Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Dial Press
Published: 2008 (reprint) 2004 (original)
Genre: women’s fiction, contemporary, chick lit
ISBN: 9780385338080
Rating: ★★★★
Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:
Secrets from her boyfriend:I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.
Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.
Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.…Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her…
Emma Corrigan is on the path to success! Almost an entire year in one company (finally! Prove cousin Kerry she can have a career!), a handsome and kind boyfriend, and a supportive BFF/flat mate. But after Emma botches a meeting in Glasgow and flies back to London, she can’t help but feel like a complete wreck. When the plane experiences extreme turbulence, Emma word-vomits all her secrets to the businessman sitting next to her. Totally fine, right? She’ll never see him again. Except she will. And he’s her boss.
Everyone, meet Emma, my new book-BFF. She’s funny, she’s smart, she’s incredibly caring (almost to a fault), and she’s desperately trying to get a promotion at work. This is her third career change since college (mind you, that was 3 years ago!), and though she doesn’t quite understand what all the marketing execs are saying (like “multi-logistical” and “strategic competencies”), she’s eager to prove to her parents, to her suffocatingly, obnoxiously successful cousin Kerry, and to herself that she can Be An Adult. Her successes and failures are funny and oh-so-relatable. I can’t help but feel this connection to her as another mid-20s millennial proving to the world she can Succeed In Her Career. And Life. And Everything Else.
Jack Harper, the man on the plane and the man running the corporation, is not your standard love interest or corporate businessman in literature. He’s not sleazy, he’s not snobbish, and he’s not out to coerce young women in the company to sleep with him. He’s a breath of fresh air in modern romance (probably because he’s been around longer than Christian Grey?), and you can’t help but like him too. Although, even during his low points, I still sided with Emma. Girlfriend knows how to take care of herself!
The general atmosphere of this book is light, and I couldn’t stop myself from loving the friendship between Emma and Lissy, her BFF since pre-school and flatmate. They’re supportive of one another, and help each other through thick and thin. I looked forward to the scenes with Emma coming home from work and having girl time with Lissy — the girl-power and togetherness made me feel nostalgic for my college roomies!
This book is filled with obstacles and hilarity. What does happen when your boss knows every single secret of yours? And that’s only within the first 50 pages. Join the ride. It’s fun.
Scribbles & Wanderlust 
14 thoughts on “Book Review: “Can You Keep a Secret?” by Sophie Kinsella”
Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books
I read this a long time ago and I just remember laughing SO hard. It was my favorite Sophie Kinsella book by far. I would love to go back and reread some of these chick-lit books that made me LOL. And you are so right, Emma is definitely book-BFF worthy!!
Laura
I need to read something light, fun, fluffy, and Kinsella delivered!
Lauren | Bookmark Lit
I read this one pre-blogging and remember loving it! Such a fun premise and great story. Glad to hear you liked it too 🙂 I’m due for a reread, probably.. I miss Sophie Kinsella books! I need to get back into them.
Laura
I don’t know which one I should read next! I’m debating between Undomestic Goddess and I Have Your Number.
jenthebookavid
Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite authors, yay! Unfortuantely I think this one isn’t necessarily one of her best works, it was funny but to me the premise was pretty much resolved too quickly, causing the whole thing to stall. I love Remember Me and I’ve Got Your Number more.
Laura
Just finished I’ve Got Your Number this weekend! A review will be up soon. Have you read Undomestic Goddess?
jenthebookavid
I have! Only recently, too. It wasn’t really for me, I found the pace very slow and it wasn’t as fun as I’m used to from her other books.
jenthebookavid
Oh, do you happen to have any recommendations? I’ve pretty much read everything Kinsella has ever written and am in desperate need for a similar fun chick-lit author.
Lark
This if my favorite Sophie Kinsella book; it makes me laugh out loud every time I read it. 🙂
Laura
Aw, yay! I just finished another one this weekend and I think CYKAS is my favorite of the two (not including Finding Audrey, her YA book. Different category, and the only YA of hers, so I can’t really compare it to her Adult stuff)
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
I’m so glad you loved this! Your review makes me want to reread it, I just might 😀 It’s been so long but I remember loving it and I remember how embarrassed I get reading Kinsella books haha. Her heroines always get into I Love Lucy level situations- funny but oh gosh the cringing.
Laura
I Love Lucy situations, bahahaha. YES THE CRINGING. Thank our lucky stars we don’t have anything THAT embarrassing or harrowing, but you can’t help but fear and wonder what would go down if it DID happen to you!
Alexa S. (@alexalovesbooks)
Oh. My. Gosh. I really enjoyed Can You Keep A Secret when I first read it, so it makes me really happy to see that you quite enjoyed it as well! (It’s tied with Undomestic Goddess for being my favorite Kinsella, at least, as far as I recall). Kinsella’s books are always so light and easy and funny and enjoyable, and I should probably get to reading the ones I haven’t gotten to yet.
Laura
I just finished I’ve Got Your Number this weekend, and have Undomestic Goddess lined up for this coming weekend! Such great, laughable, fun binge-reading material. Which ones have you read?