Can You Keep a Secret?: A Novel

by Sophie Kinsella

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life comes a novel with the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism as her beloved Shopaholic series.

“Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger on the cultural pulse, while leaving me giddy with laughter.”—Jojo Moyes, author of The Giver of Stars and The Last Letter from Your Lover

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. . . .
 
But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO.  Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse. Or could they?
 
Praise for Can You Keep a Secret?
 
“Venturing beyond Saks and Barney’s, the bestselling author of Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Ties the Knot entertains readers with backstabbing office shenanigans, competition, scandal, love and sex. . . . Kinsella’s down-to-earth protagonist is sure to have readers sympathizing and doubled over in laughter.”—Publishers Weekly

“If laughing out loud in public places is your bag, be sure to pick up [Can You Keep a Secret?]. Heroine Emma Corrigan is going to be your new best friend.”—Boston Herald
 
“Kinsella’s timing is so perfect, her instincts so spot-on, that it’s easy to . . . devour the book like the guilty pleasure it is.”—Miami Herald

“Chick lit at its lightest and breeziest . . . filled with fabulous clothes, stalwart friends, and snotty enemies waiting to be taken down a peg.”—Orlando Sentinel

“[Kinsella’s] dialogue is sharp, even her minor characters are well drawn, and her parody of the marketing world is very funny.”—Washington Post Book World

“[A] comedic frenzy of ill-fated events . . . punchy . . . fast-moving.”—Rocky Mountain News

• ISBN10: 0385338082
• ISBN13: 9780385338080
• Publish Date: 1 March 2005 (first published 17 March 2003)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
• Imprint: Bantam Doubleday Dell
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385338080

Reviews

[Ashley]

That MC was so painfully immature. Just not

[annieb123]

Very fluffy chick-lit romance. 3,5 stars; could well see it being 4 or 5 for a lover of the genre. This was a fast read, i finished it on a 3,5 hour car trip with time left over to knit and chat a bit.

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: Maybe I should've read Can You Keep A Secret? before I've Got Your Number because the latter was published much later in Sophie Kinsella's writing career and was way funnier. A lot of the times I wanted to smack the protagonist's head because she was so incredibly naive and shallow, it wasn't even funny anymore. At least there were believable instances and who doesn't dread office politics? So there's that. Had I read this book before I've Got Your Number, I probably would've given it 3 stars because without comparison, it would've been a slight bit less painful to read. I know I spent a fair bit rolling my eyes. Although, as an early work, it did display Sophie Kinsella's ability to write well because the prose was pleasant to read.

[Ashley]

4.5 Stars

Absolutely HILARIOUS!! I love what a blabbermouth Emma was. I thought it was hilarious how she just spilled all her secrets, and that led to so many funny moments.

I didn't really feel a ton of chemistry between her and Jack though. I think the romance could have been a bit stronger.

But overall this book was so much fun to read! I laughed out loud so many times.

[rakesandrogues]

I still can't believe how much I enjoyed this! It completely exceeded my expectations. Read it on the beach and I had to constrain myself from laughing out loud or tearing up. Very entertaining.

[ibeforem]

I thought this was quite cute, and it was perfect rainy weekend reading. Once I got past Emma’s extremely flighty inner dialogue, I found that I couldn’t put it down! Don’t look for any depth here, but there’s a lot of fun and a little bit of romance. I’d probably pick up some of Kinsella’s other standalone novels, but don’t look for any reviews of the Shopaholic books here… That whole concept doesn’t sit well with me.