Review: REMEMBER ME? by Sophie Kinsella *****

What if you woke up and your life was perfect?
Lexi wakes up in hospital, thinking she’s twenty-five with crooked teeth and a disastrous love life. But, to her disbelief, she learns it’s three years later – she’s a super-toned twenty-eight-year-old, her teeth are straight, she’s the boss of her department – and she’s married! To a good-looking millionaire! She can’t believe her luck – especially when she sees her stunning new loft apartment. And she’ll definitely have a fantastic marriage once she gets to know her husband again. He’s drawn up a ‘marriage manual’, which should help.
But soon she realizes her perfect life isn’t all it seems. Her old colleagues hate her. A rival is after her job. Then a dishevelled, sexy guy turns up…and lands a new bombshell.
What the **** happened to her? Will she ever remember? And what will happen if she does?

I first read this book as soon as it came out back in 2007 and absolutely loved it! However, I recently got a chance to re-read this book (several times, ahem) so I thought I might as well review it and spread the word about it for those who haven't read it yet (*gasp*) or are looking for a great light read to cheer them up. If you fit this description, then look no further, this is definitely the book for you!

Sophie Kinsella is probably my favourite author and I've loved every single book by her, but Remember Me? was possibly my favourite, even though that could easily change if I re-read any of her other books as they're all fantastic. What I love about these books is that they're *hilarious* and that's how Ms Kinsella earned her title of The Queen of Wit Lit, she's amazing!

I thought the premise of the book was really good. It opens with a scene where our 25-year-old heroine Lexi is going through a really tough time - she's standing in the pouring rain, trying to find a taxi and thinking about how she's the only one who didn't get a bonus at work, her cheap shoes are killing her, she has horrible teeth and hair, she lousy boyfriend stood her up and her dad recently died. She thinks things couldn't possibly get worse and then she slips in the rain and falls down some stairs ... When she wakes up in a hospital, she's stunned to realize that she's already 28 and that her life is perfect! She's married to a millionaire, she's the boss at work, she looks fantastic (fixed teeth, shiny hair, two sizes smaller, bigger lips), she apparently drives a Mercedes (that's why she ended up in a hospital) and everything couldn't be better! The only downside is that she's suffering from amnesia due to the traffic accident that got her in the hospital and she sort of can't remember what's been going on for the past three years! She's determined to find out, but before that she realizes that her life may not be as perfect as it seemed at first ... She's lost all her friends, she sucks at her job and she's not all that comfortable in this new skin of hers ...

Yes, yes, it's one of those "all that glitters isn't gold" or whatever stories, but this one's actually really enjoyable and far less ditzy than it may sound - it has real depth to it in both plot and character development. Plus did I mention it's pure comedy? :)

Sophie Kinsella always, repeat: always, comes up with the most fantastic characters ever. Her heroines have a tendency to be a bit silly sometimes, but they're also very warm and admirable characters. When they find themselves in a predicament, they fight to get to the bottom of it and try their best to solve their problems without hurting anyone - they're the kind of girls you'd *want* to be your best friend! They often have weird families and they really value friendship. And Lexi's not different. She's just a girl who ended up living the life she always dreamt of, but in the process she's lost herself and her friends and she wants to get it all back. She can't remember why she changed so much and turned into a cold-hearted and power-hungry bitch, but she eventually realizes that she was sort of forced into it by the events that took place after her memory three years ago. After her father's funeral, she had a lot to cope with and a too heavy burden to carry and she couldn't find the right way to do what she had to do to solve her serious problems. So after waking up in a hospital with no recollection of the past three years, Lexi finds herself in several hilarious as well as sad situations to sort her dreamy new life out, but don't worry, she'll do it one way or another - she's a Kinsella girl, after all. ;)

Oh and don't even get me started on Kinsella's menfolk! The heroine's love interest always ends up being the man of my dreams and this book was no exception. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read the book yet, but I also loved the guy here and the relationship he and Lexi had was just so sweet. I'd love to read more about it and there should be a sequel!
But seriously, I've fallen in love (metaphorically speaking) with *all* of them (especially Luke) even though they're each so different, but they always sweep me off my feet, hehe! I guess that's another reason why I love Kinsella's books - it's the guys, even if they're too good to be true. :)

Gosh, I'm honestly trying to keep this very short, but it's already turning into an essay, lol. So anyway, what I'm trying to stress here is that Sophie Kinsella is a fantastic author and she write your typical chicklit novels, she does far more than that. I know plenty of people who aren't fans of these types of reads, but still adore Kinsella because her novels and smart and sooooo much fun to read! So if you haven't already, give any of her books a try, I'm sure you won't regret it! :)


overall rating: 5/5
plot: 5/5 | writing: 4/5 | characters: 5/5 | cover: 5/5

ps: Feel free to read my review of Kinsella's latest bestseller TWENTIES GIRL (out now in paperback) here.

pps: As I said, I thought the premise was great, but it may not be the most original one as there are at least three more books that I'm eager to read with dealing with a topic of amnesia in a similar way. But just like Remember Me?, these three books sound fantastic as well and they're all very high on my TBR list!
Click on the covers for more info! Has anyone read any of these?