Romance Annotation: Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Title: Can You Keep a Secret

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

Number of Pages: 368

Geographical Setting: London, England

Time Period: Contemporary

Plot Summary:

    Like anyone else, Emma has a few secrets. The novel begins with her disastrous first business trip as a marketing assistant, in which she spills an energy drink all over one of her company’s top clients and confesses that she may not be the marketing expert she pretends to be. On her flight home, she reveals that another of her secrets is a fear of flying. She has a panic attack during some severe turbulence, and blurts out all of her most intimate and humiliating secrets to the stranger sitting beside her, thinking he’ll be the last person she ever speaks to. She even admits to feeling unhappy in her current relationship.
    But the turbulence subsides, and she survives. She meets her boyfriend at the airport (he is perfect in every way, according to her friends and family), and returns to her job, where she is denied the big promotion she’s been hoping for.
    This is when she learns that the CEO of her company—the legendary Jack Harper, will be coming to her branch to observe how it’s running. Emma is nearly floored with shock and terror when she discovers that Jack Harper is the same man who sat beside her on the plane. She hopes he will not remember him, until he starts making sly references to some of her secrets. Nobody else at the company knows that the two have met, and he would like it to stay that way.
    Shenanigans ensue as Emma repeatedly encounters Jack at the office, realizing he remembers everything he told her, and that he is even making decisions about the company based on her preferences.
    Meanwhile, she tries in vain to reignite the spark between her and her boyfriend, Connor, but when Jack urges her to confront the truth of what she admitted on the plane, she breaks up with Connor.
    The next day, Jack asks her out. Despite a rocky first date in which Jack makes all the decisions for Emma and sneaks away on mysterious phone calls, the two are swept up into a passionate romance. Emma feels happier than she’s felt in years.
    But soon, as the secrets Jack knows about her—plus a few of his own—come to light, she realizes that their dreamy relationship might be far too good to be true.

    The unfortunate truth is that I loathed this book. The protagonist has zero positive characteristics, internal motivations or convictions, and she is dishonest and self-centered in every single interaction she has. A scathing Kirkus review from January 2004 states that she "seems about 11 years old," and that almost feels generous to me. Most of the book seems to celebrate terrible communication in relationships, making only a tiny effort toward the end to argue for honesty. The supporting characters are unrealistically cruel, flat, and totally unsympathetic. Thus, it’s almost impossible to appreciate or buy any of the humor or romance. I would have liked to enjoy the shenanigans, but I was blinded by rage the whole time.

Subject Headings:

• Romance
• Comedy
• Contemporary

Appeal:

• Pace: Fast-Paced
• Tone: Romantic
• Writing Style: Conversational

3 terms that best describe this book:

• Upbeat
• Breezy
• Exaggerated

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors

1. Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell - This is sort of an ode to romance that seems to have a similar upbeat, comedic tone to Can You Keep a Secret?, while discussing the timeless appeals of romance novels and connecting these to important life lessons.
2. On Writing Romance by Leigh Michaels - Can You Keep a Secret definitely follows a formula and structure that is popular in romance, and readers who are interested in learning more about genre conventions, trends, and the craft of romance-writing would like this. 
3. Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson, EdD - I included this one simply because fans of contemporary romance are likely to be interested in how relationships work on the emotional/psychological level. 

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors

1. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding - The narration in Bridget Jones's Diary has the sort of confessional, stream-of-conscious, unfiltered tone of Kinsella's narration in Can You Keep a Secret? It is also a romantic comedy featuring a flawed but likeable (hopefully) protagonist who deals with relatable problems in relationships, family, and personal aspirations.
2. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne - Like Can You Keep a Secret, this book features modern characters in the modern workplace, with drastically different personalities and a lot of hijinks. Its exaggerated, humorous tone and quick pace will likely appeal to fans of Kinsella's work.
3. Beach Read by Emily Henry - Beach Read is an interesting novel that contains its own love story while also providing a meta exploration on the romance genre in general. It follows beloved tropes while also putting a fresh spin on the genre, and is generally praised by romance fans.