The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

I listened to the first three-quarters of this as an audiobook, then finished it via the print version. It’s very light, as you would expect from the author of the Shopaholic series. But it’s funny, and kind of endearing. Kinsella is a better writer than the average chick lit purveyor. She writes good dialogue, and has some clever plot ideas.

If you liked any of the Shopaholic series you’ll probably like this. I really did enjoy the first two in that series (Confessions of a Shopaholic, and Shopaholic Abroad) but it was seriously downhill from there. I didn’t finish the third one, and didn’t bother with the rest of the series. I think Kinsella was just phoning it in by that time. Apparently a Shopaholic movie is coming.

Added later: It occurs to me that I didn't even say a word of what this book is about. A young woman attorney in London makes a serious error, costing her her long-awaited partnership at her prestigious firm. In disgrace, she takes a job as a housekeeper and finds happiness in the kitchen, and in the arms of the hunky gardener. She also uncovers financial malfeasance at her old firm and gets her revenge on the jerks who fired her. It's kind of an antifeminist/ feminist two-headed monster. At times I felt the urge to protest some of the retrograde plot elements but I couldn't summon the energy. I think I kept getting distracted by that hunky gardener.

(Book 33, 2008)