Title: My Not So Perfect Life
Author: Sopie Kinsella
Genre: Contemporary Romance,Humor, Chic-Lit
Ratings:
Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite chic-lit authors. This is her most recent book and it was a very enjoyable read. She has a knack of setting up very realistic and humorous situations for her characters. The main theme of this book is that life is imperfect and we can find happiness by following our dreams. Although people put up their perfect faces for the world to see deep down everyone is fighting their own battles.
The central character in this one is Katie Brenner, she works are a hip branding agency in Central London. Kinsella’s has chosen two main locations for her story Central London with its extremely busy life and Somerset England with its slow-paced and calm environment, these are literally two halves of the book. Katie loves her life in London and chooses to call herself Cat so she can can be a better fit to her “cool” workplace. Her boss is Demeter who is brilliant at her work but sucks at being a people’s person. Katie too has a love-hate relationship with her, she believes that Demeter has the perfect house, family, looks- basically everything! Inspite of working with her for seven months, Demeter doesn’t even say her name correctly and fires Katie in poor taste. Katie starts her life with a new perspective when she helps launch her father’s glamping business. Tables are turned when Katie gets to host Demeter at her farm and her ex-boss has no idea who she is!
There are several things I liked about this book. The first is that like most of her old books there is romance in this one too but unlike them this novel is centered more around Katie, her career and decisions about life. Katie struggles to appear “interesting” to her friends and colleagues, changes her name to “Cat” and posts pictures on her Instagram about chic places she hasn’t really been to. In reality Katie is just a regular person with a budget. And just like a regular person going out to eat with work friends she does her math on what she can afford at a fancy restaurant.
“So, your total is thirty-four pounds, eighty-five.” She smiles at me and
I stare back, dazed. It’s far, far worse than I imagined. Thirty-five
pounds? For snacks? That’s a week’s supermarket shopping.
I can’t.
Secondly this book also focused a little on branding and business, which I had been associated with professionally so I would thrive on each little accomplishment. The book discuses Katie’s role in launching her dad’s glamping business and its eventual success.
“So, another question.” I look from Biddy to Dad. “Have you thought
about marketing? You need a brand. An image.” My dad and Biddy look
back at me helplessly and I feel a sudden tweak of love for them both.
This is something I could do for them. I could create a glamping brand.
My mind is already at work. I’m seeing images. Taglines. Photos of
fields, lambs, bunting, campfires…Oh God, it could look amazing.
“I’ll make you a leaflet,” I say. “And a website. I’ll create your brand.
You just do the practical details. I’ll do the image.”
The romance aspect of the book is typical Kinsella and very much prince-charming caliber! Alex is pretty close to being a prince but Katie is not someone who needs rescuing as such. She proves to be a very independent and strong woman herself. As Katie gets to spend more time with Demeter she realizes that everyone has their own struggles.Demeter’s character grew on me too as her character identified some struggles of professionally accomplished women.
This book is also big on social media trends so may be if someone picks it up 30 years from now, it would give them a glimpse of what was “trending” then. Personally I had no idea what glamping was until I read this book! The title of the book is actually is a hashtag Katie creates for her Instagram where she posts about her life real, her not-so perfect-life. Pick it up as your next read, Kinsella didn’t disappoint this time either!
Cyma Reads 
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