I Owe You One

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella            AudioBook:12 hours, 22 mins      Hardback Book:  448 pages            Genre:   Adult Fiction   Romance                    Family Business,  Sibling Rivalry

Fixie Farr is the family fixer, hence where she got her nickname, “Fixie.”    Her fixing skills run from handyperson  type skills to soothing ruffled feathers of family and friends when conflicts come up.    She is kind beyond reason and does triple back flips for everyone except herself it seems.   She is a total pushover for her old boyfriend who treats her like a dog, is arrogant and demanding and goes out with anyone he feels like while stringing her along.    Her family owns a dry goods store that has been around long enough that every clerk knows every customer by name and the customers know the merchandise so well they let the staff know when stock is getting low.    It is a dependable shop with a steady clientele who come there for the down to earth goods that one uses in normal daily life.  When the family goes into shock mode after the death of Fixie’s father, Fixie’s Mom steps up and includes the Kids, Fixie and her sister and brother in carrying on the family tradition though Fixie’s brother has loftier goals and is always schmoozing with the muckity-mucks of society trying to worm his way in amongst them and her sister is caught up in her model friends,the New Age Movement, Reiki, Yoga and seems to live in a fog most of the time.    She always wheedles her way out of chores and anything she doesn’t want to do which is everything except her New Age pursuits.   With only Fixie being much help their mother quickly burns herself out trying to keep everything going as it all did when her husband was alive finally Mum literally keels over, her sister rushes in to sweep her away on a much needed rest then European holiday.  Mother leaves her adult adolescents to take charge of the store.   With the above mentioned personalities you can imagine the chaos to come.   Add a seldom seen Uncle who is put in charge to assist who is full of himself and full of **it.     Going for a wee respite from her problems, Fixie stops in her favorite coffee shop.   A handsome guy at another table is furiously working on his laptop when he gets a call on his cell.   He looks at the number and glancing around sees Fixie.   He says to her that he really needs to take the call would she mind keeping an eye on his laptop?  He’ll only be a few minutes.  Sure she will.   While the guy is outside the shop on his cell, a leak in the ceiling causes plaster to start falling, quick thinking, Fixie grabs the laptop in the nick of time and rescues it.   The guy is so happy she saved his derrier he grabs a coffee cup band, writes his name and number on it, includes his business card and hands it to Fixie.   The note reads, “I Owe You, One!”   He tries to buy her a meal but she bows out saying he didn’t owe her anything but he knows the value of the information on his laptop that would have been lost had she not saved it for him and assures her he owes her big time and will honor the I.O.U. for anything she would like.   The plot thickens.    A really good story with lots of fun characters.    I would definetly recommend this book to anyone who likes to laugh at great dialogue and story situations, who understands the siblings you love can sometimes get really close to that love/hate line, and how when you try to be too nice and make things easy for others they tend to forget you exist and the taking advantage of your good nature begins.    Well done, once again, Sophie Kinsella.   You hit it out of the park with this one, too.  You are a STAR!  J  I highly recommend all of Sophie Kinsella’s book, she is an easy author to become addicted to.

- Shirley J.