I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella

I have an embarrassing confession to make. I have been thinking Sophie Kinsella wrote those nonsense Bridget Jones books and I would always dismiss reading her books, but she didn't actually wrote Bridget Jones, someone named Helen Fielding did, and I've been holding this grudge for no reason.

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella is the story of Fixie, a woman who works at her family's store and lives with her infuriating family when she meets Seb at a coffee shop when she saves his laptop from certain destruction. Meanwhile, her old flame, Ryan, comes back into town and Fixie arranges it so that Ryan starts a job with Seb.  

Interesting characters: I like Fixie. She reminds me of what I was like in my early 20s, full of bad decisions and desiring the wrong men. Ryan is a douche, but I definitely cried over plenty of less than quality men in my 20s. Seb is boring, but aren't we all secretly looking for a boring man? I don't think these characters are interesting in any real well, but they are realistic. 

Believable conflict: Oh, it's all about bad communication, isn't it? I guess that's life, but it doesn't make for a particularly riveting read when you know that it will all be sorted out with a decent conversation. The conflict among Fixie's family members is much more realistic and fascinating, if you ask me. Running a family business when there are managerial and staffing changes would be quite tough, I think. I think that if your family had such divergent personalities and priorities, it would ramp up that difficulty. Kinsella did a great job of showing how miscommunication would work with that set-up and it was much more fleshed out than the romantic relationship.

Emotional tension: The meet-cute was amazing. I thought that scene was precious. Other than that, there's something easy breezy about Kinsella's writing, but it's not writing that invests you in the emotions of the characters.  I guess there was some tension between Seb and Fixie, but I was so much more interested in the family storyline that I think a lot of that tension went over my head.

Happily ever after: It's another book I read and I'm convinced that our lead would probably be better off without the guy. I think Seb is great and he'll be a great partner for someone who isn't Fixie.  These two won't last more than a couple of years.  

It's not a bad book. It's a quick, easy read, but it's not going to turn the genre of romance on its head any time soon.  Also, maybe I should give Kinsella's more popular books a chance!