While Kinsella has promised to continue the best-selling disasters of Becky Bloom wood with a sixth Shopaholic book, it's most likely for the best that she is taking a breather from the credit-crunched crumpet. Indulging playful spending habits and glorifying sticker-shock apparel feels too rude right now.
But, as she has shown before with other titles, this is a chick-lit maven with more than one delightful modern-day heroine up her stylish sleeves.
In Twenties Girl, Kinsella manages to conjure a more grounded, less flibbertigibbet-y London-based working gal who is also worthy of BFF status. That the author does so with one of her more outlandish premises speaks to her strengths as a storyteller as she continues to tickle funny bones and touch hearts.
The plot goes Swayze-crazy à la Ghost when Lara Lington, a 27-year-old novice headhunter left in the lurch by both her dream beau and her best pal/business partner, is suddenly haunted by her just-deceased great-aunt Sadie.
Happening in the guise of the willful, party-hearty flapper she once was instead of her ancient withered self, Sadie demands that her grandniece track down her precious beaded necklace. She also is openly scornful of Lara's way of life — or lack thereof, especially in the story section.
