Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

I must confess. When I opened Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella, I recognized her as the author of the best-selling Shopaholic series. I expected light humor from in the fashion and feelings genre. There were plenty of fashion labels: Armani, Chanel, Lancome, Estee Lauder, Jo Malone, and especially La Perla. The post-feminist (pre-feminist?) dialogue included such wisdom as:

"Women need chocloate. It's a scientific fact."

However I was pleasantly surprised to find a character-driven plot, complete with twists and turns reminiscent of the finest 19th century authors.

The story opens with a 25-year-old career women having a night on the town with her girlfriends - drinking, dancing, enjoying their freedom and friendship. Suddenly, Lexi Smart wakes in a hospital and while her last memory is that night of partying, she realizes:

I'm twenty-eight, I have perfect white teeth, a [business] card saying "director," and a husband.
How the hell did all that happen?

The remainder explores her reconciliation of the friend-loving, fun-loving Lexi she remembers, and the bitch-boss from hell (aka the Cobra) she is living.

I found her character real and engaging and I eagerly turned to pages to learn of Lexi's next discovery about her past and her responses. As in a good Dickens novel, the plot grows with each new revelation, but finally in the end all the various threads are woven together into a wonderful tapestry. This is a book more like The Secret Between Us than Poisoned Tarts.

A rich novel and a fast read.