The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella – Book Review
I’m on a mom vacation everyone! Two days, no kids, all the books I can read and two sleepy dogs all together at a beachside hotel. I wake up to the sound of the ocean, I sit on the patio watching the waves crash and I drink all the wine I can.
My goal these next 2 days is to read as much as I possibly can, as when I return home, I will become a full time stay-at-home mom, which means my time to read will greatly diminish. I thought it was best to start light, and work my way up from there!
Up first, I finished The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella!
It’s been over two years since Effie’s beloved parents got divorced, destroying the image of the happy, loving childhood she thought she had. Since then, she’s become estranged from her father and embarked on a feud with his hot (and much younger) girlfriend, Krista. And now, more earth-shattering news: Greenoaks, the rambling Victorian country house Effie called home her whole life, has been sold.
When Krista decides to throw a grand “house cooling” party, Effie is originally left off the guest list–and then receives a last-minute “anti-invitation” (maybe it’s because she called Krista a gold-digger, but Krista totally deserved it, and it was mostly a joke anyway). Effie declines, but then remembers a beloved childhood treasure is still hidden in the house. Her only chance to retrieve it is to break into Greenoaks while everyone is busy celebrating. As Effie sneaks around the house, hiding under tables and peeping through trapdoors, she realizes the secrets Greenoaks holds aren’t just in the dusty passageways and hidden attics she grew up exploring. Watching how her sister, brother, and dad behave when they think no one is looking, Effie overhears conversations, makes discoveries, and begins to see her family in a new light. Then she runs into Joe–the love of her life, who long ago broke her heart, and who’s still as handsome and funny as ever–and even more truths emerge.
But will Effie act on these revelations? Will she stay hidden or step out into the party and take her place with her family? And truthfully, what did she really come back to Greenoaks for? Over the course of one blowout party, Effie realizes that she must be honest with herself and confront her past before she’ll ever be able to face her future.
This was the perfect light reading to start my vacation off! At first, when we meet Effie, she began having some “wacky hi-jinx” and an almost naive persona about her. Remind you of another Sophie Kinsella character (ahem – Becky from the Shopaholic series)? This made me nervous, as I didn’t want to read another Becky book. But fear not – Effie stands strong on her own and moves past the wacky parts quickly.
I found myself laughing at certain parts, and struggling to figure out the secrets that Effie’s family members were hiding along with Effie. It was lovely to see the journey that Effie took, not only to her old family house, but also emotionally as she begins to really grow up, along with her brother and sister.
The Party Crasher is out on October 12th here in the US! Make sure to pick up a copy. Thank you to the publishers for providing me with an advanced copy for review (all opinions are my own)!
