Spoilers Ahead…duh <3
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Sophie Kinsella has my heart. It’s strange because there’s nothing about her writing that strikes me as groundbreaking. But, she still remains (in my humble opinion) the queen of Chick Lit. I’m sure it’s because of the leading ladies that Kinsella creates. I always walk away from her books thinking, ‘I get her!’.
And I do get Samantha Sweeting. She’s a stressed-out lawyer who ‘makes a mistake’ leading her to get fired. Instead of facing her problems head-on, she hops on a train and accidentally gets a job as a housekeeper. If I had a penny for every time I wanted to leave school to become a small-town waitress I wouldn’t have to go to school at all. The descriptions of Samantha becoming a domestic goddess is calming. I felt myself unwind as she learned how to bake bread, clean and press clothes. I thought that it would be boring but, Kinsella inspired me to deep clean my dorm. She has a magical way of making mundane topics interesting.
And the leading man Nathaniel? Hot. There’s no other word to describe him. He’s a (British!) country boy gardener/pub owner that has a heart of gold and rock-solid abs. Do I have to drop out of school to find a guy like that? He’s a great character but I wish that he was around in the book more often. Despite being the leading man I don’t feel like I could grasp his character. He’s not two dimensional and despite being a dream man I couldn’t imagine him in the real world. Still, I was a sucker for the love story.
The ending is what keeps me from giving this book five out of five stars. As the reporters closed in on Samantha because she turned down her job offer I couldn’t help but ask ‘why?’. I understand that 2005 was a different time in the media. There must have been slow news days. But Brad and Angelina broke up that year. There was news happening. There had to be something more interested in the news than a lawyer having a mental break down.
To add to this, in my firm opinion there was no reason why Samantha couldn’t work for a small-time practice. Almost every character thought that Samantha was waisting potential as a maid. And I totally agreed. I actually thought Samantha would be a lawyer for the Griegers because of the hints at the start of the book. I love the message that you shouldn’t let your job take over your life. I think it’s brilliant. But, Samantha is a literal genius and despite her talents as a housekeeper, she shouldn’t be scrubbing toilets for the rest of her life.
Especially because Nathaniel was able to find a life where he was able to use his talents and find success. You can’t tell me that Samantha (who dreamed of being a lawyer until two months ago) would totally be okay with giving up all of her dreams. So she doesn’t want to work at a top law firm anymore. Fine. I can support that. But, why can’t she work for a smaller company? Or for the Griegers who are shown to be flexible with Samantha? It was just frustrating that I suspected that Samantha would never use her wonderful brain again.
Other than that I think the book was a must-read perfect for anyone who doesn’t want to read anything too dense!