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The Gatecrasher

3.09 of 5 stars 3.09 · rating details · 9,281 ratings · 653 reviews

The Secret Is Out!
Madeleine Wickham is Sophie Kinsella, and The Gatecrasher is just as delicious as her internationally bestselling Shopaholic series.

Everything’s coming up roses for Fleur Daxeny, as she goes through more rich men than she does designer hats. Beautiful and utterly irresistible, her success at crashing funerals to find wealthy men is remarkable.Fleur wastes...more

ebook, 256 pages

Published April 1st 2011 by Thomas Dunne Books (first published 1998)

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Nov 30, 2008 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: guiltypleasures

True rating would be 1.5 stars--somewhere between "didn't like it" and "it was OK." When Madeleine Wickham morphed into Sophie Kinsella, apparently she acquired the ability to create characters with a few redeeming qualities to offset their character flaws (i.e., compulsive shopping).

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Nov 26, 2008 Lulu rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 18, 2013 Julianne Fost rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was filled with deplorable characters. The only characters that I really liked were Richard, Gillian, Antony and Zara. I felt pity for Philippa at times, but mostly she annoyed me. I was fine with not liking Fleur at first. I either thought that she would redeem herself at the end, or move on to another man and continue to be a terrible person. I found the end, however, to be lacking. Fleur does not seem to have changed a great deal, and are we expected to be okay with Richard and the...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Suad Shamma rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2011

Sophie Kinsella brings more charm, more wit, more depth and more laughs to her stories. Everything that Madeleine Wickham seems to lack.

This is my fourth Wickham book and what a stupid book! What a distasteful protagonist! I honestly don't think I could've disliked a character more than Fleur.

I started this book with the hopes that it would be an interesting read - albeit light. The premise of this book, the plot, seemed very interesting, original even. A lady who crashes funerals in search for...more Sophie Kinsella brings more charm, more wit, more depth and more laughs to her stories. Everything that Madeleine Wickham seems to lack.

This is my fourth Wickham book and what a stupid book! What a distasteful protagonist! I honestly don't think I could've disliked a character more than Fleur.

I started this book with the hopes that it would be an interesting read - albeit light. The premise of this book, the plot, seemed very interesting, original even. A lady who crashes funerals in search for wealthy, vulnerable men to prey on in order to climb up the social ladder, only to choose the wrong man to prey on and end up getting too close to the family for her own consciousness's good. Great story right?

WRONG!

What a waste of my time. It dragged on and on and on for the very longest time, only to have Fleur get worse and worse in character, instead of better. To have her thirteen year old daughter Zara possess more sense and wisdom than her? It's not until the last TWO pages that Fleur awakens from her selfish, obnoxious, awful, money-focused daze and decides to do something with her life and for her daughter's sake. Oh my God, are you serious? Madeleine Wickham made us hate this character the whole way through, and wouldn't even wrap up the story properly and just left us with two final pages of utter nonsense as...what? Closure?

And is Richard really that much of an idiot? Yes, sure, he's the nicest man on the planet, but since when is nice synonymous with stupid? He spent the entire book looking for clues on who his dead wife really was, and wondering about all the qualities and things that were kept hidden from him when she was alive, and then he just simply...accepts...Fleur's final request of not asking any questions and keeping all the secrets and mysteries, and even gets emotional that she was back and is agreeing to "staying" with him but not marrying him? I mean, I repeat, is this man stupid?

Very frustrating story, and even more frustrating characters. They weren't well-rounded at all, they did not develop well at all, the main characters pretty much stayed completely the same throughout the book, and only the secondary characters seemed to change to the better.

I think Wickham should stick to writing in Kinsella's style.(less)

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Nov 03, 2012 Chanel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely LOVE Sophie Kinsella, so when I found out that that was just a pseudonym and that Madeleine Wickham had written other books, I was thrilled! I was so excited when I read the description of this book, I thought it would top most romantic comedy books I've read. It started off good, but I wasn't too drawn to Fleur, the main character. Throughout the book I kept willing it to get better, but it never did. It wasn't very funny, and it didn't really reflect on the characters pasts' much;...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Primeballerina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Eine weitere Neuauflage von Sophie Kinsellas "alten" Roman "Reizende Gäste", den sie noch als Madeleine Wickham herausgebracht hatte.

Fleur Daxeny ist seit Jahren selbst nur ein überaus reizender Gast auf diversen Gedenkgottesdiensten von verstorbenen Ehefrauen, später in den Häusern der reichen Witwer. Gezielt sucht sie sich die Männer aus, die genügend Geld auf dem Konto haben, sodass sie sich nach ein paar Wochen oder Monaten ein paar Tausend Dollar vom Konto holen und verschwinden kann. Vers...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was very pleased to find out that Madeleine Wickham was Sophie Kinsella, as I loved her books. What pleased me even more was that Madeleine Wickham takes a darker, deeper look into her characters than her Sophie Kinsella books offer. There is hilarious comedy, but there is also deep sorrow within this book.
Fleur Daxeny picks up rich men at their wife's funeral. She finds Richard Favour, and the story takes off from there. What could be a light-hearted and shallow story is actually quite deep,...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Finitha Jose rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sophie Kinsella is the pseudonym of Madeleine Wickham. She has written seven novels under this original name. Her first novel under the name of Kinsella was submitted to her existing publishers anonymously and was enthusiastically received. She revealed her true identity for the first time when Can You Keep a Secret? was published in December 2005.
I have read most of the novels of Kinsella and it is hard to believe that both are same. Kinsella novels are pure comedy, while Wickham is serious to...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Lydia Laceby rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally Reviewed at Novel Escapes

I was disappointed by this book, especially with knowing that Madeline Wickham is Sophie Kinsella. Possibly just having read Twenties Girl, which I absolutely loved, didn’t help matters, but The Gatecrasher just didn’t live up to my expectations. This is chick lit with multiple characters from their different points of view and has none of the humour I have come to expect from great chick lit.

It started well enough. The premise was interesting and I had no co...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Kaila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is about Fleur Daxeny. Her ultimate goal is to get the big bucks. To do that, she crashes funerals so she can try to find a widower who can support her life. She weasels her way in, gains their trust and runs of with their mega bucks.This time she goes to a different funeral and picks up a guy who's requirement is to be wealthy. Then she will stay with then until she gets their credit card, and will take out a handsomely amount of money. Afterwards, she leaves and never speaks to the...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Ciara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crummy-chick-lit, read-in-2011

i picked this up because i like sophie kinsella's books--so sue me. this was as fluffy as i expected (i read it while i was sick--perfect for passing the time without expending too much brainpower), but kind of a head scratcher.

the titular gatecrasher is fleur, a charming 40-year-old redhead who crashes funerals to win the hearts of wealthy male attendees. she wins their trust & then connives to take them for every penny she thinks she can get away with, generally through a bizarre scheme i...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Stefanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An sich ein gutes Buch, aber ich fand, dass manche Handlungsstränge zu schnell abgehandelt bzw einfach offen gehalten wurden und das Ende fand ich jetzt auch etwas sehr gehetzt. Man hat nicht das Gefühl ein Buch gelesen zu haben, dass zumindest irgendwie in sich abgeschlossen ist, sondern eher einen Teil eines Buches. Ist halt irgendwie komisch. Wenn das nicht wäre hätte ich 4 Sterne gegeben, aber das stört mich dann doch zu sehr, daher nur 3. Die verschiedenen Personen im Buch fand ich allerdin...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit, reviewed

Fleur has made a career out of crashing funerals and memorial services so that she can work her way into recently widower's lives. She earns the widower's trust then takes them for all she can and moves on. But, when she meets Richard Favour things start to change. She finds herself feeling comfortable and fitting in with his family. When her daughter comes to visit and fits in too Fleur realizes she is going to have some decisions to make. But is Fleur ready to give up the high life and to sett...more Fleur has made a career out of crashing funerals and memorial services so that she can work her way into recently widower's lives. She earns the widower's trust then takes them for all she can and moves on. But, when she meets Richard Favour things start to change. She finds herself feeling comfortable and fitting in with his family. When her daughter comes to visit and fits in too Fleur realizes she is going to have some decisions to make. But is Fleur ready to give up the high life and to settle into the suburbs? With her daughter involved and asking questions, about her past, Fleur's past, and being ready for a change. Fleur has to consider and decide what she can do and what she has to do.

Parts of the book I really enjoyed and other parts were just ok. I really like most of the characters in this book, with 5 kind of main characters and 3 important supporting characters. The characters were given a decent background and we were given a view of the past of a few of them. I wanted a bit more on the character development side though from some of them. Also, I think the background could have been worked into the story better, you would be going along on the story and suddenly there would be a chapter set in the past and it would give you insight on why a character was the way they were now. Once we were given the background the subject was dropped though and story picked right back up, it was a little confusing.

I kind of wonder if somewhere Wickham has some long elaborate back stories for all of these characters and she wanted to work some of it in, but couldn't work in all that she wanted. I found this development of characters and how they were developed to a different degrees nice in some scenes, but annoying in other parts. At times I needed more on some of the supporting characters, which would have helped with some of the supporting characters relationship with the main characters.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and feel like I learned something about character development from it. The book didn't turn me off Wickham as a writer as it seems to some people which is good. Glad I read it. (less)

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Nov 03, 2012 Mehdi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was alright, and in fact, the beginning hooked me in quite well. I think the most unfortunate thing in this book is that it built things up quite high, but then ran out of time and didn't offer any substantial resolutions to anything. I'm not entirely sure why Fleur was so embarrassed by Zara's father (other than being a mediocre American, which really shouldn't be the only reason) - the way things ended with Phillipa were particularly depressing considering that she was one of the characte...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Hsiau Wei rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Money or True Love are the theme used by the author in this book. It is rather easy to read and i managed to finished this book in two days ;) Fleur who trick mans for monetary gains at funeral and memorial services, a rather unusual way to find love. Her target is always those who grieve for their loved ones as it is rather easy for them to fell in love with the ones that cares and understand their feeling. Until she met Richard.

What started off as a scam, she soon found herself adapting to Ric...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Ally Atherton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book by Sophie Kinsella writing as Madeleine Wickham.

Well I said from the beginning of this challenge that I wanted to read a wide variety of genres and I have just read what some would call my first Chick Lit ! Now this book probably (obviously) wasn't written for a 40 year old bloke with a bald head who likes football and Newcastle Brown Ale drunk straight from the bottle. And so it was interesting to take a look at this particular kind of book from an aspiring (neurotic) writers point of vi...more

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Sep 05, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Madeleine Wickham, who is Sophie Kinsella's alter auteur....is wonderfully wicked and delirious in her sophisticated writing. I loved the rather adult style of "The Gatecrasher" as the main character transforms her life over the course of a calm yet collected journey. At its heart, this story really weighs in on one woman's swinging back and forth between two ways of life. Ultimately, she certainly has a lot to lose if he follows her head and much to gain if she listens to the pure pitter-patter...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Joyce rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: relaxing-reads, favourite-reads, reviewed-reads, chick-lit-reads

I really, really wanted to give this book 4 stars. If it weren't for the abrupt ending with the sooooo many loose ends which remain untied, I would have given this a much higher rating. The ending ruined EVERYTHING.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the fun, fluffy read. In fact, I was at times so absorbed by the storyline that I just couldn't put it down. Wickham gave all of her supporting characters good, solid and interesting backgrounds. Unfortunately, she failed to explore the full potential of...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit

I love Wickham books! More then Kinsella and they are they same person! I love that she writes under two different names because you can tell what kind of book it’s going to be by the name. I love when people do that and even more when for the most part, I enjoy (I can’t say like when it comes to Kinsella, because her books are pure crap, but I still enjoy them) all books under both names! How rare does that happen? Anyway, this book is about a women, who gatecrashes funerals in search of men wi...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: top-of-2012, 2012-reads

Thinking it was going to be light and fluffy, I was mildly surprised to find how well thought-out the story was. The characters had surprising depth, the premise of the book was intriguing, and I found myself simultaneously rooting for and against the protagonist.

Fleur Daxeny is a beautiful woman with an interesting way of earning a living: she charms the pants off of bereaved widowers, weaseling her way into their lives in order to get access to their credit cards and steal all she possibly ca...more

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Aug 21, 2009 Ella Perkins rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: summer-reading-2009

This book is about Fleur Daxeny. She is a “funeral crasher”. She goes to different funerals and picks up a guy who has to be rich. Then she will be with then till she gets a Gold Card (Credit Card), and will take out a few hundred pounds. After she gets all the money she will just leave and never speak to the man again. But after the Richard Favour’s wife’s funeral she decides to stick around. What is different?

In this book I noticed a text-to-text connection with the book, Cocktails For Three....more

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Apr 04, 2013 Shxrxn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If they attach more importance to your looks than your personality, then they're not worth having as friends .
- Anthony
Love, love love. As though it meant nothing; as though it weren't a sacrosanct word, a precious syllable, to be used sparingly.
- Gillian
She knew with a fierce certainty whom she loved, whom she had loved, whom she would always love. But in her adult life she had never uttered the word aloud.
- Gillian
Life was for living; happiness was for taking;
- Richard
If a man smiles, do it a...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Anne Toronto1 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The Gatecrasher", by Madeleine Wickham aka Sophie Kinsella, is glamourous vivacious ageless Fleur Daxeny, first accidentally propelled by a sudden rainshower into a funeral service and arms of rich elderly source of income, successfully continued. A mistake in America produced Zara, now near-anorexic 13, who kept "an accent she fondly believed was American" since the age of 6, and believes her (view spoiler)father is a cowboy.

Richard recentl...more

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Jul 08, 2012 PurplyCookie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, chick-lit

Armed with a closet full of designer black suits, the daily obituaries and a face that never betrays her 40 years, Fleur invades the funerals of the wealthy, enchantingly rich, grieving new widowers in need of a shoulder to cry on. Once captivated by her good looks and charm, these men provide her with money, a home, and an extravagant lifestyle for however long it takes her to stash a bit of cash and move on to the next.

She attends the memorial service of Emily Favour, whom she pretends was a...more Armed with a closet full of designer black suits, the daily obituaries and a face that never betrays her 40 years, Fleur invades the funerals of the wealthy, enchantingly rich, grieving new widowers in need of a shoulder to cry on. Once captivated by her good looks and charm, these men provide her with money, a home, and an extravagant lifestyle for however long it takes her to stash a bit of cash and move on to the next.

She attends the memorial service of Emily Favour, whom she pretends was a long-lost acquaintance, and promptly lures the good-hearted Richard Favour into her web. Although his troubled daughter, Phillipa, and her crafty husband, Lambert, suspect serious gold digging, Fleur's beauty and charm dazzle them, and soon she's invited to live at the family estate in Surrey.

What Fleur finds there is a gatecrasher's dream--a welcoming family, an accessible Gold Card and, after some snooping, a bank account worth millions. Even when Fleur's daughter, Zara, whom Fleur has neglected to mention, arrives unexpectedly from boarding school, the Favours make no fuss, welcoming the teen into the fold. As Fleur and Zara become comfortable with country club life, Fleur learns that she's not the only one scheming for Richard's money, and that Richard might not be as gullible as she thinks. But with Zara finally enjoying the stability of a real home, can Fleur leave so easily this time? If we root for Fleur to marry Richard and get away with her charade it is not because of any fondness for Fleur as a character, but rather a desire to see Richard and Zara spared any additional pain.

I am a fan of Sophie Kinsella's "Shopaholic" book series. This is the first have I have read under her other pen name Madeleine Wickham and it was quite disappointing. It's as though she ruthlessly buries any hint of the fun, hilarious, endearing characters she concocts as Kinsella in order to try out darker, more serious heroines.

That said, I just didn't enjoy Fleur. There was nothing redeeming about her. It's difficult to stick with a story when you don't like the individual who's eyes you must see through in the book. As other reviewers have stated, the story itself drags on and on for pages with nothing interesting happening. The ending was very open ended; the main character didn't seem to change at all or learn anything. There were also too many subplots and almost none of them were interesting.

The ending made me feel really bad for every single one of these characters and even worse that they never got to see through the gold-digger that Fleur is. As far as they are concerned, at the end she is still wonderful. While the truth is... she never was and she never will be.

Book Details:

Title The Gatecrasher
Author Madeleine Wickham
Reviewed By Purplycookie(less)

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Mar 03, 2012 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The thing is that i was really interested int he story and the characters of this novel.
Richard and his mysterious dead wife, Gillian and the life she gave up,l Philippa and her hideous awful marriage , Antony, poor little sweet Antony, with his boyish imperfections and insecurities, Crazy Zara and her obsession with her father and her faked American Accent.
I liked the plot and how easy it was to read ( not that that is a standard requirement of mine, but anyone who is a fan of this author prob...more

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Jul 12, 2010 Kari Anderson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you’ve ever seen Wedding Crashers, the part where Will Ferrell has turned into a funeral crasher, well that’s the life of Fleur. Fleur’s ultimate goal is to get the big bucks. To do that, she scours funerals, trying to find a widower who can support her life. She weasels her way in, gains their trust and runs of with their trust, money that is.

But this time, her daughter Zara has gotten involved and this may be her final go round.

I picked up this book because I loved every Sophie Kinsella boo...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Kaylee rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I didn't realize this book was from the late 90s. Oops. No biggie though. This is my first Wickham book, and I only just started reading Sophie Kinsella, so I saw it at Target and figured I'd give it a shot. The story seemed cute.

The only thing I really liked about it is was that it was in third person. And that's because I've been reading mostly first person lately, so it was nice to know what was going on in everyone's head. But that's about it.

The story was kind of disappointing.
I liked...more

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Feb 22, 2013 V H rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing

About a lady that goes to funerals and picks up wealthy men, it was really funny. The book focuses on one "job", Richard, and I really felt like I got to know all the characters in his family. The book is funny but at the same time quite sad and deep.

Richard sets out to learn more about his late wife after her memorial service, and it's interesting as the reader to also find out more about her.

I didn't like the ending of the book, I think it felt very rushed and it left so much unresolved. It'...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Cindy Veltman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

With the books from Madeleine (of Sophie) I have two things, or I can’t stop reading, or I don’t like it. This book was in between. This wasn’t a book I couldn’t stop reading in, it was a nice book, not spectacular, actually it was just a common book.
Maybe I thought that because of the things happening in the book. It was based on a woman who goes to funerals to get close to the widower so she can get money from him, before she goes to the next widower. The leading character Fleur was a person w...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Barbara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this up so that I could have a "fluffy book" to read over the holidays, one that I could just pick up and read without doing much thinking. It fit the bill.
However I found it was very slow -- at one point, I picked it up and was surprised to find that I was half-way through, despite the plot not having picked up much at all. I think the author was trying to do too many things at once, lay down too much character development and subplots -- and not very succinctly, frankly! -- and didn't...more

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About Madeleine Wickham

Madeleine Wickham (born 12 December 1969) is a bestselling British author under her pseudonym, Sophie Kinsella. Educated at New College, Oxford, she worked as a financial journalist before turning to fiction. She is best known for writing a popular series of chick-lit novels. The Shopaholic novels series focuses on the misadventures of Becky Bloomwood, a financial journalist who cannot manage her...more

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