...in books

Review

The Undomestic Goddess

by Sophie Kinsella

First sentences:

Would you consider yourself stressed?

Summary:

Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.
Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.
But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

source: Goodreads

My opinion:

I love each one of Sophie Kinsella’s stand-alone novels and The Undomestic Goddess is no exception. When I want a book that is fun, upbeat and a quick pick-me-up I reach for one of Sophie’s books. I adore her way of writing and her wonderful ideas make me fall in love with her books every time I read them and I reread almost all of them, I think.

Samatha, a focused and goal-oriented London based lawyer who, after she made a Million Pound mistake, flees the city and finds a job as a housekeeper, even though she has no qualifications whatsoever, is one of my all time favourite main characters. While she’s in London she is focused and goal-oriented and as soon as her world crumbles she starts panicking and gets so real but, and this is the feature I like the most, she never gives up and tries to find solutions. She is a hard working girl that is willing to learn new things and accepts help as soon as it is offered most of the time. She has her flaws but she never gives up and when she wants to restore her reputation in the business she uses every opportunity that’s presented to her.

And let’s not forget Nathaniel. He’s super sweet, major swoon worthy and just the best guy I’ve read about in a long long time. Just awesome!

The story starts off a bit slow but the minute she arrives at the Geiger’s door and gets offered the job as housekeeper it picks up speed and gets really funny. Sam’s really lost and the first week so many things go wrong, dinner the first evening, the first time she does laundry and many more, that you take pity on her and want to tell her how easy it is if you just take your time and find someone who can explain it to you, which is clearly not Mrs. Geiger.

I fell in love with Iris, Nathaniel’s mum, who has been through a though time herself and still helps and loves Sam, and of course with Nathaniel himself. Who could not fall in love with him?

For me, The Undomestic Goddess has everything a Sophie Kinsella story needs and I really liked it. If you like chick-lit than I hope you will too.

For more information about Sophie Kinsella visit her Homepage and Facebook page.