Unpredictable

I really enjoyed this book. The protagonist, Sophie Kintock, is a lovable goofball who wants her ex-boyfriend back. The fact that he is an obvious dirtbag doesn't deter her. She learns that his new, "melon-breasted" girlfriend believes in psychics, and she hatches a far-fetched plan to give her a psychic reading persuading her to leave the dirtbag. Things get complicated when some of the predictions Sophie makes come true.

In some ways, Sophie was an unreliable narrator; her inability to see her ex-boyfriend's true nature is one example. She also thinks his stuffy parents are fabulous. However, the discrepancy between reality (which is clear to the reader) and Sophie's perspective provides a lot of humor. The plot was also totally show more original.

My only complaint with the novel was poor proofreading. Phrases were sometimes repeated twice, and prepositions were left out. However, this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel, and I definitely plan to read the author's next book. show less

Sophie Kintock has found the man of her dreams. Doug is everything she wants – or at least she thinks he is. When he unceremoniously dumps her while she is folding his laundry, she decides that she will do anything to get him back. She undertakes a series of capers to make Doug think he can’t handle life without her, only to find that he has moved on to a new blonde bombshell named Melanie.

In Sophie’s most desperate hour, she meets Nick, a member of a society who is out to prove that psychics aren’t real – and so the basis of a plan forms. Sophie convinces Nick to teach her how fake being a psychic in order to convince Melanie that Doug isn’t the one for her. And so a spiral of hilarity begins – especially when, to show more Sophie’s delight, she finds out that she has a real talent for fake psychic readings. However, things get much more complicated as her popularity as a psychic begins to grow and she has to decide what she really wants and what really is important in life.

Unpredictable by Eileen Cook is a unique and hilarious addition to the chick lit genre. Cook writes her characters well: Sophie is quirky and creative, but her misguided notions sometimes make her seem rather selfish. Though it is clear that she only wants the person whom she considers to be the love of her life back, she doesn’t seem to take the time to consider that others are affected by what she says and does. It is unclear whether the character grows in this regard by the end of the novel. Despite this quandary, Unpredictable is utterly enjoyable - funny and witty, with Sophie finding herself in increasingly entertaining predicaments and struggling to escape the situations she gets herself into. The fallibility of the characters gives them depth and makes them believable, yet the reader still gets to see the happy fairy-tale ending that is critical to novels of this genre.

One question that is addressed but goes unanswered by the book is the question of whether it is immoral to give fake psychic readings to people. On one hand, it is a downright lie to tell people that you know something of their future when, in reality, you have no more idea of what’s going to happen than they do. On the other hand, for some it gives some comfort and something to look forward to. While Sophie does wrestle with this issue, she seems to be more concerned that her friends disapprove of her psychic persona than the fact that she is misleading people to believe she knows something of their future. In the end, the moral dilemma is never fully resolved.

As a fan of chick lit, I found Unpredictable completely refreshing and fun. It brings together a wonderful story of love with the very unique perspective of the world of psychics. It is a highly enjoyable, laugh-out-loud novel that I would recommend to anyone, young or old, male or female - and I don’t have to be psychic to predict that they would enjoy it!

Originally published at Curled Up With a Good Book and reprinted at http://www.skrishnasbooks.com show less

Picked this up at a Friends of the Library booksale this month. I really enjoyed the book's light style, even all the lists and emails, which sometimes can annoy me. Sophie has a unique way of looking at the world, and justifying everything from eating a carton of ice cream to playing tricks on her ex in order to make him realize how much he missed her and thus come back to her -- things like sneaking into the laundry room at his new apartment to steal a mate to each of his socks, or moving his parked car to a different space (which she can do because forgot she had the spare key to his Mercedes.)

Sophie is blessed with a good imagination, even better friends, and a loyal dog. Plus she has a really cool job in a rare book store where show more she does research for clients on various things. Her quest to win back her ex leads her to pose as a psychic, so she can give readings to the new girlfriend instructing her to dump Sophie's ex, while working in league with a new friend (male, Scottish, bookish, darling, of course) to expose the fraudulence in the psychic industry. It gets slightly complicated (but not head-spinningly so) after that, but Sophie presses on.

When I told javaczuk what I'd read yesterday, and some of the more amusing elements of the plot, he commented he was surprised a movie hadn't been made of it. It would probably make a good one, with maybe Carmen Diaz playing the girlfriend. show less

Sophie just got dumped by her boyfriend, which she totally didn’t see coming! Despite her best friend’s advice (and mine too! because he is ick), Sophie wants him back…badly (so badly that she wears one of his socks as a headband). So during one of her stakeouts (aka stalking sessions where she stole said sock) she finds her hiding underneath a sink in a laundry room in his apartment complex. Because coincidently her ex decided to come down and collect his load and starts to flirt with this tall, blond, and gorgeous girl (who doesn’t seem to lack in the chest area). It turns out that the new love rival seeks out psychics to predict her life. With this knowledge in mind what does Sophie do? She fakes being a psychic to show more potentially take back her ex. But wait, Sophie somehow manages to attract a radio show host and is now being featured on a talk show in Canada as a psychic!? Oh snap. Not to despair, Sophie manages to faint in her engagement party (but to whom is the question), dream a little dream, and knows just what to do with her future.

Sophie is this lost puppy type of person; you want to direct her and pet her, but she’ll only bite and growl at you. She’s larger than life and takes the extreme of situations. Her naivety, lack of consideration, and take-no-prisoner attitudes at times counteracts the hilarity of the novel. The reader may perhaps find themselves liking her then having the desire to shake her in the very next chapter. In my opinion, the annoyance I held on her outweighed my pity for Sophie making her an unlikable heroine towards the second half of the novel.

Nick is average height (for a female), has a moderate Scottish accent, and is a disbeliever of psychics that teaches Sophie all she knows about the facts to become a psychic. Did I mention that he’s also pining for Sophie’s love? Because he is. He’s the kitten in this novel. Sweet, innocent, and seems to be lingering somewhere behind.

So what happens when you mix Nick and Sophie together? A balance of sensibility and wildness; yin and yang; comfort and fun. That’s not to say that they end of together in the end because maybe, just maybe, Sophie ends up back with her ex. Or I can just be messing with your minds. Seriously I should have left enough cliffhangers in this review to make you curious at one point.

Unpredictable presents a small irony: The title. Unpredictable was very much predictable. However, this is a madhouse roller coaster ride and you are definitely going to watch something fall apart. This is a laugh-out-loud, I’m-so-happy-that-my-life-isn’t-like-that-sad haha, novel. But, just get those muscles in your hand clenching though because I was surely frustrated with this novel at times.

A chick-lit novel to the tittle of the i. show less

Ok, I marked like it simply because it ended right. This book was hard for me to read, and I think it is because I didn't like the main character. Even in the last chapter I was shaking my head and thinking, "You're an idiot!" Not good.

However, I finished the book, and that means I liked it just enough. The style was also hard for me. I could only read so many pages at a time before my head needed a break. It read like stream of consciousness and that gets old after a while. I did however like the wittiness of the story, but at times it was just stupid.

Ok, I marked like it simply because it ended right. This book was hard for me to read, and I think it is because I didn't like the main character. Even in the last chapter I was shaking my head and thinking, "You're an idiot!" Not good.

However, I finished the book, and that means I liked it just enough. The style was also hard for me. I could only read so many pages at a time before my head needed a break. It read like stream of consciousness and that gets old after a while. I did however like the wittiness of the story, but at times it was just stupid.

Perfect plane book, which is was.
A little too heavy on the chick lit, however, story was sweet and mindless.
Sophie's boyfriend Doug dumped her, and she MUST have him back. So, she decides to pretend to be a psychic and "predict" the future and give a fake reading to his new girlfriend, Melanie (who believes in this) with the help of psychic-doubter and college professor Nick. I think you've already figured out the ending.