Can You Keep a Secret? (Kinsella)

Book Reviews
Kinsella succeeds on her own terms: Her dialogue is sharp, even her minor characters are well drawn, and her parody of the marketing world is very funny
Susan Coll - Washington Post


Things are suddenly starting to look up for the hapless but optimistic Emma Corrigan. She has kept her job at Panther Cola for nearly a year, has the perfect boyfriend and hopes for a promotion to marketing executive should her first opportunity to strut her stuff and land a business deal be successful. Unfortunately, things don't go quite as planned, and on her unusually turbulent return flight from a disappointing client meeting, in a terrified state, she confesses her innermost secrets to the good-looking stranger sitting beside her. When she shows up at work the next morning, she is horrified to discover that her mystery man is none other than the revered and brilliant Jack Harper, American CEO of Panther Cola, on a weeklong visit to the company's U.K. branch. Thus begins a series of chaotic, emotionally exhausting and funny episodes that thrust Emma, with her workaholic best friend, Lissy, and their awful flatmate Jemima, into a world of fairy tales, secrets and deceit. Venturing beyond Saks and Barney's, the bestselling author of Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Ties the Knot entertains readers with backstabbing office shenanigans, competition, scandal, love and sex. The plot is gossamer thin (Jack is keeping secrets of his own) and the lopsided romance not entirely believable, but Kinsella's down-to-earth protagonist is sure to have readers sympathizing and doubled over in laughter.
Publishers Weekly 


The author of the Shopaholic trilogy offers up a delightful new novel, filled with her trademark wit and humor.
Booklist


The author of the Shopaholic trilogy runs out of ideas. Emma Corrigan, a heroine who seems about 11 years old, has a few giggly little secrets. Just between us superannuated schoolgirls, she hasn't the faintest idea what NATO is, and she has never, ever told her boyfriend Connor that she actually weighs 128 pounds, not 118. Oh, and her Kate Spade bag is a fake. And she loves sweet sherry. Yes, the list of endearing fibs is long and equally trivial, but she confesses most of it to a business-suited American on a plane. He's not really listening, is he? Oh, dear, what a dreadful pickle Emma gets herself into! As luck would have it, the handsome stranger, Jack Harper, turns out to be her new boss! "Look at him! He's got limos and flunkies, and a great, big important company that makes millions every year!" Whatever will Emma do? Blush, simper, and have a little vodka—though she doesn't seem old enough to drink without a sippy cup and a pink-kitten-printed bib. Good thing she has the sort of job where fib-telling is what she does, really— marketing things like sports drinks and energy bars and petroleum products requires the truth to be bent just a teeny-weeny bit, doesn't it? And when she realizes, thanks to an elderly relative, that the energy bars don't stick to dentures, she comes up with a simply brilliant idea that just might land her that big promotion! Maybe she'll buy that smart new suit after all. But her personal life is in a dreadful muddle and Emma is ready to cry real tears—when Jack steps in to make things all better. Just plain dopey. But Kinsella's name plus a bubblegum-pink cover will attract the fans.
Kirkus Reviews