I've Got Your Number Discussion

[Dlmrose, Moderator Emeritus]

This is the discussion thread for the Summer 2012 Group Read I've Got Your Number. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

[Sheila]

I listened to the audiobook of this and loved it. The narrator's quirkiness really enhanced the book. I wasn't very far into the book before I pretty much figured out how it would end. That was pretty predictable. The character of Poppy reminded me of Stephanie Plum with a British accent. I really liked how Poppy would answer a question with one answer and then you could hear what she REALLY wanted to say.

[Emma]

I thought this was a pretty fun book. If it weren't for the fact that this was a beach read, I would have thought there was something going to go horribly wrong with Poppy's encounter Sam. Overall, it was a really fun summer read.

[Deedee]

The perfect chick-lit novel! The heroine is in her twenties (OK, 29), lives in an urban area, and has 2 guys vying for her attention. Novel ends (is this really a spoiler?) happily for the heroine. Modern day text messaging propels the plot. It's also FUNNY, more so than most chick-lit books. Recommended for when you are looking for something lightweight but amusing to read.

[Meera]

I've read two other books by this author; so I knew going in that it would be most likely be light, fun and romantic. And it was exactly that. I did wish that the book had a little bit more depth but then that would be a different book I suppose.

[Lindsey]

hehehe. im going to be in the minority here, i can tell:
i GREATLY disliked this book. I was trying to give chick-lit a second chance and it only confirmed that i REALLY dont like chick-lit.
The main character lies, cheats, steals, and deceives throughout the entire book. There is not once 'scene' where she was an honest woman with integrity and grace. She kept putting herself in situations where she was in over her head, but she just lied and kept on going! she is rude, she breaks the law, she is scatterbrained and unorganized.. why would i want to real a book where women are portrayed this way? i could go on and on.
im glad i read this book so i can steer clear of chick lit forever. women are not airheads who lie and steal to get what they want. and not every woman has to have a man in her life to be happy.
phew.
glad thats all out.

[Connie]

I've Got Your Number is light, romantic, and funny, and reminded me of a crazy sitcom. Don't expect any realism or anything serious, but hopefully you'll be laughing all through the book like I was. Poppy Wyatt's hair may be darker but she's the kind of woman that "blond jokes" are written about. Many of the humorous events in the book involve text messaging and e-mailing. It's a cute book to read on the beach, or as a break from more serious reading.

[Joyce]

I agree with Lindsey here. The female protagonist is definitely portrayed as a very shallow and superficial character here. Although I enjoyed the fun read, I do not like her many pretensions when around her fiance. If you can't even be comfortable being yourself in front of the man you're going to spend the rest of your life with, you must be exceptionally good at self-deception to delude yourself into that marriage...

[Laurie]

This isn't my usual style of book and I've tried another of her books and couldn't get into it at all, but I really enjoyed this one. I don't mind that the heroine is a bit shallow and manilipulative, she fun and daring also. Having the book based on lots of e-mails and texting makes the book full of laughs especially when the hero is such a male about them and never answers unless backed into a corner.

[Abbie]

I really enjoyed this book. I love most of the things that Kinsella writes, you don't have to think to much, but its romantic and cute. I like how everything fell together, predictable but still fun. I think my favorite part is that Poppy beat herself up about not being "smart enough" but then talks it out with his mom, its all about perception.

[Stacie]

I have pretty much enjoyed every Sophie Kinsella book that I've read, so it's so real surprise that I enjoyed this one as well! Is it a literary masterpiece, no, but it sure is good fluffy fun!!

[Regan]

I've loved some of the other "chick lit" I've read including lots of Marian Keyes and Helen Fielding's Cause Celeb. Cause Celeb may be one of the funniest things I've ever read, but that may also be that I was working as a relief worker at the time, too.

However, I read Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret? a couple years ago and just couldn't connect with the main character who kept making illogical decisions. Kinsella forced these things on her character to keep the plot moving in the direction she wanted, but it didn't make sense to me. Her "Shopaholic" books are so popular, so I've been wanting to try another of her books. Hopefully, it will be good!

[Jennifer]

This book made me laugh out loud so much! I haven't read a chick-lit book in a very long time, but this one is definitely great! Why yes, the ending is totally predictable, but I found there to still be moments of surprise LOL. This is my first Sophie Kinsella book, but I have a feeling I am going to be picking up more of her in the future. Love it!

[Dlmrose, Moderator Emeritus]

This book was fun, and definitely a change from some very heavy books I've read recently. The footnotes were a highlight for me.

[KSMary]

I was looking forward to reading any of this season's group reads so this one was sort of the best out of the worst sort of choices for me. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I actually did enjoy this book. I don't normally read chick-lit or what I perceive to be chick-lit. I thought it was cute and Poppy was quirky.

[Stacie]

Dlmrose wrote: "This book was fun, and definitely a change from some very heavy books I've read recently. The footnotes were a highlight for me."

I loved the footnotes too!

[KarenF]

Like others I thought this was a fun read. I haven't read any real chick-lit in ages. I think I got burned out on it in the post-Bridget Jones heyday. But I thought this was cute and funny and I appreciated that there weren't pages and pages about shoes and shopping. I mean, I like shoes and shopping as much as the next girl but with some of those books it got to be too much for me.

I was going along liking it just fine but the ending really cemented my enjoyment. I'm a sucker for the Big Romantic Gesture in books. (view spoiler)[So the texting everyone at the wedding to stop it really worked for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Sandy, Moderator Emeritus]

I too thought it was a fun read - not my usual sort of book, but I had fun reading it. It reminded me a lot of some of the Nickelodeon shows that my kids used to watch, in which the characters would get into ridiculous situations - you knew it would all come out all right in the end and you knew that all these things would probably not ever happen in real life, but it was silly and fun to see how they'd get to where you knew they were going to end up.

Not a book for re-reading or requiring deep thought or a blueprint for life- but not everything has to be. Sometimes, popcorn is just the thing!

[Donna Jo]

I haven't read Kinella or any other books of that ilk for several years, so I hadn't built up an immunity to the chick lit annoyance factor, but it didn't matter with I've Got Your Number.
Actually, this was a perfect book to break a string of "serious tomes" that I had been reading. Kinsella caught the screwball comedy angle quite well in this one and made me think about casting for a movie (which is rediculous, since I never go to movies and all the actors & actresses I recognize are old or dead).

[Rebecca NJ]

Having been a Kinsella fan since day one, it was no surprise that I was looking forward to reading her latest. This was a great light reading and a nice break away from my normal life. While it was predictable (as most chick-lit books are), I always look forward to seeing how it all ties together in the end. I think the addition of foot-notes in this book made it a little more interesting read and it is always nice to hear what the character really thinks of the situation she's in.

[Taryn (ijustlovethisbook)]

I've read a couple other Kinsella books - liked a few of them, couldn't finish others. This is definitely my favorite book by her though. While it was a little unbelievable that a hot-shot would allow some random stranger to keep and use a cell phone she found in a garbage can, I loved watching their relationship evolve via text message. It was an absolutely perfect summer read!

[Soelo]

I had not read much in the way of a synopsis when I started reading this book, but I knew that the third part of the love triangle had shown up when he was described as having "rumpled hair"! It's a bit cliche. Otherwise, this was a solid story with a bit too much wackiness. I think it would have been fine if that had been toned down a bit, especially at the end.

[Kathy G.]

I've not read much "chic-lit" but this was really fun and funny. I found myself laughing out loud. I've been a long time I Love Lucy fan and this was hilarious. I had great fun reading it, and was glad she did not marry that scum Magnus. What a shallow creep.

[Bluemoon]

This was not my favoite Kinsella. It was a bit far fetched at times but I did find myself laughing out loud at other points. I also wish that the characters had been developed a bit more.

[TMBookluvr]

While Kinsella is not my favorite author, I thought this was a good book. I like her because they are usually quick reads, but I don't like her because sometimes I feel that she portrays her women characters as a bit flippant. This was a cute book though, a quick read.

[Sam]

I really enjoyed this book. I think I have pretty much read all of Sophie Kinsella's books & whilst I enjoyed most of the Shopperholic series this is probably my favourite book she has written so far. It has me laughing out loud & even if it was a little predictable it was a fun quicke read.

[Regan]

Cute, charming, predictable rom-com. Decent beach read. But not as howlingly funny as most Marian Keyes. Great narration by Jayne Entwistle in the audiobook version. She's definitely one to look for in other things.

[Ms.soule]

I listened to this on CD at work and now everyone else in my room wants to read it because I kept laughing so hard. There were moments that were almost too embarrassing and/or frustrating to keep reading (like Poppy's first visit with everyone to the church or the dinner with in-laws where she opened the wrong gift), but the perfection of that first Beyonce moment got me through them and to the rest of the good stuff (pretty much any scene with Sam).

[Michelle]

Sheila wrote: "I listened to the audiobook of this and loved it. The narrator's quirkiness really enhanced the book. I wasn't very far into the book before I pretty much figured out how it would end. That was ..."

I agree! The narrator was amazing and I'm not entirely certain that I would have enjoyed the book quite as much if I hadn't listened to the Audiobook. Because like everyone else, there were times when Poppy was just annoying in her daftness, but really I found it all quite funny.

And I also agree with a few of you; the footnotes were awesome. They read like someone was actually just writing in their diary as opposed to a novelist.

This book reminded me of Hens Dancing: A Novel and Summertime. Very funny and enjoyable! A lovely switch from the mass amounts of young adult dystopia I've been reading lately. :)

[Bea]

I did not expect to like this book, and I only read it as it was the one first available at the library.

As a general rule, I am not into chic lit, which I had classified this as; but, the humor and situations drew me in. It turned out that I enjoyed the read a lot and will consider another Kinsella book in the future.

[Sarah]

I enjoyed the different story line in this book. It was a nice, quick read. You can figure out fairly early what will happen, but still very good. It's one of those stories that has you yelling at the book "no, don't do it," etc.

[Turtlecollector Dennis]

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun, light read although sometimes I got impatient with the characters. The interactions with the mixed up phone was do funny, but I kept thinking that the end could have been resolved a lot quicker.

[Heather (Heatso)]

I own quite a few Sophie Kinsella books but this was actually the first I have read, and of course its not even one that I own. My brain thinks I'm way more into chick lit books then I actually am, I see a cute cover and I'm like ooo I need to have that, when in reality I can only read them so often. That being said I enjoyed this more then I expected, and barely rolled my eyes. It was a cute fun read that has made me want to dig out some of her other books.

[Kate S]

This certainly was a light, easy read. It was not something I ever would have picked out for myself, but exposure to a variety of books is a big part of why I participate in this challenge. I didn't exactly enjoy this book, but I didn't hate it either.

[Angie]

I thought this was one was really cute. I didn't like the first half, but the second half was great.

[❉⊰Gayle⊱❉]

This was a fun read. I was involved in a conference and this was a good book to read to help alleviate the stress. And, I enjoyed it!

[Sarah]

When I started reading this book I thought, oh no this is going to be awful. I didn't particularly care for the main character at first and found her to be a little spacey and self involved. As the book went on I couldn't stop reading and thinking about the characters (Although I guessed what happened as it is like almost every other chick lit/ girly movie I have read/watched). It was a quick read but I definitely ended up enjoying it, cheering for the characters and smiling a lot by the end. Would be a good chick movie for sure! :-)

[Katy]

I was not necessarily thrilled by this choice, but it seemed like the best of three. However -- I was VERY pleasantly surprised! I listened to this on an audiobook and it was funny, well-performed as an audiobook, and all in all quite enjoyable, even though the final conclusion (Poppy and Sam ending up together) was reeeeeaaaallly predictable. Sometimes you just want a good predictable story :)

My favorite scene was the dinner scene when Poppy opened Wanda's lingerie by mistake. After all, if I'm having a bad day, at least I am not wearing my future mother-in-law's underwear!

[Karen Michele]

I was also pleasantly surprised by the book, because I don't read chick lit as a general rule. I liked it because the audio was well done and it was definitely laugh out loud funny a lot of the time which made it worth it. If I need to fit in another chick lit type book for a challenge, I will probably stick with Kinsella.

[Sarah]

I've never read Kinsella before and I don't read a ton of chick-lit, but this seemed like a good choice for the Group Reads option. Basically, it was what I expected. The premise is absolutely ridiculous and the whole plot plays out predictably, but it's funny and an engaging read. I enjoyed the footnotes as well. What can I say - I'm a sucker for a rom-com.

[Jill Renee]

Readerboard Name: Jill Renee

This is probably too late to count for my Summer 2012 challenge, but still wanted to post for the "Group Reads" option. I read this book when I just needed to turn off my brain and I really enjoyed it. While the story was a little ridiculous and would never happen in real life, I couldn't stop reading and was thoroughly entertained until the end. It would make for a very cute girly movie to enjoy with your friends.