Reading with Archuleta: [REVIEW] I've Got Your Number

I’m glad it was your phone I picked up.
So am I.
It’s been good. Weird but good.
Weird but good would sum it up, yes. :)

Title: I’ve Got Your Number

Author: Sophie Kinsela

Publisher: The Dial Press

Year: 2012

Format: E-book (English)

ISBN: 978-0-679-64468-2
I rate it 3.5/5 stars

The world seems going to an end for Poppy Wyatt. Her life changes in one day. She lost her engagement ring. It’s very precious thought it’s the family ring of Tavishes. She’s very afraid Marcus will be mad about this! Not only lost her precious engagement ring, she also lost her phone. In that day, a man has stolen her phone. It’s driving her nuts. Her phone is everything for her. It means a lot. It means her world! The worst thing of all, tonight she will come to the Tavishes house, to meet her prospective in-laws (the second time after the engagement) and she lost her ring! How come? They will hate her more, anyway!

I’ve lost the ring. The Tavishes don’t want me to marry Magnus. My mobile is gone. I feel like all my security blankets have been snatched, all at once. –Poppy

Being perplexed by everything happened that day, she suddenly hears a voice from a bin not far from her. That’s a ringtone! Someone has just thrown the phone on that bin. Poppy, who lost her phone, takes the phone immediately. She needs it! She needs it to make the contact to all people who are finding her ring.

“Wait!” The man’s voice follows me through the receiver. “That phone. It’s my PA’s.”
“Well, she shouldn’t have thrown it away, then,” I retort, pushing the glass doors open. “Finders keepers.”

Not long after that, somebody keeps calling to that phone she got from bin. It’s Sam Roxton, a man who works for White Globe Consulting. And it’s his personal assistant (PA)’s phone. He wants that phone back! But then, Poppy is doing something at that time which makes him owe her once. And she keeps telling him that she needs that phone. She promises she will forward everything for him. In short, it’s no longer becoming their phone. They share every single text they approved.

Sam’s text messages are randomly mixed up with mine, which feels weird too. All side by side; all touching one another. I’ve never shared an inbox with anyone in my life. I didn’t expect it to feel so… intimate. It’s as if we’re suddenly sharing an underwear drawer or something. –Poppy

Honestly, I’ve never read Kinsela’s novel before, until this time. Yeah.. I admit that I never read Shopaholic’s series, but I do love the movie. Last time I really wanted to read Shopaholic’s series, but then I found myself is too lazy to read them. Now, I finally read Kinsela’s novel after I forced myself to read. And.. I end up loving this novel!

It’s quite comforting, having this virtual conversation through the ether with someone who doesn’t know Magnus or me, or anybody. –Poppy

The idea of sharing the phone is interesting. How come you share your inbox with stranger? In this novel I found it’s totally weird but sweet at the same time. I love Poppy and Sam sharing their inbox. I love the way they know each other. Through inbox! Poppy is snooping the whole inbox of Sam’s. And so is Sam.

I’m beginning to learn how he works. It’s like he has an on switch and an off switch. And he only flips the on switch when he can be bothered. –Poppy

I look out and see Sam walking swiftly along the pavement, his face impassive, almost stony. –Poppy

I’m totally in love with their conversation—it’s fun and ludicrous and some of them make me giggling. Especially with Sam. *I’m a girl and it’s normal if I love this lovely guy* You’re insane if you’re not falling in love with Sam. Yeah, he’s bossy at first. He answers messages or e-mail with one or two word/s. Sometimes he doesn’t reply them. And with no emoticon. -__- I’m sad to know that, Sam. But, after knowing him in the next-next pages, I notice that he’s a very kind-hearted man, lovely, helpful, (yes he's a lil' bit highflyer, too), smart, and he’s definitely a good-listener. I wonder if there’s a man like him in this real world. *imagining Sam with his gorgeous smile then giggling*

“But you know what I saw when I read yours?”
“No.” I scowl at him. “And I don’t want to know.”
“I saw a girl who races to help others but doesn’t help herself. And right now you need to help yourself. No one should walk up the aisle feeling inferior or in a different league or trying to be something they’re not…”

“And anyway,” I continue, lifting my chin nobly, “whoever it was, whether I knew them or not, if I could help in some way, I would. I mean, if you can help, you have to help. Don’t you think?”

Poppy’s characteristics are so well-built by Kinsela—just like Sam’s. She really loves helping people that she almost forgot herself, her priority. She’s ordinary, fun, and yeah.. she’s just Poppy. The girl who always performs herself just the way she is. Yes, it is. But not when she confronts Tavishes. She becomes someone else just to be accepted by them. Oh, come on. They’re human, just like you. No need to feel you’re in ‘different-league’ with them. No need to feel inferior. Nor wishing yourself were a dentist so then you would have something smart to talk about. Thing I hate from Poppy is she keeps saying “If I could go back in time, ...”. I don’t know how much she says it. More than twice, or more-more-more than twice. I didn’t count it.

And I hate Magnus and all Tavishes. Are they nuts? They have a ‘hard’ conversation whenever they with Poppy like they have a debate. Look at these two!

“What’s your view on the cultural response to anthropomorphism? From a young woman’s perspective?” –Wanda

“Unspeakable.” Wanda looks up from where she’s scribbling. “Why do people fly? Why?”
I’m not sure if she’s expecting an answer or not.
“Um… for holidays and stuff—”
“I’ve already started making notes for a paper on the subject,” Wanda interrupts me. “‘The Migration Impulse.’ Why do humans feel compelled to pitch themselves across the globe? Are we following the ancient migratory paths of our ancestors?”
“Have you read Burroughs?” Antony says to her, with interest. “Not the book; the PhD thesis.”

Hello.. it’s not an interview of seeking job or formal meeting anymore. It’s your dinner with the-girl-who-is-gonna-marry-your-son!!!! Take a simple conversation, please.. like how are you, what’s your favorite food, and all usual things that do make sense. At least, it will bring a very friendly atmosphere, not an eerie atmosphere like that. Poppy feels fucking inferrior, you know, Wanda! I’m so exasperated with this ‘superior-IQ-family’!

I once found a fossilized boiled egg in a spare-room bed, still in its egg cup, with a desiccated toast soldier. It must have been about a year old. –Poppy

Other thing that makes me hate Tavishes is their house looks like a pigsty. How come they never do such things—sweep the floor, make everything’s tidy and in the right place? Are they human-being? I know they are so busy with paper or anything like that. But, they should be have some time to clean the house! I’m not an allergic to a mess, anyway. And I often clean my room. But still, I’m doing it—make it clean and tidy especially when the semester goes to an end. Well.. it’s just.. it doesn’t make sense there’s human being loves to be in a very messy place—can I say it’s like a pigsty again?

About the ending, I do believe Sam will be with Poppy. Just saying. This is chick-lit. The story will always end that way, right? XD The thing which makes one chick-lit is different from the other chick-lit is they have their own style in mixing the problem, how to solve, and the way writer recites the story. I love Sophie Kinsela’s writing. *starts from now, LOL* The reason why do I love this is: I feel the world of Poppy and Sam. Whenever they talk to each other, I forget about Magnus and Poppy’s wedding. Magnus is so faaaaar away. Idk why. I just.. think that the atmosphere between Sam and Poppy is alive. The chemistry between them. Their feelings are grown easily and in sequence. Good job, Sophie Kinsela! Now, I wanna read the other yours! Someday, I don't know when exactly. :p