Another lively and funny story from Sophie Kinsella, author of "Confessions of a Shopaholic". The best part of the book is the plot - a young woman wakes in a hospital after a car accident and cannot remember 3 years of her life. Significant three years in which she has undergone many changes, from purely physical - like now having perfect teeth and a slim figure to financial - she has crashed her Mercedes and finally the most significant, marital - she is now married to Eric, a drop-dead gorgeous and rich man.
This unbelievable scenario where Lexi, the middle class low level department store worker gets transformed into a beautiful and wealthy woman, a modern day Cinderella tale come true, offers many laughs. In her breezy style, we struggle with Lexi as she tries to remember how she has got herself into this "dream" situation. While there are many benefits of this lifestyle, with a housekeeper and a luxurious home, there is a dark side as well. Husband Eric professes a "low carb" household where Lexi craves for the simple joy of eating buttery toast and finds that her perfect and humongous wardrobe has no comfy clothes or shoes. Taking a swipe at the snobbishness and superficiality of the lives of the wealthy, Kinsella shows how a "regular" person like what Lexi used be, can be miserable in their picture-perfect life.
There many other characters who are endearing with their quirks, like Lexi's old friends Fi, Debs, Carolyn, her spacey mother and delinquent younger sister. And then there is Jon, Eric's architect who adds to Lexi's confusion as she tries to reconcile with the cold, hard person she has become in those three missing years. She feels like a regular girl but the public persona she has created to move up in life clashes against her memory of who she still considers herself to be.
It's a funny, silly book that brings up important issues about money, fame, power and makes you wonder what you would choose if you woke up one day to find out that you have it all.
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