Product Description

Lara has always had an overactive imagination. Now she wonders if she is losing her mind. Normal twenty-something girls just don't get visited by ghosts! But inexplicably, the spirit of Lara's great aunt Sadie - in the form of a bold, demanding Charleston-dancing girl - has appeared to make one last request: Lara must track down a missing necklace Sadie simply can't rest without. Lara's got enough problems of her own. Her start-up company is floundering, her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, and she's just been dumped by the love of her life. But as Lara spends time with Sadie, life becomes more glamorous and their treasure hunt turns into something intriguing and romantic. Could Sadie's ghost be the answer to Lara's problems and can two girls from different times end up learning something special from each other?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #666 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-16
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

About the Author
Sophie Kinsella is a writer and former financial journalist. She is the international bestselling author of the hugely popular Shopaholic novels as well as the number one bestsellers Can You Keep A Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess and Remember Me? Confessions of a Shopaholic, the blockbuster Hollywood movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, is based on Sophie Kinsella's novel The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic. She lives in London with her husband and children.

Customer Reviews

beautiful and funny with a bit of magic
"Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella is a beautiful and funny book about love, family and the most unusual, unique and hilarious ghost.

Lara Lington's life is about to get even more complicated and weird (as if it isn't bad enough that her boyfriend Josh just recently broke up with her, that she has financial problems, that the partner in her firm just doesn't want to come back from her holiday and that Lara has to work like crazy to keep the firm from going under) when she starts seeing the ghost of her Great Aunt Sadie. Sadie wants Lara to find a necklace that Sadie always wore and now has disappeared. Of course Lara is shocked to see Sadie in form of her ghost especially because she never really knew her before and only went to her funeral out of family obligation. But still Lara is willing to help Sadie find her necklace and her peace.
Soon afterwards Lara realizes that there is more to the missing necklace than she first thought and that to find it she has to uncover some family secrets and learn more about Sadie's life. Lara and Sadie soon become friends and the story takes another turn when through Sadie Lara meets Ed (he's an American businessman currently working in London) and goes out on a date with him so that Sadie can experience one last date through Lara. What starts out at as favour for her aunt's ghost soon develops to a chance of a new relationship for Lara. But to have a future with Ed Lara first has to solve the mystery surrounding the necklace, her relationship with Josh plus her frustrating work situation.

Normally I'm not a big fan of stories with ghosts but Sophie Kinsella really made it work for me. Sadie gives the story so much depth and I love the relationship between Lara and her, especially because she wants Lara to be happy and has some very special ways to help her.
Lara is the kind of heroine I love. She's a kind person, sometimes not sure about what to do with her life and willing to help Sadie even though her own life is already complicated enough. I also like that the book has a first-person narrator because experiencing the story through Lara's eyes is just wonderful and often very funny.
I love how Lara finally realizes that she doesn't need (and want) Josh in her life and that maybe Ed is not really the snobby American she thought him to be.
Ed is another great character and the relationship between Lara and him is very lovely but the book is more about Lara and Sadie and not mainly about Lara and Ed. Even though I like books where the relationship between heroine and hero is the main part I love how Sophie Kinsella made Lara and Sadie the two central characters of the book. The scenes between them are just perfect and make the book extra remarkable and great.
So all in all I just love "Twenties Girl" and can recommend it to every romance fan. The book left me with a big smile on my face and a warm feeling in my heart so it's easy for me to say that you should give it a try.
Oh, and if you can choose between the British and the US version go with the British one because the cover is just beautiful and perfect for the book.

Just buy this book, you won't regret it!
I've just finished this book and all i want to do is start it all over again! I sat down with this book and hardly put it down, except to sleep, i even read it while eating! It has everything a good book needs, fantastic characters, two love stories, mysteries, family drama and the perfect ending. Each character is so well written that they all remain in your mind clearly afterwards. There are loads of historically interesting and accurate details given to the reader by Sadie. This is one book i'm definitely recommending to every female member of my family and friends.

It's ok
I think I have such high expectations for Sophie Kinsella that I am afraid that this book was somewhat disappointing. I'm not saying it's bad - but it's just ok from start to finish.

My main problem was that I couldn't really relate to the lead character, Lara. In her previous books the characters are larger than life, slightly off-beat, confident, stylish or hilarious. There has always been SOMETHING for me to connect with or enjoy the cringe-worthy feeling of having been in a funny situation before! Personally, I felt so far removed from Lara in so many ways. Firstly, I simply could not understand why she let her 'best friend' take advantage of her or why she was embarrassingly and relentlessly pursuing her ex. Her odd relationships with her family (i.e. her pitying parents; her dismissive uncle and cousin; and her spiteful sister) left me simply wondering whether there was something fundamentally WRONG with Lara?

Sadie on the other hand was a glorious character - quite hilarious really in the way she would demand her way and basically 'tightened Lara's game' (i.e made her more successful and appealing) by using her abilities as a ghost to assist her. She was just like a guardian angel - with a lot of spunk - which is what anyone would want.

All I can say is - I still like Sophie Kinsella - the Shopaholic Series is one of my favourites. It's refreshing when characters are flawed in books but it's awful when they are pathetic. I'm just so glad Sadie was in the book to save the day.