Saturday, March 6, 2010

"Twenties Girl" and Caoba Margaritas

I picked up "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella at the library last month. I have enjoyed Kinsella's books, the "Shopaholic Series" and my favorite "The Undomestic Goddess" have been favorites of mine.
"Twenties Girl" starts off like most of Kinsella's previous novels: young woman, down on her luck in the big city, dead end job, broke up with boyfriend, and trying to find love in all the wrong places. Kinsella introduces us to Lara Lingston,a lively twenty-something, and Sadie, Lara's very dead, but still lively great aunt who can't rest until her beloved necklace is returned to her.

Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?
When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie–a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance–mysteriously appears, she has one last request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, and Sadie cannot rest without it. Lara, on the other hand, has a number of ongoing distractions. Her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, her start-up company is floundering, and she’s just been dumped by the “perfect” man.
Sadie, however, could care less.
Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from each other along the way. Written with all the irrepressible charm and humor that have made Sophie Kinsella’s books beloved by millions,
Twenties Girl is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family.

While the novel played out how one would expect, it wasn't as cheesy as I thought it was going to be. It wasn't some deep earth moving novel but rather a funny light hearted read. It was bit sappy in parts, funny and humorous with just a touch of mystery, along with a sweet love story thrown in for good measure.
What I enjoyed most about "Twenties Girl" was the portrayal of Sadie. As a 105 year old woman, Sadie was a decrepit old woman, living in a nursing home after she suffered a stroke. As a ghost, Sadie was an energetic twenty something, who loved music, dancing and "barney mugging and wanted reassurance that she did leave her mark on the world. The reader and Lara saw Sophie for who she was internally- a fun loving girl, not who she was externally.

Mr C. and I went to Caoba one afternoon for lunch while searching the Wicker Park/Bucktown area for an apartment. One of our main requirements for our new home is that it must be within walking distance of a good Mexican Restaurant. Our critera for said restaurant

1. Awesome margartias
2. Great Carne Asada
3.Delicious Flan

Since the purpose of this blog is to find the great margarita, i won't bore you with the details of our lunch but rather our margarita.
It tasted like candy-like a sweet apple jolly rancher, not at all tangy and limey. It was good, but not great, not nearly enough tequila to compensate for the $22 price tag the pitcher carried. Would I go again? Most likely, everything else was delicious, but I would avoid their house margarita.




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