Sylvie and Dan have married for ten years and are the couple who finish each others sentences and know what the other is thinking before they speak. They are the quintessential couple. After a trip to the doctor they panic and their lives as they know it start to unravel. Dan becomes more and more angry as Sylvie and starts closing himself off to Sylvia. Sylvie thinks more about her deceased dad which angers Dan more. Fights happen more and jealousy starts. Their plan to surprise each other to spice things up brings more surprises than either anticipates. Will the biggest surprise tear Sylvie's world apart or can she and her marriage come back stronger and better than ever?

My rating was almost a 3 star rating but the last quarter of the book saved it. Even though the book is about Sylvie and Dan, Sylvie is the main character and she starts off as a whiney brat that I just wanted to smack. I don't condone smacking someone but she needed it. Heaven forbid things did not go as planned as she was hell on wheels. Her husband had a lot more patience than I would have as even her friend.

I was not too keen on how they looked at "long-term" marriage. They almost viewed it as a death sentence. Are you telling me they seriously did not think about this before saying I do. Did they not think about their age and how long they could possibly live and do the math and think wow, we could be married for 68 years? Personally my goal is to be married as long as my grandparents will be in April of this year which is 70 years (impossible for us unless we live to be in our 120s).

As I mentioned above the last quarter of the book saved it for me. There is a moment that Sylvie has with her neighbor John that changes everything..." Love is finding one person infinitely fascinating. [...] And so...not an achievement, my dear [...] Rather, a privilege." I find this one moment in the book the most romantic moment in the book. I hope it moves you as much as it did me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a copy to read and review using my own honest thoughts and opinions.

This is the first official Sophie Kinsella book that I've read and, to be honest, I was hoping to like it more. I have actually bought a lot of her books but for some reason haven't gotten around to them. She comes highly recommended by a couple of BookTubers that I follow and decided I wanted to give this one try first. It was right up my alley, as the main character, Sylvie, has been married to her husband, Dan, for ten years and since my partner and I just celebrated eight years together, I figured this would be relatable. It really wasn't.

For the most part, Sylvie and Dan are happy married and happily in love, but after being told by a therapist that he sees them together for another 68 years, realization of what feels like an eternity sets in and they panic. I personally didn't understand that part, but didn't think too much of it. Sylvie suggests that they start "surprising" each other, as a way to keep the spark alive. After a few silly surprises, Sylvie realizes that there may be something deeper with Dan than she might have guessed. He seems distant and she is scared that he may be pulling away from her because of the thought of spending such a long time together.

I personally couldn't relate to the story for the most part, and maybe because I was expecting a fluffy chick-lit, the plot caught me off guard and the surprise twist just was a little too bland for me. I just didn't care for it. I enjoyed the book, but it took me a while to get through it simply because I was bored through the beginning. I don't see the problem of spending the rest of my life with my husband, if anything, that's the point of marriage. Getting married means you KNOW you're vowing to spend however long together, through sickness and health.

Overall, the book was funny, and I did enjoy Kinsella's writing and will continue to read her books, I have actually started an audiobook of "I've Got Your Number". So I'm not letting this one stop me from her other work. This one may not have been my cup of tea, but it was still full of comedy and I do recommend it if you're looking for a sweet story to read.

I usually love Sophie Kinsella's books so it kind of broke my heart that I didn't love Surprise Me. In her newest offering, Sylvie an Dan, a married couple, find out that they can expect another 68 years together. Hearing this leads them to freak out that their marriage has grown stale and could use some zest.

From there I found the story to fall a little flat. Mostly, I had a hard time connecting with Sylvie. I found her to be annoying. I really wish I had just enjoyed it more.

This book was wrong timing for me, but I can see why others would love it! Just because it was not for me doesn't mean that it's not for anyone else. Kinsella writes contemporary romance that seems to be how some real life marriages would actually go.

This review of SURPRISE ME by Sophie Kinsella was originally posted on BookReporter.com.

SURPRISE ME by Sophie Kinsella | leahdecesare.com
In classic Kinsella fashion, I was intrigued at the epigraph, hooked at the prologue and laughing out loud by page one. At one point in the first chapters, I was laughing so hard that it drew attention from my family who popped into my office to see what was so funny.

While the story premise is a little silly and far-fetched — the happily married couple gets the good news that they’re really healthy and will live to be able to be married another 68 years — Kinsella delivers a fun story with bits of wisdom throughout. As a reader I was easily able to suspend any disbelief and settle in to enjoy. Kinsella is a master at engaging storytelling, entertaining quips, and developing nuanced, interesting characters.

Readers of my reviews know I prefer to share my thoughts than to summarize plot, so to orient you, here’s a bit of the description from the back of the book: “After ten years together, Sylvie and Dan have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, and beautiful twin girls, and they communicate so seamlessly they finish each other’s sentences. They have a happy marriage and believe they know everything there is to know about each other. Until it’s casually mentioned to them that they could be together for another sixty-eight years . . . and panic sets in. They decide to bring surprises into their marriage to keep it fresh and fun.”

SURPRISE ME shares truths about love and human nature, predominantly through Sylvie and Daniel’s amiable next door neighbor, retired Oxford professor, John Russell, a fern expert. In one conversation in his greenhouse, Sylvie’s six-year-old daughter asks: “Do people grow toward the light?” and Professor Russell answers: “We have, of course, many different kinds of light … Sometimes our light might be a faith, or an ideology, or even a person, and we grow toward that.” A beautiful thought, then a page later, we receive this other gem: “If we don’t stick up for the ones we love, then what are we good for?”

As a woman who came of age during the wonderful era of 90s romantic comedies, I appreciated SURPRISE ME and enjoyed a winter snuggle with this book, entertaining and comical with questions we can puzzle over.

The story asks: What is the nature of marriage and long-term exclusive relationships? Is it possible, or advisable, to have a monogamous multi-decade marriage as a goal? How well do we know the one we love? Can we keep getting to know someone, growing closer, despite believing we already know everything about them?

Sylvie comments that fifty-nine years together is “an achievement” but, again through Professor Russell’s perspective, she comes to see instead that it’s a privilege.

Fans of Kinsella will enjoy her classic light-hearted prose, the outrageous antics, the go-get-em transformation of her female protagonist and the satisfying ending, with a bit of a twist.

I’ve been a big fan of Kinsella’s since reading her Shopaholic series and her standalone novels so when I saw she had a new release I knew I had to read it. Like most of her novels, this is contemporary romance that explores relationships. The couple, Dan and Sylvie, are the main characters of the novel. They’ve been together for ten years (married for seven) and they have two children. They have come to a roadblock in their marriage where they realize how significant “till death do us part means”.

Their marriage is at a stand still, lives are routine, and everything about their relationship has become mundane. Sylvie comes up with a “surprise me” project in order to spice up their love lives. The surprises while thoughtful and well-intentioned still don’t always go off with a bang. Its gives the story an entertainment factor plus its realistic. We see how this project affects Dan and Sylvie and how it brings their good and bad points to light in their relationship.

The book is comedic and lighthearted for the most part. As the story moves along we learn more about the couple and why their relationship has drastically shifted. And as Sylvie looks for other in advice for marriage she sees all of the negative couples around her and that begins to weigh on her mind. On the outside they have the appearance of the perfect couple but they have problems like everyone else. I felt if they had been more honest with each other than some of the negative feelings toward each other wouldn’t have gotten to a certain point. But everything is not as it seems and everything is explained in due time.

This was a cute novel. It was not my favorite Kinsellla’s best standalone novel since it was a bit too fluffy for my liking and needed more substance. I did enjoy the realistic characters, the overall story line,and how it explored the theme of marriage.


FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Surprise Me was what I would consider a typical “chick lit” book. It follows a couple, married with children, as they come to terms with what “til death do us part” really entails. They decide to keep things fresh by surprising each other, which you can probably guess how that works out. There was an interesting twist towards the end. Overall, a decent read.

I have been a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella for a long time. Her Shopaholic series is one of the best so when I was given the opportunity to read Surprise Me, I jumped on it. But this story totally fell flat for me. It's not often I rate stories with three stars but I struggled with this one from the get go.

I have never struggled with those fun, laugh-out-loud moments that the author is notorious for, but the humor in Surprise Me is just not there. I get that this one is different from what I'm used to, but even the characters felt weak. I tried, at best, to enjoy Dan and Sylvie, but some of the things they both said were just annoying. Poor Sylvie spent so much time worrying about their years of marriage and it just got ridiculous.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this one, but it could've been so much better. It was rather long too which made the story drag on and on. I'm still a fan of the author and hope she gets back to those fun stories I'm accustomed to by her.

**ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

You think you know what Sophie Kinsella is doing in this book, and then you realize that the book you're reading is not, in fact, the book you think you're reading. And that's a good thing.

The initial premise feels familiar: a couple who have been together long enough to be an established unit begin to realize that they have a LOT of years ahead of them, and panic ensues.

But rather than making this a book about a couple getting to the edge and then finding their way back to each other, Kinsella makes it clear from the start that Dan and Sylvie are an unshakable unit. What threatens them isn't so much the shock of the time they have yet to share together as a secret one of them harbors. And Kinsella surprises you there, too. The purpose behind this secret -- and the secret itself -- is not what you think it will be.

The weakness of the book lies squarely with Sylvie. She comes across as either silly and immature or as flighty and unreliable. Neither is a good thing. I wondered on more than one occasion whether Dan might be better off giving her the big heave.

I do love that Sophie Kinsella has elevated herself as a writer, moving beyond those Shopaholic books into someone who writes pretty solid chick lit. My favorite of hers remains Can You Keep a Secret, but I look forward to that being topped some day.

3.5 stars

Surprise Me was a good read from Sophie Kensella. It was a little different than her other books but still a good book. When Sylvie & Dan realize how long they can be married for they start coming up with ways to surprise each other. They start to learn a lot more about each other but it's not always good. Then comes a shock to them when they didn't expect it. This was a good story & I would recommend it to others. I voluntarily read & reviewed an ARC from Netgalley.

This novel was unexpected for me because it featured a married couple rather than 2 single people. This caught my attention right away and I was excited to see how Kinsella would put her funny and cute spin on things. Unfortunately, it wasn't as great as I had hoped.

So the story is about how Sylvie and Dan find out that they are going to live to be very old and that they will be enjoying 68 years of marriage. And for some reason, this freaks them out. Maybe this is because I've never been married, but if you love your partner and have been happily married to them, wouldn't this be good news? Why would finding out that you will be married for longer be a bad thing? This really confused me. Now, I get the whole "Surprise Me project" aspect; every relationship needs some excitement now and then. But the "funny" mishaps failed to make me laugh because they just didn't have any context. For example, Dan buying Sylvie a snake would have been funny ... if I had known that they joked about getting a snake all the time. Which I literally did not know about until that point in time. 

The novel also takes a surprising turn into a more serious path. I felt like the segue was a little awkward but the actual concept was quite good. It made me like Sylvie's character a lot more; she stopped being whiny and started showing some grit and resilience. It also helped me develop a liking to Dan, because until that point, I had no opinion of him whatsoever. 

Do I think this was Kinsella's finest book? No. And I wouldn't recommend this to someone who has never read any of her books before, because she has definitely had better novels. But I liked that this novel became a little more serious and was uplifting near the end. I'm giving this a 3/5 stars.

Sylvie and Dan, have been together for ten years, and learn that they will have another sixty-eight years together. They each have a breakdown thinking about how they will fill all of that time together.

They come up with a solution: surprise each other every day to keep the magic alive. Which will not be easy since they are parents to twin five year old girls, and have busy careers. They start the surprises off with lingerie and having sex in some unlikely locations. Ultimately with the help of the surprises they discover that there is more to learn bout each other and themselves.

This novel starts out to be about keeping the spark alive then it becomes a story about taking a deeper look at the relationships you have between family, work, and finally yourself.

I got a copy of this book from Netgalley and Dial Press.

As a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella I was super excited to read this book. But unlike her other books, I had a bit more difficulty connecting with the characters and the storyline. However, once she caught me, I couldn't put the book down. Light-hearted and funny I laughed out loud many times.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

For the first half of this book, I seriously thought I would not finish. I took a break at 18% and read another book, then came back to this one and read some more. At about 40% into it I finally saw what everyone else was talking about and finished it. This is a little deeper than I'm used to, I like my romance with hearths and flowers, not the deeper issues Sophie Kinsella has in this one. It should be a must read for every 30 something woman.

"Surprise Me" starts with a bunch of first person, babbling, narcissistic, contemporary crap. A couple of thirty year old snowflakes find out their genetics will probably allow them to live to be 100. They freak, I mean really freak, at the thought of being married for 68 years to each other. As a 60 something married for 44 years, I just can't fathom the narcissistic attitude of the main characters. This book is soooo not meant for my demographic. It strongly reminded me of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train and that is: I really didn't care what happened to those characters. After the 50% mark, I began to really care what happened to Dan and Sylvie.

Dan has had to live with the overwhelming hero worship that Sylvie has for her father, who died in an auto accident. His death hit Sylvie really hard and her grief was deep. Sylvie always compared Dan to her father and Dan came up short in a lot of ways. She loved Dan, that wasn't the problem, it was just that her father was golden and Dan ... wasn't. Dan was solid and dependable.

After getting the news that they would likely live long lives, Sylvie decides that they should surprise each other in order to keep their relationship from getting stale. Some of those "surprises" backfired big time.

Surprise Me

by Sophie Kinsella

I have really enjoyed books by Sophie Kinsella and was looking forward to reading her newest book Surprise Me. At first I felt like I was the one “surprised” in a disappointed kind of way. The characters in Surprise Me are two-dimensional, the premise is bland, and the attempts at humor are not very effective—for the first half of the book. The novel was good enough for me to plug on, however, and I’m glad I did. The pace and interest pick up dramatically in the second half. The characters grow and develop and become people you can actually care about. The original proposition seems silly: how do you live with and love the same person for over sixty years? I know the world is changing a lot in terms of longevity of marriages, but there are many examples that demonstrate the success of long marriages and the happiness of people in such marriages.

There are many surprises for the reader and the main character Sylvie as she discovers that she does not really know the people close to her as well as she thought she did. In encountering difficulties, she discovers a strength she never knew she had. There are a lot of negative feelings associated with this book and a lot less fun fluff than initially appears to be the case or is usually associated with Kinsella’s books such as the Shopaholic series. Although I came away with mixed feelings, I also took away some serious musings about the ability of testing in life to help build character.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Random House (Dial Press) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

Category: General Fiction (Adult), Romance

Publication: February 13, 2018 — Random House (Dial Press)

Memorable Lines:

Living with five-year-old twins is like living in a Communist state. I don’t quite count out the Shreddies into the bowls every morning to make sure things are equal, but… Actually, I did once count out the Shreddies into the bowls. It was quicker.

“Oh, marriage.” She makes a snorting sound. “Did you not read the disclaimers? ‘May cause headache, anxiety, mood swings, sleep disturbance, or general feelings of wanting to stab something.’ ”

“If we don’t stick up for the ones we love, then what are we good for?”

A disappointing read given how much i have enjoyed Kinsella’s books in the past. Lacked humor and insight with a predictable storyline.

I have loved Sophie Kinsella since I read Confessions of a Shopaholic (which I did way back when it was a standalone). She is one of the longest literary relationships of my life. Her books are always must-buys, and this is my favorite in a while.

I absolutely love Sylvie, even though she has a tendency to jump to the worst possible conclusion. (It is highly possible that I overidentify with Sylvie.) She's funny and good at her job and she adores her family. And yet, there are secrets. Because of course there are. Who knows absolutely everything about another person? 

Except obviously sometimes secrets are horrible, even if there's a very, very good reason for them.

Anyway. This is incredibly fun but also a solid read. It's probably a perfect antidote for whatever's going on in your life right now.

After reading my first Sophie Kinsella book, My Not So Perfect Life, last year I was giddy with joy when the publisher emailed me an invitation to read her newest book Surprise Me. Soon after beginning this book I realized it wasn’t the same caliber of a story as My Not So Perfect Life. In fact, this book was quite a letdown for me.

The book has a pretty good premise of a married couple who wonder how to keep their marriage from becoming boring. The wife decides they should surprise each other to keep things lively. Well, as you can imagine things go wrong (horribly wrong at times, but these are the funniest parts) and soon their marriage is far from stale but quite tumultuous. As surprises go wrong Sophie unravels and wonders if her marriage will survive. In addition to the marriage issues, Sophie is also borderline obsessed with her deceased father and it is clear that this is driving a wedge between her and her husband.

Now, my issue with the book is that the author took a good premise and turned it into page after page of repetition. At the beginning, it seemed like the story was going nowhere fast and I swear I was going to scream if I had to read one more time that their marriage was going to last another sixty-eight years. It was like this was on every single page and I was tired of reading it over and over. Also, there was too much unnecessary details thrown in and bogged down the story. I lost count of the times that I wished the story would get moving. I wasn’t really sure where the story was going and then once the surprises started the book picked up little steam. This was the book the tried but just fell flat.

The book isn’t all bad though. There are a few scenes that made me chuckle and provided a reason to keep on reading. All in all, this book could have been 100 pages shorter and been just as good. If you are new to this author I would skip this book and pick up My Not So Perfect Life. It was a much better read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and was not required to write a review. All opinions are mine.

Surprise Me is a tale of two parts for me. The first part (about 70%) was slightly annoying as it got cutesy with Sylvie and Dan’s over-the-top misadventures in coming up with surprises for each, the Daddy hero-worship, the cluelessness at work, the vague mother, the quirky best friend, and the lack of meaningful communication. It seemed to me that Ms. Kinsella has used all of these devices in her previous books to much better effect, especially in the Shopaholic series.

I had a better appreciation for the book when things came to a head, when Sylvie started to take action instead of just being paranoid with her suspicions and insecurities. I like the series of events that followed her confrontation with Mary. I started to relate with Sylvie and cheer for her, for her and Dan. Credit to Sophie Kinsella and her writing skills for being able to do that.

Overall, an entertaining read.

After having read no less than twenty of the novels penned by Sophie Kinsella (she also writes under the name Madeleine Wickham), I assume that I know what to expect: a female-centric story involving a somewhat quirky, laugh-inducing protagonist and an equally entertaining supporting cast; lots of British colloquialisms; a feel-good message.

"“Oh, marriage.” She makes a snorting sound. “Did you not read the disclaimers? ‘May cause headache, anxiety, mood swings, sleep disturbance, or general feelings of wanting to stab something.’”

One of the great things about following an author's work, over several years, is the ability to observe the evolution of their writing and storytelling. In Surprise Me, Kinsella presents Sylvie and Dan, a married couple with twin daughters, who begin to contemplate what "'til death do us part" might entail after a recent physical for an insurance policy reveals their potential to live for another 68 years.

"Why is it that everything in life is just a bit harder than you think it’ll be? Icing cakes, having children, keeping marriages together, saving museums, building websites. All hard. The only thing that’s ever turned out easier than I expected was my Italian final exam. (Oh, and lasering my legs - that was a doddle.)"

This issue brings up all sorts of possibilities and certainly makes for lively discussion: how do we not only maintain, but also strengthen and enliven, long term relationships? Through her delightful characters, Kinsella lends levity to the subject; Sylvie proposes the "Surprise Me" project to Dan, which sounds fun and exciting; true to form, the real surprise comes in the form of the meaning and significance that Kinsella sneaks in when we are least suspecting it.

"‘Love is finding one person infinitely fascinating.’ John seems lost in thought again - then comes to. ‘And so...not an achievement, my dear.’ He gives me a mild, kind smile. ‘Rather, a privilege.’"

In the midst of heavier literary fiction, and plenty of heaviness in the world we inhabit, Kinsella provides respite through humor and a reminder that there is so much beauty and love to be found if we are willing to pause and acknowledge those people and things around us for which we are most grateful to experience every day.