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Surprise Me

Surprise Me: A Novel - Sophie Kinsella
When I read the synopsis for this novel, I knew I had to read it. Dan and Sylvia had it all, life was great until the day they realized what their wedding vows actually meant. Their physician told the couple that they could plan on spending 68 more years together. Sixty-eight more years! Till death do us part is more years than they thought. The news stuns the couple, Sylvia more than Dan. How could they keep what they had alive for 68 more years? Dan had his own answers and Sylvia had hers. Sylvia felt that as a couple, they had become too predictable and to shake things up and make them exciting, they needed to start surprising each other.
 
I have read a few of Sophie’s novels before but I had a problem with this one. Perhaps it was the mood I was in but I thought parts of the novel were a bit juvenile for the adult characters. I know Sylvia was trying to jazz things up but she went to the extreme on a few of them and to me, they went beyond funny. I wanted to tell her to stop, we saw the humor but going beyond that, was just nonsense.
 
I liked how as the couple tried to surprise their partner, the reality of what they knew about each other materialized. They thought they knew everything about each other until they had to actually act upon it. Sylvia overthinks each situation whereas Dan underthinks each situation. To Sylvia, it’s a grand production but to Dan, it’s the gesture.
 
Pulling parents into this story we find that Sylvia and Dan come from different households. Sylvia, daddy’s little princess, has always had money at her disposal whereas Dan came from a family where individuals worked to make a decent wage. This reflects in their personality and in how they handle different situations that present themselves.
 
I found this novel entertaining and comical. Although this wasn’t my favorite of Sophie’s works, I did enjoy the story and I liked the ending.
 
I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review.