Genre: Contemporary Romance
218 pages
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...
From start to finish this was a hilarious book. I've been trying to read Christmasy books but truthfully so many of them start out pretty depressing that I have a hard time continuing to read until the happy part happens. So I was trying to find something else to read and thought of a book I had enjoyed recently called Chez Stinky. I had started to read the second book in that series Fuzzy Logic and lost interest. It just wasn't funny like the first one. Then it hit me! Look for funny books. I got on Goodreads and found this list called Humorous Romance Books. Can You Keep a Secret is the top one voted by over 850 readers.
I set out to find a light hearted funny book and I wasn't disappointed. If I had to compare it to something I'd say at least at the start it's similar to the Bridget Jones movies. I haven't read the books so I can't make a comparison to those. She's a bit silly and as most women are today uncomfortable in her own skin. She's lied to her boyfriend about pretty much everything and stays with him because everyone says they're the perfect couple. She's bounced from job to job. Her cousin has out-staged her in every way and her family treat her like a child because of it.
As the book progresses I grew to appreciate Emma's personality. I was totally rooting for her and Jack. Even knowing everything would work out in the end because duh it's a romance book I still felt her pain when things all went to hell. I don't think I could have been as brave as Emma was. I think I would have quit my job out of humiliation and never saw Jack again. Wouldn't that have been a pity if she did? I suppose you'll have to read it to find out!
Can You Keep a Secret reminds us that being ourselves, especially around the people who are important to us, is the most important thing of all. It's not a paranormal book, there's no exciting enemy or anything. No steamy sex scenes or big overdeveloped plot. It's not even part of a series... which usually is a deal breaker for me. It's just a fun and intriguing book. Emma, Jack and everyone else in the book are like anyone else out there and I can imagine it all happening in real life. It was different for me as I don't read many contemporary romances or stand-alone novels but a welcome change to be sure.
Favorite quotes:
"It's like Julie Andrews said. When the dog bites, when the bee stings ... I simply remember I have a boyfriend - and suddenly things don't seem quite so completely shit."
“I feel all agitated, like one of those snow globes you see resting peacefully on shop counters. I was perfectly happy being an ordinary, dull little Swiss village. But now Jack Harper’s come and shaken me up, and there are snowflakes all over the place, whirling around until I don’t know what I think anymore. And bits of glitter, too. Tiny bits of shiny, secret excitement.”
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