books i love so much that I give them as gifts too

Book

Can You Keep a Secret?

by Sophie Kinsella

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life comes a novel with the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism as her beloved Shopaholic series. “Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger on the cultural pulse, while leaving me giddy with laughter.”—Jojo Moyes, author of The Giver of Stars and The Last Letter from Your Lover Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her boyfriend: I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger. . . . But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse. Or could they? Praise for Can You Keep a Secret? “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. . . . Kinsella’s down-to-earth protagonist is sure to have readers sympathizing and doubled over in laughter.”—Publishers Weekly “If laughing out loud in public places is your bag, be sure to pick up [Can You Keep a Secret?]. Heroine Emma Corrigan is going to be your new best friend.”—Boston Herald “Kinsella’s timing is so perfect, her instincts so spot-on, that it’s easy to . . . devour the book like the guilty pleasure it is.”—Miami Herald “Chick lit at its lightest and breeziest . . . filled with fabulous clothes, stalwart friends, and snotty enemies waiting to be taken down a peg.”—Orlando Sentinel “[Kinsella’s] dialogue is sharp, even her minor characters are well drawn, and her parody of the marketing world is very funny.”—Washington Post Book World “[A] comedic frenzy of ill-fated events . . . punchy . . . fast-moving.”—Rocky Mountain News

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Book

Something Borrowed

by Emily Giffin

In this "New York Times" bestselling novel, a woman wakes up the day after her 30th birthday to find her best friend's fianc in her bed.

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Book

Confessions of a Shopaholic

by Sophie Kinsella

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life comes “a hilarious tale . . . hijinks worthy of classic I Love Lucy episodes . . . too good to pass up.” (USA Today) “Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger on the cultural pulse, while leaving me giddy with laughter.”—Jojo Moyes, author of The Giver of Stars and The Last Letter from Your Lover Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London’s trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season’s must-haves. The only trouble is, she can’t actually afford it—not any of it. Her job writing at Successful Saving magazine not only bores her to tears, it doesn’t pay much at all. And lately Becky’s been chased by dismal letters from the bank—letters with large red sums she can’t bear to read. She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Her only consolation is to buy herself something . . . just a little something. Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life—and the lives of those around her—forever. Praise for Sophie Kinsella and Confessions of a Shopaholic “Kinsella’s Bloomwood is plucky and funny. . . . You won’t have to shop around to find a more winning protagonist.”—People “If a crème brûlée could be transmogrified into a book, it would be Confessions of a Shopaholic.”—The Star-Ledger “A have-your-cake-and-eat-it romp, done with brio and not a syllable of moralizing. . . . Kinsella has a light touch and puckish humor.”—Kirkus Reviews

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Shopaholic Ties the Knot

by Sophie Kinsella

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life . . . “Sophie Kinsella keeps her finger on the cultural pulse, while leaving me giddy with laughter.”—Jojo Moyes, author of The Giver of Stars and The Last Letter from Your Lover Life has been good to Becky Bloomwood: She’s become the top personal shopper at Barneys and she’s living happily with her boyfriend, Luke, in Manhattan’s West Village. But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare? Not that she’s been thinking about marriage (or diamonds) or anything. Then Luke proposes! Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding: Becky’s overjoyed mother—who has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum’s frilly old gown; and her high-society soon-to-be mother-in-law—who insists on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza. Both weddings, on separate continents, on the same day . . . and Becky can’t seem to turn down either one. Can everyone’s favorite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unravels? Praise for Sophie Kinsella and Shopaholic Ties the Knot “Kinsella has a genuine gift for comic writing.”—The Boston Globe “Witty and hilarious.”—Cosmopolitan (U.K.) “Another entertaining entry in Kinsella’s unabashedly fluffy Shopaholic series . . . chock-full of the charming antics and asides that made the first two installments hilarious best-sellers.”—Booklist “Kinsella’s Bloomwood is plucky and funny. . . . You won’t have to shop around to find a more winning protagonist.”—People

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Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

by Sophie Kinsella

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher and Love Your Life . . . “[Sophie] Kinsella’s Bloomwood is plucky and funny. . . . You won’t have to shop around to find a more winning protagonist.”—People With her shopping excesses (somewhat) in check and her career as a TV financial guru thriving, Becky Bloomwood’s biggest problem seems to be tearing her entrepreneur boyfriend, Luke, away from work for a romantic country weekend. That is, until Luke announces he’s moving to New York for business—and he asks Becky to go with him! Before you can say “Prada sample sale,” Becky has landed in the Big Apple, home of Park Avenue penthouses and luxury department stores. Surely it’s only a matter of time until Becky becomes an American celebrity. She and Luke will be the toast of Gotham society. Nothing can stand in their way, especially with Becky’s bills an ocean away in London. But then an unexpected disaster threatens her career prospects, her relationship with Luke, and her available credit line. Becky may have taken Manhattan—but will she have to return it? Praise for Sophie Kinsella and Shopaholic Takes Manhattan “A laugh-a-minute read.”—Glamour (U.K.) “Faster than a swiping Visa, more powerful than a two-for-one coupon, able to buy complete wardrobes in a single sprint through the mall—it’s Shopaholic!”—The Washington Post “Kinsella has a genuine gift for comic writing.”—The Boston Globe

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Book

Shopaholic & Sister

by Sophie Kinsella

Returning to London after her ten-month honeymoon, Becky Bloomwood Brandon finds herself depressed by a lack of money, a search for a job, and her best friend Suze's new best friend, until she discovers that she has a long lost sister.

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Book

Something Blue

by Emily Giffin

Her belief in the power of beauty shattered when her fiancé dumps her for a plain woman, a pregnant Darcy flees to London and struggles to rebuild her glamorous life before realizing that her past methods no longer work.

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Book

Everything You Pretend to Know and Are Afraid Someone Will Ask

by Lynette Padwa

You can fool some of the people all of the time—but wouldn’t you rather really know what you’re talking about? Why are conservatives on the “right” and liberals on the “left”? What is an archetype? Most people drop these and other cultural references in conversation all the time without really knowing much about them. But with this witty, information-packed book, you can quickly bone up on the actual facts behind the multitude of data, events, and words that come at you each day—and that you’ve been casually bandying about without really understanding. Here are invaluable explanations of a wide range of topics that are assumed to be common knowledge, from deciphering newsspeak (What is a spin doctor?) to psychobabble (What’s the difference between the ego and the id?) to cyberlingo (What is cyberlingo?); from the supposedly obvious (What makes cholesterol good or bad?) to the deceptively simple (What is a formula race car?). Perfect as a quick reference tool, for browsing, or simply for sharing impressive, newfound knowledge with family and friends, this handbook will endow you with genuine cultural literacy in just a few hours of fun-filled reading.

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