Can You Keep a Secret?

Fans of Kinsella's dauntless Shopaholic series will leap at the chance to listen to Emma Corrigan's secrets in this engaging romance. The best moments are truly great. The plot is uproariously funny when the secrets are spilled and the snappy dialogue gets going. Thanks in part to Kate Reading's performance, the listener can't help but identify with Emma, who craves success in spite of her shortcomings. Occasionally the story's internal musings go on too long, but, for the most part, this is a sweet novel with a crisp delivery from Reading, a master of accents and emotion. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

January 5, 2004
Things are suddenly starting to look up for the hapless but optimistic Emma Corrigan. She has kept her job at Panther Cola for nearly a year, has the perfect boyfriend and hopes for a promotion to marketing executive should her first opportunity to strut her stuff and land a business deal be successful. Unfortunately, things don't go quite as planned, and on her unusually turbulent return flight from a disappointing client meeting, in a terrified state, she confesses her innermost secrets to the good-looking stranger sitting beside her. When she shows up at work the next morning, she is horrified to discover that her mystery man is none other than the revered and brilliant Jack Harper, American CEO of Panther Cola, on a weeklong visit to the company's U.K. branch. Thus begins a series of chaotic, emotionally exhausting and funny episodes that thrust Emma, with her workaholic best friend, Lissy, and their awful flatmate Jemima, into a world of fairy tales, secrets and deceit. Venturing beyond Saks and Barney's, the bestselling author of Confessions of a Shopaholic
and Shopaholic Ties the Knot
entertains readers with backstabbing office shenanigans, competition, scandal, love and sex. The plot is gossamer thin (Jack is keeping secrets of his own) and the lopsided romance not entirely believable, but Kinsella's down-to-earth protagonist is sure to have readers sympathizing and doubled over in laughter. BOMC, QPB and Literary Guild featured alternates.

Emily Gray reads Kinsella's funny, charming novel about neurotic average-working-girl Emma Corrigan. Gray truly becomes the hysterical, self-conscious young woman as she spills her life's secrets to a total stranger on a bumpy plane ride, only to discover later that he owns the company she works for. Gray portrays each detail of Emma's humiliation, spirit, and drive in a believable and entertaining manner. Her depiction of love interest Jack Harper falls just a bit flat in comparison but still matches equally well Kinsella's character development. A hilarious story, decent abridgment, and superb reading make this novel a must-listen. H.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine