Surprise Me

De: Sophie Kinsella

Narrado por: Fiona Hardingham

Brought to you by Penguin.

Those we think we know best can sometimes surprise us the most . . .

After being together for ten years, Sylvie and Dan have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, beautiful twin girls, and communicate so seamlessly, they finish each other's sentences. They have a happy marriage and believe they know everything there is to know about each other. Until it's casually mentioned to them that they could be together for another sixty-eight years... and panic sets in.

They quickly decide to create little surprises for each other, to keep their relationship fresh and fun. But in their pursuit of Project Surprise Me - anything from unexpected gifts to restaurant dates to photo shoots - mishaps arise with disastrous and comical results.

Gradually, the surprises turn to shocking discoveries. And when a scandal from the past is uncovered, they begin to wonder if they ever really knew each other after all. . .

'Left me giddy with laughter. I loved it' JOJO MOYES

Sophie Kinsella, Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, June 2024

© Sophie Kinsella 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2018

Not a comedy

Sophie Kinsella is known for her RomComs but this definitely wasn’t a comedy. It’s a sweet story though.

Oops, she did it again

Sophie Kinsella and Fiona Hardingham just compliment each other yet again! I have no words for this novel, it made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me sad and happy and optimistic about life. It made me look into myself and make my revelations too..
thank you Sophie, for yet another beautifully crafted story. Thank you, Fiona, for breathing life into it with your acting.
It was a pleasure listening to this book!

Very enjoyable

As usual a great book by Sophie kinsella . Great story and well read. I loved it.

l liked it but it seemed to never reach the climax

good story and enjoyable and even made me bring up a fun conversation with my husband about the concept of 65 more years of marriage but i felt the story went in a different and less exciting path than it could have

Soooo frustrating!!!

Sophie Kinsella is great but this book was not one of her best efforts. Although humorous at times; the overall impression is that of exasperation with many useless hair splitting details mixed in.
In no way could I empathize with the main heroine Sylvie hard as I tried, she's just not real!! So many unrealistic, long and frustrating conversations that had me at times want to pull my hair out.
I could recommend this story ONLY if the Abridged version is available, and only if you are an avid Sophie Kinsella fan.

Fun (maybe), but awful

For a story that now and then shoehorns the word "feminism" into the plot and tries so hard to be all about the empowering journey of self-discovery of a strong female character, this is actually the LEAST feminist book I've read (well, listened to) in a while.

Here's the thing: it's not enough to take a classically cliché formula and paint it "feminist". For it to actually BE feminist, you have to redesign the roots of the formula. Surprise Me is entirely about Sylvie being oblivious to the Amazing, Wonderful, Heroic husband she has, and then finding out just how much she should've appreciated him from the start, because he was right all along!

All of Kinsella's leading couples fall into the same tone to be honest - airhead woman x down to earth man - but this was the first one that made me cringe and feel anything BUT feminist. Zero chemistry between Dan and Sylvie, by the way, so I couldn't even go "eh at least it's a nice love story". Overall, I think maybe Sophie does a better job at spreading a feminist message when she's not actively trying to address gender issues. Becky Bloom, with her fucking SHOPPING addiction, is still so much more feminist than Sylvie. God, I'm just very disappointed.

My least favourite book from Kinsella

The performance was brilliant, but the story was a little boring. Not what I was expecting.