Review of I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Would you share your phone with your partner? With a complete stranger? Poppy and Sam end up doing just that and the results are hilarious and sweet too!

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.

Available on Amazon.

This month’s romance book reading challenge was all about ‘Office Romance’ I chose the ‘Businessman’ prompt. Now, this wasn’t explicitly along the suggested lines, but Sam is a high-powered business executive and there is even some corporate espionage thrown in. So, I think it qualifies, especially as I was able to take this one off of my kindle backlist! Two birds… one book!

I’m pretty sure now that I have read Sophie Kinsella before, but I really couldn’t say which one. This book was light, sweet, cute and still had a few really thought-provoking scenes. I enjoyed it and may look into more by this author.

So is Poppy, our heroine, relatable? Well, I started the novel and was a bit concerned about if I could really get into it. I mean it opens with a neurotic bride to be hunting down her wedding ring. Said bride to be then ends up ruthlessly hunting down and using a stranger’s phone. Then said crazy lady ends up interfering in Sam’s life by replying to many different emails on his behalf… and very rarely in a manner in which he’d be happy with. She also has a ridiculous inferiority complex around her fiancé’s family and desperately needs new friends if the two-faced Annalise is what she calls a friend.

And after all of that… Yes! I ended up liking Poppy! So you can imagine the character journey and changes that go on. But seriously, you first have to get through the cringeworthy pages where she boldfacedly meddles in Sam’s work and life.

While I adored her transformation, I do wish she had been more decisive and accountable in her decision regarding Magnus, the original fiancé.

Although the story is told solely through Poppy’s point of view, we still get a very good sense of who Sam is and how he thinks, and we even see how he changes over the course of the story. From email responses as ‘chatty’ as “Yes. Sam.” to never participating in any office socials, you get the picture of a man very good at his job, but with little interpersonal skills. When Sam uses a smiley face in a text, it’s actually a major turning point.

One more element I liked was the bit of suspense in two cases. Who is sending Poppy the mysterious texts? And, who is trying to sabotage Sam’s company? These were fun to work out… even if Poppy’s role in Sam’s business was a bit over the top. But, hey, we read these books for a bit of an escape.

Overall, a charming story featuring a cute couple. I’d definitely recommend, giving I’ve Got your Number 4/5 espresso shots.