I've Got Your Number

Title: I’ve Got Your Number

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Reader: Jayne Entwistle

Category: Romance- Contemporary

Audio Published: February 14, 2012 by Random House Audio

Rating: 2½ out of 5 stars

Add: Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon  | Book Depository | IndieBound

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect! Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life. What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

First, this is the first Sophie Kinsella I’ve ever read, so I didn’t know quite what to expect. I was browsing the newer romance audiobooks on our library’s website and I’ve Got Your Number sounded cute enough. And it was, but Poppy just annoyed me to no end through half of it.

Poppy tells us her story in a voice perfectly captured by Jayne Entwistle. She’s a cute, funny, slightly ditzy woman who thinks her fiancé, Magnus, is just Mr. Perfect. She is intimidated by his parents and spend huge amounts of time trying to be someone she’s not.

THINGS TO DO BEFORE WEDDING

1.  Become expert on Greek philosophy.
2.  Memorize Robert Burns poems.
3.  Learn long Scrabble words.
4.  Remember:  am HYPOCHONDRIAC.
5.  Beef stroganoff:  Get to like. (Hypnosis?)

I just wanted to shake her. Now, we’re only seeing things from her point of view, and she doesn’t necessarily understand the whole picture, but I just wanted to yell at her to quit, that those people weren’t worth her effort. (I was wrong, but so was she so I’m forgiven.) Magnus is not perfect. He didn’t come stand beside her like I wanted him to. He didn’t seem to understand her concerns, but we’re not supposed to think he’s her perfect man- after all, there’s Sam.

Now Sam is the reason I kept reading. Honestly, I wanted to quite listening halfway through and probably would have if Sam hadn’t been so opposite from Poppy and so perfect for her too. He’s a business man, full of one-word texts and e-mails. He doesn’t believe in being personable and has a pre-prepared blow-off e-mail, but you get the impression that he’s slowly thawing. In the beginning we get to know him mostly through his texts with Poppy, who has his (former) assistant’s phone, but we feel that he’s thawing a little, that while Poppy aggravates him, he also truly likes her, appreciates some of her quirks.

The novel is full of footnotes and text messages and e-mails, which you wouldn’t think would translate well to audio, but I really enjoyed the format. The footnotes were included in her cute little voice where they fit, you didn’t have to look at the bottom of the page or toggle anywhere like I hear you have to in the e-book. The texts were cute and “smiley face” is equivalent to 🙂 when you’re reading.

It sounds like I really enjoyed it, but I only gave it 2½ stars. It was predictable, and I didn’t really understand any of the characters. It did pick up for me towards the end, when Sam needs Poppy’s help and she pulls through, but then she makes another stupid decision in a list of many. Thankfully, this is a romance so we do get the happy, cheesy ending.

I’ll probably give Kinsella another chance, but this one was a little too cute for me. Or maybe I just couldn’t relate to Poppy. I’d keep Sam though.

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