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Coming from a family of overachievers, Samantha Sweeting, a workaholic London attorney with jittery nerves, five identical black suits and zero private life, is under immense pressure to make partner at the prestigious law firm she works for. Things seem right on track when a seemingly chance oversight on Samantha’s part leads to a colossal financial loss for a client.
In a fog of terror, a dazed Samantha leaves the office, gets on a train and ends up in a small but lovely village where the Geigers mistake her to be a prospective housekeeper come for an interview. Before she knows it, Samantha’s got the job. Seeing as she can’t even make coffee let alone open the ironing board, sexy gardener Nathaniel comes to her rescue.
Gradually Samantha settles down to her new life, learns to cook, clean, relax and even to love Nathaniel. Just as Samantha envisions a cozy future ahead of her than her old life makes an untimely reappearance along with a media gone crazy at the thought of this former high-power attorney scrubbing toilets for a living. Given a choice to return to her former career or settle in her current life, what will Samantha choose?
It’s hard to imagine after reading this mediocre novel that it has been penned by the same author who delivered those scintillating Shopaholic novels. It could be that Sophie Kinsella set the bar so high with Becky Bloomwood, that a mere Samantha Sweeting can’t begin to compare let alone compete. Only when the reader gets past the implausible premise, the oh-so-predictable plot and the slow-as-molasses pace and even the maddening ending, than the gem of humor so typical of Kinsella’s writing shines through specially during Samantha’s misadventures in the course of her new job.
Samantha’s morphing from career-crazy woman to a dazed domestic while funny, isn’t either novel or palatable. Nathaniel feels too good to be true and their romance is everything predictable. The only real suspense comes towards the very end, but even that wavers so much that the reader is forced to wonder if the book will ever end.
To sum it up - this book is nothing very special. It makes for a passable escapist beach read, but as for making the keeper shelf – not a chance.
Reviewed by Rashmi Srinivas
for The Road to Romance
August 15, 2005
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