Book Summary: 

Everywhere Katie Brenner looks, someone else is living the life she longs for, particularly her boss, Demeter Farlowe. Demeter is brilliant and creative, lives with her perfect family in a posh townhouse, and wears the coolest clothes. Katie’s life, meanwhile, is a daily struggle—from her dismal rental to her oddball flatmates to the tense office politics she’s trying to negotiate. No wonder Katie takes refuge in not-quite-true Instagram posts, especially as she’s desperate to make her dad proud.

Then, just as she’s finding her feet—not to mention a possible new romance—the worst happens. Demeter fires Katie. Shattered but determined to stay positive, Katie retreats to her family’s farm in Somerset to help them set up a vacation business. London has never seemed so far away—until Demeter unexpectedly turns up as a guest. Secrets are spilled and relationships rejiggered, and as the stakes for Katie’s future get higher, she must question her own assumptions about what makes for a truly meaningful life.

Sophie Kinsella is celebrated for her vibrant, relatable characters and her great storytelling gifts. Now she returns with all of the wit, warmth, and wisdom that are the hallmarks of her bestsellers to spin this fresh, modern story about presenting the perfect life when the reality is far from the truth.

My Review:

If you ever want a book that reminds you to stop trying to “Keep Up With the Joneses” or to stop lusting after the lives you see on social media, this one is for you. My Not So Perfect Life teaches us to embrace the good AND the bad, the ups AND the downs because all of it is what makes life worth living. We shouldn’t hide the less than perfect moments, we should embrace them because they are a part of what makes us who we are.

All Katie (no Cat, it’s Cat!) wants is an Instagram perfect life – fine dining, extravagant weekends, successful career, and prestige. Instead, she has to settle for a low-level associate job, a flat with two roommates who are either trying to shag her or could care less she exists, no friends, and no money. Despite it all, she is determined to be Cat (not Katie!), successful Londoner who will eventually make the life she pretends to have on Instagram a reality. Until then, she will live vicariously through her extraordinary boss Demeter. This woman has it all! She’s gorgeous, she’s the best in the industry, handsome husband, jaw dropping house, and a social life that would put a Kardashian to shame. When Cat finally gets an opportunity to speak with Demeter alone, she ultimately gets the advice she believes she will need to succeed in the world of branding and marketing. Ready to put her best foot forward, and with a few pieces of advice from her unexpected encounter with a “too beautiful to be a partner of the firm” Alex, Cat takes on her father’s latest project, heading the branding and marketing to make his glamping dream a reality. Proud of what she has created, Cat believes this is what she needs to finally be noticed by Demeter, only to be fired! Devastated and desperate, Cat finds herself back in Somerset under false pretenses but it’s fine, as long as she keeps up the lie until she gets her life back on track, there is no harm in a little deception to prevent stress to her family (and humiliation), right?

Katie is so determined to be Cat that she takes for granted the few achievements that she has made in life and where she has come from. She drops her accent because people are making fun her (instead of owning it). She changes her looks because she is so desperate to fit in (instead of embracing her uniqueness). She shapes, molds, and twists everything about her personality so she can be what she believes is the perfect Londoner! It’s sad because if she just took a step back, she would see that the woman she idolizes is an absolute mess, the co-worker she is desperate to be friends with still lives at home and is more child than grown-woman, and she has direction – unlike her roommate and his next get rich quick scheme. But she can’t see that, she can only see that her life isn’t Instagram quality, to be envied by everyone else. Worst off, when she finally does do something that should make her proud and is Instagram ideal – she is too embarrassed to embrace it!

The immense amount of growth Katie made throughout the story was extraordinary. What made it even more significant was the one person in her life who was deemed the “wander” was the one to give her the perspective she needed. When Katie finally took a step back, took off the rose colored lenses and realized how people bend, twist, and mold the perception of others, she was suddenly able to see that she was chasing a fake dream, a filtered perfection that didn’t exist in real life. The people she envied, the lives she craved, none of it was as it seemed and the one thing she spent her whole life running from was the gateway to everything she wanted. When she FINALLY laid Cat to rest and fully embodied the powerhouse that was Katie, she was unstoppable.

The book itself was hysterical. The shenanigans she pulled with Demeter on the farm where priceless. I still can’t stop laughing about the rooftop incident with her and Alex! There were so many moments of joy but just as many moments of introspection. The idea of understanding that is ok to want, ok to envy, but be realistic about those we choose to emulate.

Like most of Kinsella’s books, you don’t dive into these pages expecting romance and swoon-filled moments. You prepare yourself for the most eye opening, thought provoking, enlightening experience that her words always ignite. I never fail to walk away from her books with an incredible and uplifting perspective on life and invigorated to continue my journey.