor in her characters and their lives. This is a fun beach read, good to pick up after reading something more serious, easy to get through in a day or two. show less

This is my first book by Sophie Kinsella but I have already decided to change that and have just ordered her Shopaholic series. I really enjoyed her characters and the way she told the story. Even though there are laugh out loud moments in the book - thanks to Sylvie and her twin daughters - there were also some serious marital issues involved that made the book even more interesting.

Sylvie and Dan have been together for 10 years. They have a good life - a nice house, twin daughters and get along well and even seem to read each other's minds. When they have a physical, the doctor sees them together and tells them that they are both so healthy that they'll probably be able to stay married for 68 more years. This thought doesn't sit well show more with either of them so they decide to surprise each other in the coming weeks with things that will spice up their marriage. Their surprises often have humorous results like when Dan 'surprises' Sylvie with a snake in an aquarium and Sylvie won't even look at. It's beginning to look like they don't understand each other at all.

This is a very enjoyable book about love and marriage and family and friendship. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it as a light read.

Thanks to librarything for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. show less

I can always count on Kinsella to make me laugh when I need a pick-me-up. This novel has her classic heroine, full of vim and vigour, insecurities and unbridled imagination. There are some comic scenes that made me laugh out loud and although Sylvie's epiphany was predictable, there was enough narrative tension and enjoyable quid pro quo to keep the story going. Delightful as always.