Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?
When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie—a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance—mysteriously appears, she has one request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, because Sadie cannot rest without it.
Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from and about each other. Written with all the irrepressible charm and humor that have made Sophie Kinsella’s books beloved by millions, Twenties Girl is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family.
In addition to being your tradition fun and flirty Kinsella book, this was a really cool ghost story that said a lot about family, heritage, and culture.
I jumped into this book without reading the blurb, and as such was a little alarmed when I read that there was a ghost--I felt like this would be gimmicky and take away from Kinsella's normal charm. However, Kinsella made it work. The mystery that was intricately woven through the book was so subtle at first that I didn't realize there was a more complex plot going on until I was already deep in. The ghost aspect was a lot of fun and provided some very humourous scenarios.
Kinsella's books often feature a main character with dissatisfied parents. In this one, there was more depth as Lara's uncle was also deeply entwined with Lara's relationship with her parents. I enjoyed the concluding scenes that showed how their relationship strengthened in their common problems; this differed from other Kinsella books where the daughter merely proved herself.
I really loved that in this book Lara ultimately focused on making Sadie happy and not herself. I feel like Lara really matured as a charaacter, and was someone I'd really like to meet and know. She gained a lot of empathy and let her stubbornness appear in a productive manner.
Lara's relationship with Josh and her subsequent relationship with Ed was fascinating. I enjoyed seeing how she wanted to give Ed advice that people had given her regarding Josh, and seeing the moments of truth dawning on her.
The subplots that wove themselves together also kept this book fresh and original. Lara's business ventures were ambitious at best, but I loved the way her naivete gave her a new perspective and correspondingly a chance at success.
I think writingwise this was one of Kinsella's 'best' books as it contained more subtle lessons and intrigues, and I definitely had a lot of fun with this one.
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