When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed.
Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she…well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all.
Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?
With the same wicked humor and delicious charm that have won her millions of devoted fans, Sophie Kinsella, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shopaholic & Baby, returns with an irresistible new novel and a fresh new heroine who finds herself in a life-changing and utterly hilarious predicament…
Sophie Kinsella has sold over 40 million copies of her books in more than 60 countries, and she has been translated into over 40 languages.
Sophie Kinsella first hit the UK bestseller lists in September 2000 with her first novel in the Shopaholic series – The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (also published as Confessions of a Shopaholic). The book’s heroine, Becky Bloomwood – a fun and feisty financial journalist who loves shopping but is hopeless with money – captured the hearts of readers worldwide. Becky has since featured in seven further bestselling books, Shopaholic Abroad (also published as Shopaholic Takes Manhattan), Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic & Sister, Shopaholic & Baby, Mini Shopaholic, Shopaholic to the Stars and Shopaholic to the Rescue. Becky Bloomwood came to the big screen in 2009 with the hit Disney movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy.
Sophie has also written seven standalone novels which have all been bestsellers in the UK, USA and other countries around the world: Can You Keep A Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Twenties Girl, I’ve Got Your Number, Wedding Night, and My Not So Perfect Life, which was a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist for Best Fiction in 2017.
In 2014 she published a Young Adult novel Finding Audrey about a teenage girl with social anxiety and her madcap family, and in January 2018, Sophie published her first illustrated book for young readers about the charming adventures of a mother-daughter fairy duo, Mummy Fairy and Me (also published as Fairy Mom and Me).
Sophie’s latest novel, Surprise Me, published in February 2018, presents a humorous yet moving portrait of a marriage—its intricacies, comforts, and complications. Surprise Me reveals that hidden layers in a close relationship are often yet to be discovered.
Sophie wrote her first novel under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, at the tender age of 24, whilst she was working as a financial journalist. The Tennis Party was immediately hailed as a success by critics and the public alike and became a top ten bestseller. She went on to publish six more novels as Madeleine Wickham: A Desirable Residence, Swimming Pool Sunday, The Gatecrasher, The Wedding Girl, Cocktails for Three and Sleeping Arrangements.
Sophie was born in London. She studied music at New College, Oxford, but after a year switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She now lives in London, UK, with her husband and family.
This would usually be the time when I would ask the largely rhetorical and semi-pathetic question, “Why do I keep reading Sophie Kinsella books?” Well, this time the answer is blatantly obvious—the plot of this one involves amnesia, yo, and I can never resist amnesia—and the question is kind of unfair. Because this wasn’t so bad—far less annoying than the last few Shopaholic books. Kinsella’s strength has always been her ability to create an amusing, fast-paced narrative, and coupled with the amnesia plot, I really didn’t want to put this book down. However, it also shares many of the same irritating traits as Kinsella’s other novels. The protagonist is once again a flighty, shallow woman who spends most of the book flailing and helpless, wriggling out of scrapes mostly through luck and/or the help of a strong, powerful man. Also, Kinsella really has no idea what it means to be poor. Not only are these novels full of rich people, the “poor” characters still have large country houses (but they smell kind of funny!) or can afford their own flats in London. Uh-huh. I wish I had your problems, ladies.
For what this was, it was fun enough. Actually, in some ways it’s becoming funnier in retrospect, because I’m realizing what the plot reminded me of. In Remember Me?, 24-year-old Lexi wakes up after receiving a bump on the head to discover that she’s actually a very different and successful 28-year-old version of herself who’s lost four years of her memory after a car accident. Which brings to mind a book I read as a teenager, The Other Side of Dark by Joan Lowery Nixon, in which 13-year-old Stacy wakes up after a four-year coma to solve a murder and embark on a vaguely squicky romance with a 23-year-old. Mostly I remember the latter book due to its having one of the most unintentionally hilarious last paragraphs ever: “My cheek glows from the warmth of his skin through his shirt, and I can hear the steady beat of his heart. I put my arms around him. I’m Stacy McAdams. I’m seventeen. And I’m definitely in the right body!” Ahahahahaha. I guess we should all be glad that in Remember Me?, Lexi merely engages in some rather embarrassing activities involving muffins.
Since this review has clearly descended into tangent city, I’d also like to call attention to something that was in no way Kinsella’s fault, but which made me want to laugh/cry almost as much as Stacy’s self-affirmations. Dear American publishers of English novels: We, your readers, are not idiots. We can figure out that, if a novel is set in London, “football” means the sport with the round ball and “crisps” are not some unfathomable food, even more impossible to decode than this “Philosopher’s Stone” I’ve heard stories of. We might, in fact, be reading this book set in London in part to soak up the English atmosphere and indulge our Anglophilia. So you are in fact helping no one when you take a manuscript from across the pond and do a find/replace on all the “British” terms, leaving you with a long scene that involves your heroine making repeated and unintentionally comic reference to a “packet of chips.” Yes, thank you for clarifying that the characters did not just purchase a plastic bag of French fries from a gas station; however, you’ve now got them sounding like poor confused souls with horrible mid-Atlantic accents. NO ONE SAYS PACKET OF CHIPS. Americans say bag of chips. English people say packet of crisps. Please choose one or, better yet, LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE. Next thing you know all novels will take place in North Generica, because god forbid readers be exposed to something unfamiliar or spend half a second feeling CONFUSED.
[/rant]
So annnnnnnyway…like I said, way way back in my first paragraph, this was actually pretty fun and diverting. Much better than the later Shopaholic books, and a perfectly decent beach or plane read. Or in my case, couch and bathtub read. If you’re in need of some froth, you could do a lot worse. After all, this is froth WITH BONUS AMNESIA.
Sophie Kinsella's books follow a formula that's as simple and delicious as my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Start with a twenty-something heroine who's slogging away at her career in London. She's far from perfect. Neither an Oxbridge graduate, cover girl, or WAG of a world-class footballer, our girl's best quality is that she's a true-blue friend. She's a pretty hard worker, decent and well-meaning. She hasn't a mean bone in her body. Her flaws tend to run in the direction of materialism. This may manifest itself in a shopping addiction, or a tad too much lusting after designer goods, or a bit too much interest in the glitzy trappings of material success. The recipe in The Undomestic Goddess is slightly different--like an inverse chocolate chip cookie recipe, I suppose. (Chocolate dough with white chocolate chips). The heroine was a brilliant, high-powered City attorney or investment banker(can't remember which), who lived for her work but was clueless outside the office.
To these raw ingredients is added a crisis: a nasty workplace conspiracy (The Undomestic Goddess), a terrifying plane ride that loosens her lips(Can You Keep a Secret?), or an automobile crash(Remember Me?). If I recall, the Shopaholic books' crises pretty much revolve around the pitfalls of overspending. :)
The crisis performs a function as essential as the baking soda in the cookie recipe: it forces our heroine to rise to the occasion. She draws on qualities that she never knew she possessed, using them to make lemonade from lemons. The sugar is of course provided by Mr. Perfect, who crops up somewhere in her newly-jumbled circumstances. Our lucky London heroine grows in important ways, and finds true love in the process.
Lexi Smart, the central character in Remember Me?, learns an especially important lesson: the perfect life-- with a perfect body, career, and husband--just isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I know that cookies aren't good for me. I should be eating fruits and veggies, right? But once in a while I really need to indulge myself in something that's unrealistically sweet, simple and predictable. What fun to imagine that career success can come so easily from selling vintage carpet designs--and in London, no less!
Conclusion: Remember Me? is an especially quick and fun read that's driven by an admirable philosophy that I'm determined to adopt. I give it four yummy stars.
“Remember Me?” is a solid book if you like Sophie Kinsella, and it's got some humor, but I think it's a pretty big step down from her other books. The story was just too slow moving and predictable for me. I kept waiting and waiting for something interesting and funny to happen, but I’m disappointed to say nothing ever did. In typical chick lit fashion, the conflicts do get resolved with some twists and turns, which are pretty fun and empowering, but I'm not digging the whole romance between Lexi and Jon. They don’t have any chemistry at all, and it felt contrived. While I giggled in a few spots, I had nowhere near the normal amount of laughs I get from Kinsella's hapless characters. Like I said, it was a fun book -- but not as enjoyable as her previous books.
Imagine if you woke up and your entire life had changed. Seemingly for the better. Your teeth are straight and white, your body is toned, your frizzy hair is smooth, your career has taken off, and you're married to a complete hottie - who happens to be a successful millionaire.
You're also estranged from your girlfriends, your little sister hates you, all the food you eat is devoid of carbs, and you might be an adulteress.
The skinny version is that Lexi wakes up in the hospital after a car accident, only to realize that her memories from the last few years have disappeared into the ether. The last thing she remembers is drinking with her friends and co-workers at a club, secretly hating her life, and vaguely dreading going to her absentee father's funeral the next day. So when she wakes up to find that everything she wanted to change about herself has magically changed (to her) overnight, she feels like she's won some sort of cosmic lottery.
But. Once she starts chipping off the shiny new paint job she starts to notice some rust spots that lead her to believe not everything is as perfect as it seems.
So what happened? There's not only the question of how she changed but ultimately why she changed, and she's going to need to find the answers if she wants to figure out how to truly live happily ever after. cue dramatic music
I did have a few issues with the story that kept it from being a 4 star book, but those things are spoilers. So.
The non-spoilery version of my complaints is that it wasn't (despite what I was led to believe) funny, the friendships were ass, her family issues are never properly resolved, and she did some iffy shit in the name of romance.
Even so, this was one of the better books that I've read in this genre when it comes to having an interesting plot. HOWEVER. This is my FIRST Sophia Kinsella book. From the other reviews I've read, if you've read one, you've read them all. And after having gone through every one of Julia Quinn's formulaic Bridgerton romance novels?
With that in mind, I will probably revisit this author when I'm really desperate for chick-lit...a few years from now.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
This book represents every reason why I do not just pick up adult novels and read them without getting a trusted opinion. But, I'd heard of this author from her previous work (even though I've never read them), it's been well received, and the description sounded interesting, so I thought I'd try it. The fact that every other page contained the f-word (not an exaggeration) was enough to turn me off to the book. Add in the fact that the characters discussion of sex made it sound more like a boys high school locker room, and I'd had enough. Do women really talk like that? I expected to turn to the back cover and see a picture of a construction worker instead of Ms. Kinsella. I didn't feel connected to a majority of the characters, and I finished it only because I have a hard time leaving a book without some type of resolution, but most pages I had to simply skim through. It's rare that I say a book is not worth reading, but this would have to be one of them. I think I'll stick with my previous inclinations to get an opinion from a trusted friend first, which is the main reason I love Goodreads!
Typically, I don’t give 2 star ratings cause I’ve never felt like a book was just “ok.”
It’s usually, I love a book, enjoy it, find it pleasant, or hate it. Finding a book that is just “ok” for me is rare.
But sadly, I must give it to this book.
Remember Me was an interesting book with great potential but terrible, terrible implementation.
It was boring and predictable and just dull to read. When thinking about continuing to read the book, I’d feel like I was being forced to do chores and that’s never something you want to feel when reading.
Like, um no, stop this nonsense.
It’s about this girl who’s having the worst luck in the world then wakes up the next day to find herself in the hospital with a sparky wedding ring and 3 years’ worth of missing memories.
The whole point of the story is for her to retrieve her memory but like *yawn* I could barely make it through this one.
One of my problems with it, is that I found it to be too juvenile. Now, I’m one to appreciate silly humour, sly quips, and lots of sass but the characters in this book are more like middle aged adults trying to act young by using words like “hip” and “rad.”
Also, the whole plot is kinda just missing, like yes I understand you lost your memory and now you have no idea who you are and now you must find yourself and look beyond your exterior and blossom into the beautiful, empowered young woman you really are, but seriously, can we please get a proper plot??????
And now, I must apologize to my dearest friends who are probably unfriending and blocking and deleting me right now because they loved this book and I’m being a judgmental poo, but I’M NOT SORRY. (ง •̀_•́)ง
“And just so you know, Lexi... I love you." "Really?" I beam delightedly before I can stop myself. "I mean... fab. Thanks very much!”
Lexi Smart has the most ironic name in literature. I think there must be houseplants smarter than she is. Pages and pages and chapters and chapters of her trying to digest the fact that she doesn't remember the last three years. And it's like each new thing she learns is this totally amazing, unexpected event. "I'll send your sister in, then, shall I" and she spends two pages wondering who the sullen teen is who enters the room. What, you can't add three to 12 and come up with teen? She seriously expected the 12 year-old of her memory? And that's not even the worst example as the sister proceeds to spitefully dupe her over and over and over again.
It just got too painful spending any more time in a first person story from a credulous idiot. This is supposed to be the powerful, dynamic director of her company? The rich, successful power-executive with designer everything? Yeah, right. I might have been able to continue if there had been anybody sympathetic but she was surrounded by flat jokes rather than other characters. Her mother is a self-involved idiot and her sister is a self-involved jerk—neither one showed as much empathy as a weasel in heat. Added to the credulousness of the viewpoint character and it all felt like someone performing slapstick in front of a traffic accident.
My First Sophie Kinsella Book Lexie Smart. Was she or was she not Ghandi in a previous life? The fun and farcical story of Lexie Smart has the heroine in this tale, Remember Me?, wondering how she got to a completely different station in life between the years 2004 and 2007. She believes she's stumbled into a dream life, but soon steps into a hornet's nest of complications, including finding out she's married to a "guy she just met," Eric, who is so rigid you have to sit up straighter just reading about him. She also discovers her best mates, a colorful threesome, have grown to hate her and call her the "bitch boss from hell."
Having no basis for comparison with the author's earlier works, this was just plain an enjoyable little story about a young woman trying to piece together her life after a car accident causes her to suffer from amnesia. She can't remember the last three years of her life and the drastic changes she underwent to go from a snaggletooth bumbler to a high-styled corporate bigwig married to a millionaire. It's well written, very funny and has a clever plot that kept me turning pages at a record pace. I can see why Kinsella has so many fans and look forward to reading her Shopaholic series.
Remember Me?, Sophie Kinsell Remember Me? is a 2008 novel by the author Madeleine Wickham under the pseudonym Sophie Kinsella. It is about Lexi Smart, a woman who has insecurities about herself until she experiences amnesia after a car accident. When she wakes up in the hospital she finds that she is a completely different person: she thinks it’s 2004 and she’s a twenty-five-year-old with crooked teeth, a disastrous love life and a dead-end job.
The most recent events of her life she can remember are three years in the past. She learns it’s actually 2007 – she’s twenty-eight, she’s the director of her department. She's fit, groomed, has a fabulous apartment, a closet full of designer clothes, and a handsome husband she has never seen before in her life, who also happens to be a multimillionaire.
She finds herself without the loyal group of girlfriends she counted on to stand by her during this difficult time due to her changed attitude. As the story unfolds, she realizes that she doesn't particularly like the person she's supposed to be, all the same trying to find her footing. As she learns more about her new self, she realizes her life is not all that she thought it would be.
This is complicated further when she finds out that her perfect marriage may be an illusion as well, when a man turns up in her life, claiming to be someone she's been having an affair with. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does? ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و دوم ماه سپتامبر سال 2019 میلادی عنوان: من رو یادت هست؟ نویسنده: سوفی کینسلا؛ مترجم: روناک احمدیآهنگر؛ تهران: نشر نون ، 1398؛ در 392 ص؛ شابک: 9786008740605؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 20 م
سوفی کینسلا، زاده ی روز دوازدهم ماه دسامبر سال 1969 میلادی، نویسنده ای بریتانیایی هستند. «کینسلا» در «آکسفورد» نخست به تحصیل در رشته ی موسیقی پرداختند، اما یک سال بعد، به تحصیل در رشته ی سیاست، فلسفه، و اقتصاد، روی آوردند. ایشان پیش از روی آوردن به نوشتن داستان، به عنوان روزنامه نگار حوزه ی مالی کار میکردند. کتابهای ایشان به بیش از چهل زبان ترجمه شده اند. کتاب «من رو یادت هست؟»، نخستین بار در سال 2008 میلادی منتشر شد. چکیده: «لکسی» پس از یک سانحه ی رانندگی، در بیمارستان به هوش میآید، و میاندیشد، همان دختر بیست و پنج ساله ی پیشین، با زندگی عاشقانه ی فاجعه آمیز خویش است. اما او در عین ناباوری درمییابد، که سه سال گذشته، و اکنون رئیس بخش مربوط به خودش شده، و گذشته از همه ی اینها، با میلیونری خوشتیپ ازدواج کرده است! او نمیتواند این رخدادها را باور کند، به ویژه آنگاه که خانه ی تازه، باشکوه، و خیره کننده ی خود را میبیند. اما «لکسی» خیلی زود متوجه میشود، که زندگی بی نقصش، تماما آن چیزی نیست، که به نظر میرسد. همگی دوستان قدیمیش اکنون از او متنفر هستند، و رقیبی سرسخت برای گرفتن شغل او، در حال تلاش است. سپس سر و کله ی مردی ژولیده، اما جذاب پیدا میشود، و ماجرا را پیچیده تر از پیش میکند. ...؛ نقل نمونه متن: «مشکل روحیه دادن به خودت این است که در اعماق قلبت میدانی تمامش چرت و پرت است.»؛ «مسئله ای که در رها کردن وجود دارد این است که هیچ وقت نمیدانی چه میتوانست بشود. هیچوقت نمیتوانی بفهمی میتوانستی کار را انجام دهی یا نه. و من از ندانستن درباره ی زندگی ام خسته شدم.»؛ «در تمام این مدت، گرسنه ی موفقیت نبودم، فقط گرسنه بودم.»؛ پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی
I really enjoyed this one! My favorite Kinsella book to date. I'm still not a fan of the relationship storyline that I get from this book and the other two adult SK books I've read... I don't know if it's the chick lit genre or just Kinsella, but I'm hoping some of her other books have something different to offer. But aside from that, the story was so funny and crazy but it just worked. I was laughing out loud and cringing all the way! Is it just me or does Sophie know how to write the most cringe-worthy embarrassing scenes for her leading ladies?? Haha It's almost painful to get through at times but so, so, so funny! I highly recommend this one :)
Very readable - I could not put this down. but the main character is the most shallow and insipid character I've ever read about and the fact that no one communicated properly infuriated me. There were a million ways I kept thinking of how things could have been handled better. Also, this is yet another Sophie Kinsella book that glorifies cheating.
Audiobook review: The narrator was good and fit Kinsella's style very well.
TW: cheating/romanticized cheating, car accidents, memory loss, friend breakup, casual use of the R-slur toward mental disability.
The idea behind this book is thought provoking - Ladies, what would you do if you suddenly woke up in the hospital to find out that not only have you no memory of the last three years of your life, but that everything you do remember has changed? This would include your appearance (for the Better!), your career (you've been Promoted!), your love life (You're Married!! & to a really good-looking guy), your lifestyle (Fantastic! Your husband is rich and you make three times as much as you used to) and that your social life has changed too. Well, maybe not everything new is better - you seem to have all new friends but your old friends; the one's that matter the most to you act like you don't even exist. This is the case of Lexi Smart - a young woman who has the misfortune (or would that be fortune?) to suffer a brain injury after falling down a set of steps.
Sophie Kinsella is a masterful story teller; she mixes real life with just enough drama to carry you along and helps you invest in her characters. She takes Lexi from an average "any woman" to an ambitious, super styler who now has the sleek body of an athlete and makes us all wish that we could be her; then Sophie switches it up and we discover that there are cracks in the perfect exterior and that not everything is picture perfect.
The story gets even more involved when we find out that Lexi's last memory is indeed from three years earlier, but that the reason she's in the hospital is because of a very recent car accident. Somehow her brain injury jumps her memory back three years and it was during those three years that she consciously made all the changes in her life. She just doesn't remember how or why. She decides to jump right in, thinking that if she plays along, hopefully her memory will return. So she moves in with her gorgeous husband, makes plans to visit her job and see her friends. She just can't understand why she's no longer tight with the girls at work that she used to always hang out with. She even meets a man that seems to know her more than he should and before long, the sparks begin to fly!
Readers are treated to a mystery as Lexi takes on the task of discovering who she is and what is really important to her - she learns just what events sparked the tremendous changes in her life and as she gets to know herself, she discovers who she really wants to be. We ride along with Lexi as she takes on challenges and wonder if she'll ever regain her memory and if or when she does, how will it change her life?
As a personal aside, after reading this book description, I actually gasped! This is ME! Well No, not really but this book really meant something to me personally, as I too, woke up in the hospital after a bump to the had after falling down the stairs and I had no recollection of it either - my life hadn't changed much - except I did lose almost 10 pounds (feeding tubes are great - there's practically no fat pumped in there!) Fortunately, all my important memories are still intact, but it was so intriguing to me when I saw the description of this book that I just had to read it and I'm so glad that I did! Everyone can enjoy this tale; even if you haven't found yourself in Lexi's shoes (or mine!) because the story speaks to everyone about the perils of wanting "the good life" and what can happen as you discover that maybe, just maybe you may already have it!
Sophie Kinsella é Sophie Kinsella...a rainha do chick-lit! Os seus livros divertem-me como ninguém se bem que entre todos os livros únicos da autora, este é capaz de ser o mais fraquinho (Agora lembrei-me do "És capaz de guarda um segredo? esse sim é o mais fraco dela!) Ainda assim foi uma boa leitura de entretenimento.
A sinopse lança basicamente a premissa do livro, temos a Lexi que numa noite de farra com as amigas, cai ao tentar apanhar um táxi. Na manhã seguinte, acorda numa cama de hospital, sem saber bem onde foi parar e porque é que as suas unhas estão perfeitas, os seus dentes arranjados e tem uma mala de uma marca cara. Depressa descobre com muita confusão da sua parte que está no ano de 2007, embora a última coisa que se lembre é a tal festa com as amigas que aconteceu em...2004!
(...)
O que posso dizer? Foi uma leitura divertida! É que não há melhor adjectivo para classificar as leituras desta autora. A Lexi foi uma óptima protagonista mas como já tinha dito na minha opinião de "Tenho o teu núm3ro" a Lexi não é diferente da Samantha ou da Becky, aliás para eu não andar a repetir-me passo a citar-me:
Para quem já é fã como eu, já sabe o que espera. Não foi surpresa as mil e uma trapalhadas em que a protagonista Poppy se meteu. Eu já previa isso e realmente foi isso que aconteceu. As personagens principais que Sophie Kinsella caracterizam são sempre todas iguais, apenas mudam os nomes. São todas trapalhonas, divertidas e muito muito mas mesmo muito curiosas! E isso é meio caminho andado para divertir o leitor. É realmente um ponto positivo nas leituras desta autora e mais uma vez consegui arrancar boas gargalhadas com as aventuras da Poppy. O único defeito com a Poppy é que eu já vi esta personagem imensas vezes: em 6 livros da série Louca por Compras e na "Fada do Lar". A Poppy não se distingue das outras protagonistas criadas pela autora, e embora seja uma personagem que divirta não lhe encontrei características inovadoras.
Neste caso basta trocarem a Poppy pela Lexi e a minha citação continua actual. E atenção que já li o "Tenho o teu núm3ro" há dois anos e mesmo assim continuo a achar o mesmo das protagonistas que a Kinsella cria. Não é que seja mau mas gostava de ver algo totalmente diferente por parte da autora. Talvez seja por isso que estou muito curiosa em ler o seu 1º livro young-adult, só para ver se a protagonista é também trapalhona e caricata.
Typical Sophie Kinsella chick lit, pure candy fluff.
Lexi was a complete thicko, and it wasn't down to her amnesia, it was just her. It was impossible to believe she used to be some high flying, smart tough businesswoman when she acted like a fool 99% of the time. She was also a flakey, irritating doormat. I kind of hated her but at the same time rooted for her purely because the friends/family she was surrounded by were a million times worse than her.
It was bizarre how Lexi constantly made out that being confident, focused, fit and healthy, and ambitious and driven at work were a bad thing? I didn't get her attitude to all the positive changes she had made in her life. She was totally daft, she wanted to be a respected boss, but at the same time wanted her workers to be her BFFs. She was like a child instead of a grown women, wanting everyone to like her and hang out with her, and was desperate to be loved by her workers, she cared more about that than actually being successful at her job. The moral of the story was pretty much hard work and a serious attitude at work are bad and that women should be weak, lazy, silly, unhealthy fools for them to be happy.
Lexi's family were horrible, they had no compassion or care for anyone but themselves. Her sister was a spoilt, thieving brat who felt sorry for herself, and her mum was a total bitch who was more concerned about her dogs than her eldest daughter nearly dying and suffering from amnesia. Neither of them supported her or looked out for her.
Hated Jon. If he was so in love with Lexi he would have cared more about her well being, he was more interested in how her amnesia affected him than what she was going through. I don't know why he was so angry and pouty at Lexi, it wasn't like she chose to have amnesia, he acted like she'd done something wrong by getting in a car accident and suffering amnesia. If he had really cared about her he would have tried to help her and ease her into her new life.
Lexi's friends were total dicks, I don't know why she even bothered with them when they dropped her just because she was promoted and became their boss and actually did her job properly. So because she didn't let her friends get away with walking all over her, they fucked off and left her on her own. I wanted Lexi to drop them as well for being such mean, petty cows. But the doormat carried on being a doormat.
Opening Line: “How long have I been awake? Is it morning yet? I feel so rough. What happened last night? God my head hurts.”
This was a super fun read as all of Kinsella’s books are. Not too much brain-power needed, just a good time so if you’re in the mood for chick-lit it doesn’t get much better than this.
REMEMBER ME was addictively hard to put down as well as LOL funny in places and I got sucked right into the chaos of the heroine’s life and the double romance. Imagine not remembering that you’re having an affair.
Lexi Smart is having a crappy night, in her words “On a scale of one to ten we’re talking …a minus six. And it’s not like I even have very high standards.”
Standing in the rain after a night out clubbing with friends, Lexi just wants to find a taxi, get home and kick off her agonizing boots. Yup, it’s been a crap day all right, her boyfriend (Loser Dave) stood her up and her second-rate job managed to screw her out of the Christmas bonus on a technicality. Tomorrow promises to be even worse though, it’s her father’s funeral. Before she can moan about the state of her life any further Lexi tops the night off by slipping on the wet street and tumbling down a flight of stairs.
When Lexi wakes up she’s in a London hospital, but hold on something’s a little off…she’s in a private room and her nails are manicured, her teeth are perfect (guess they can’t call her Snaggletooth anymore) her body is toned and thin (squeal) and her handbag is Vuitton.
The nurse also mentioned that she was in a car accident (in a Mercedes no less) but Lexi can’t drive and she definitely can’t afford that car or that purse. When her Mother and sister show up Lexi starts to panic because her mother looks strange and damn, what’s happened to her little sister, she’s all grown up?
As the Doctors explain it Lexi is suffering from amnesia and is missing the last 3 years of her life which would mean she’s now…28 (sob) but it’s not all bad because somehow in that time she’s married a hunky multimillionaire and become a cooperate big shot. Apparently she now lives in a Kensington loft and has a personal assistant and a trainer and new puffy lips and a carb free diet and glamorous new friends (what about her old friends and toast?)
Lexi’s got a ton of catching up to do if she’s going to make this exciting new life work and she might just pull it off. But she misses her friends (they won’t even talk to her anymore) and toast (sigh) and can’t understand how she become that bitch “The Cobra” at the office and this is all before Jon the architect shows up. Yeah Jon, the guy she’s supposedly having an affair with and is going to leave her husband for.
I was very disappointed in this book. I felt like the author was spending more time trying to use every swear word she had ever heard than developing a good story. The concept intrigued me -- who isn't interested in amnesia? But the story was really about unhappiness and unfaithfulness. It was uninspired. That being said, if any of my friends still want to read it I read it with a black marker in my hand and now at least the bad language and some scenes are edited out!
“And just so you know, Lexi... I love you." "Really?" I beam delightedly before I can stop myself. "I mean... fab. Thanks very much!”
Where do we start? First thing and most importantly Sophie Kinsella will be always one of my favorite British Rom-Com authors. ALTHOUGH I didn't fall in love deeply with that one as I did before. But still, I liked everything about it.
It is the story of Lexi who suffers from amnesia after a car accident. She has simply lost a whole three years of her life to wake up on a new life, a new face, a new body, a new job and a new husband.
I laughed, cried and had starts in my eyes but still I got so bored and annoyed. It is not her usual perfect style like "Can You Keep a Secret?" or "I've got your number". We had to live several scenes with her new husband and Jon and they were portrayed in a somehow dull way.
I loved her relationship with her friends though and how she tried all the time to fix everything without even knowing about all the bad stuff that happened during three years of her life.
In general, I enjoyed it as usual but not that much. She could have done a better job. Thank you Sophie for the smiles and most importantly the tears. 💖
Možda je pre negde za 4.5, ali baš mi je prijala i oraspoložila me je. Teško je promašiti sa Kinselom kod mene, jednostavno mi je skoro pa siguran izbor. Znam da će mi se verovatno dopasti i da ću se smejati naglas. Ovo jeste čiklit i u neku ruku je predvidiv srećan kraj i sama tema, ali je ovde zaista fora u načinu pisanja. Konkretno ova knjiga govori o Leksi, ona je doživela nezgodu i od udarca u glavu izgubila deo sećanja. Seća se 2004. godine, a budi se u 2007. Tu shvata da ne liči na sebe, sve joj je nepoznato i ne zna kako da se ponaša. Vremenom, sklapa određene kockice u celu priču i uzima svoj život u svoje ruke. Nemam šta specijalno da dodam, osim da ako volite romantične komedije, nećete pogrešiti sa ovom knjigom.
Such a different fluffy book from what i've been used to. I really liked it!! :D It reminded me a bit of the movie 'The Vow' and 'From 13 to 30'. I haven't read a book of Kinsella before!! And i have to say i really loved her way of writing!! I need to read more of her books!!! :D I also loved the ending. i need that kind of closure to all of my books pleaseeeeee *.* AMAZING BOOK!!! ♥
EXCERPT: Of all the crap, crap, crappy nights I have had in the whole of my crap life.
On a scale of one to ten, we're talking . . . . a minus six. And it's not like I even have very high standards.
ABOUT THIS BOOK: When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed.
Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she…well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all.
Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?
With the same wicked humor and delicious charm that have won her millions of devoted fans, Sophie Kinsella, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shopaholic & Baby, returns with an irresistible new novel and a fresh new heroine who finds herself in a life-changing and utterly hilarious predicament…
MY THOUGHTS: While I wouldn't call this utterly hilarious, it occasionally had me smiling. And while I couldn't call it a riveting read, it was light, quick, and easy; a palate cleanser for me in between the much darker stuff I tend to read.
We all long for the perfect life, think we would be much happier 'if only. . .' But 'if only' comes with its share of problems. What this boils down to is if the grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence, that's because it needs mowing more often.
😍😍😍
THE AUTHOR: Sophie Kinsella first hit the UK bestseller lists in September 2000 with her first novel in the Shopaholic series – The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (also published as Confessions of a Shopaholic). The book’s heroine, Becky Bloomwood – a fun and feisty financial journalist who loves shopping but is hopeless with money – captured the hearts of readers worldwide. Becky has since featured in seven further bestselling books, Shopaholic Abroad (also published as Shopaholic Takes Manhattan), Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic & Sister, Shopaholic & Baby, Mini Shopaholic, Shopaholic to the Stars and Shopaholic to the Rescue. Becky Bloomwood came to the big screen in 2009 with the hit Disney movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy.
Sophie has also written seven standalone novels which have all been bestsellers in the UK, USA and other countries around the world: Can You Keep A Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Twenties Girl, I’ve Got Your Number, Wedding Night, and My Not So Perfect Life, which was a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist for Best Fiction in 2017.
In 2014 she published a Young Adult novel Finding Audrey about a teenage girl with social anxiety and her madcap family, and in January 2018, Sophie published her first illustrated book for young readers about the charming adventures of a mother-daughter fairy duo, Mummy Fairy and Me (also published as Fairy Mom and Me).
Sophie’s latest novel, Surprise Me, published in February 2018, presents a humorous yet moving portrait of a marriage—its intricacies, comforts, and complications. Surprise Me reveals that hidden layers in a close relationship are often yet to be discovered.
Sophie wrote her first novel under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, at the tender age of 24, whilst she was working as a financial journalist. The Tennis Party was immediately hailed as a success by critics and the public alike and became a top ten bestseller. She went on to publish six more novels as Madeleine Wickham: A Desirable Residence, Swimming Pool Sunday, The Gatecrasher, The Wedding Girl, Cocktails for Three and Sleeping Arrangements.
Sophie was born in London. She studied music at New College, Oxford, but after a year switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She now lives in London, UK, with her husband and family.
DISCLOSURE: I read a library copy of Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella.
All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' pageon sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.
Remember Me? is a story of a woman who has an accident and has forgotten the last few years of her life. So this tragedy kinda becomes a comedy when Lexi is trying to figure out what happened in the years that she doesn't remember and how she has a vivid memory of things that happened years ago.
Kinsella's books are a bit of hit or miss for me. This is not exceptional and also not the most terrible book either. It's just somewhere in between. I didn't like any of the characters yet I enjoyed the story.
There were few laughs at the beginning but afterwards the laughs were few and far. The main reason that this is rated 3 stars is that the main character didn't lie as much as Kinsella's other characters.
Read only if you have some time to waste and want a lazy read.
Maybe it’s indicative of the kind of year 2020 has been that I previously rated this book five stars. Rereading again in December 2020, I barely give it two. Before, I found Remember Me? to be a harmless, fluffy read that kept me entertained. Now, it reads like the pure distillation of anti-feminism, populated by reprehensible characters we’re supposed to root for purely because the author tells us to.
Right off the bat, my main issue is with the ironically-named protagonist; Lexi Smart. At the start of the story, she’s the typical Sophie Kinsella heroine; flighty, clumsy, aspiring to greater things without being willing to put the work in and, of course, in possession of her own flat in London. Something that, in reality, costs over half a million pounds. Not something someone in a crappy (Lexi’s words, not mine) office job would be able to afford. Post-accident, she’s a successful, driven career woman … and that’s where the problems start. Because she’s a career woman, she’s a bitch. She’s driven to the point of becoming a materialistic trophy wife. She’s alienated all her old friends and replaced them with rich, successful people and that is apparently something to be despised. Because she’s successful, fit and determined, Lexi is portrayed as a shallow, selfish cow. Career women, amirite ladies? It’s gross. The story seems to suggest that lazy, unmotivated Lexi was “good” and driven, successful Lexi is “bad.” Lexi’s old friends - who she goes to great pains to get back on side - are lazy, workshy freeloaders who perform so badly at work their department is due to be shut down, frequently take the piss with overlong lunch breaks and do mean-spirited impressions of their boss while she’s still talking to them. They utterly deserve to be reprimanded. Doing so doesn’t make Lexi a bitch, it makes her so-called friends jealous trolls who are lucky to keep their jobs, quite frankly. Yet the book tries to portray these women as working class heroes, shit on by Lexi as she climbed the corporate ladder, whereas she was just motivated to better herself and they weren’t.
Then there’s Lexi’s new husband, Eric, and her on-the-side lover, Jon. Again, the book tries to tell you that Eric is a tosser and Jon is the one for Lexi…but it shows the exact opposite. Eric takes the time to try and help Lexi regain her memory, even writing an enormous manual to help her and is patient with her. Yes, it’s anal, but it would have taken a lot of work and is meant to help Lexi understand her life. Jon on the other hand, makes no attempt to help Lexi and only cares about her memory loss when it impacts him getting his end away. Sure, Eric and Old Lexi are clearly not suited, but Eric is a good man. Lexi is cheating on her husband with one of his best friends (the line where Eric says Jon is the kind of man you’d trust with your life makes his betrayal an extra kick in the balls) and Jon is banging his friend’s wife. These people are selfish, lying cheats and yet we’re supposed to root for them. The book doesn’t really explain how New Lexi became a successful career woman married to Eric and yet kept being Old Lexi on the side with Jon, but not much in the book holds up to any scrutiny at all.
Perhaps this year has jaded me to the point of finding fault with a fluffy chick-lit book that isn’t meant to be deconstructed, but I just can’t ignore the misogynistic undertones here. Time and time again, the book portrays hard work and achievements as something to be vilified, especially when it comes to women. The haves are vapid bitches (even though they seem perfectly happy and content) and the have-nots are plucky working-class heroes (even though they’re shown to be lazy and disrespectful to their boss and former friend).
If you're in the mood for a quick read that you're not going to delve too deeply into, this might be for you. But if you read books with even the tiniest bit of scrutiny, best steer clear.
‘What if you woke up and everything in your life was magically perfect?" is the question that inspired author Sophie Kinsella to write her 2008 standalone novel about Lexi Smart, a 28-year-old woman who wakes up in a hospital bed only to discover that she looks completely different and the last three years of her life erased from her brain.
I have felt a little "meh" about reading lately and I felt I need a bit of a palate cleanser to reset me on the reading path. Remember Me was just the type of angsty, humor-filled contemporary romance I needed on a Saturday morning.
4.5 stars This was so much fun, and I devoured it so quickly. I think I'm becoming a Kinsella fan!! I can't wait to read more of her books. They are just so light and wonderful, and I know I can depend on them to totally capture me.
I love Sophie Kinsella. Whenever I read her novels, I can't help but think she seems like the kind of woman I'd be friends with. She writes the way I think, and I can relate to at least one aspect of every single one of her characters. I AM her demographic.
I also love Kinsella's imaginitive plots. In Remember Me?, Lexi wakes up in hospital with a head injury and quickly realizes she's lost three years of her memory. In her mind, it's 2004 and she's your typical, underpaid twenty-something with a loser boyfriend and not many prospects ahead. But in 2007, she's a rich, successful, married powerhouse living the life most of us only dream of. Following the signs between 2004 and 2007 and piecing together the puzzle with Lexi is a funny and clever ride, and the pages turn faster and faster as you get closer to the answers.
Remember Me? has been described as "brain candy", and I couldn't agree more. It's a very lighthearted quick read, but you engage with the character of Lexi in a way that keeps you from putting the novel down. In my opinion, this is Kinsella's best since the first "Shopaholic" and a great addition to the fluffy Chick Lit genre. I really enjoyed it and will keep buying her books sight unseen for a long time to come.
4'5... más 5 que 4. La verdad es que esperaba una novela algo más floja, pero Kinsella siempre me sorprende para bien. Quizá hay partes que se hacen un poco pesadas, pero siempre levanta el vuelo un par de páginas más adelante.
El libro trata sobre la amnesia que sufre la protagonista después de un accidente. A medida que avanzamos en la obra, podremos ir descubriendo junto a ella qué es lo que ha ocurrido durante ese tiempo que ella no recuerda. Me ha gustado mucho el carácter de Eric, un poco paranoico y maniático. Jon no llega a ser del todo adorable pero se le coge cariño. Quizá la trama de la madre y de la hermana es un poco forzada, esas han sido las partes que más me ha costado leer. Como lectora esperaba un final diferente y me he encontrado con uno que me ha gustado incluso más que el que yo pensaba. Es un libro rápido y fácil de leer. Hay partes entrañables y partes divertidas. Recomendable para una lectura veraniega (a pesar de que ahora mismo no estemos en verano en el hemisferio norte).
I'm not sure I can quite write down the reasons why I love Sophie Kinsella so much. But these books... they're so refreshing - the absolute best solution to cure reading slumps - so full of life, hilarious just to think about... Sure, they do have their faults. Our main characters are somewhat uninteresting at times and the situations they get themselves into are utterly ridiculous. But it's all... SO MUCH FUN! That's how I can describe Kinsella's work best. In Remember Me we have the amnesia factor shoved into it, and having our mc trying to figure out her own life was worth the read. Not one of my favourites... it wasn't as funny as books such as Can you keep a secret OR The undomestic goddess for example, but it was still a pretty solid book that served its purpose. I keep on wanting to marathon this but I know I shouldn't because I'll be out of Kinsella's books in no time... what a pity..