I've Got Your Number is the newest novel by Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author of the Shopaholic series. The story begins when Poppy Wyatt, the protagonist, loses her very expensive wedding ring during lunch at a hotel. The ring also happens to be a very valuable family heirloom.
As bad luck should have it, on the same night Poppy's cell phone gets stolen. Having given her number to all hotel personnel in case they find her ring, she flips out until she comes across a discarded cell phone in the garbage bin of the hotel's lobby; and this is where the story begins.
The discarded phone is company property and its former owner, Sam Roxton, wants it back. But Poppy can't live without a phone lest anyone finds her ring and tries to contact her. So as an agreement, Poppy and Sam decide to share the phone until a better solution comes up. She agrees on forwarding all incoming emails and texts, but being nosy by nature, she ends up reading most of the communication meant to go directly to Sam.
Poppy begins passing judgement on Sam for his curt replies and crude manner; so taking things a bit further she begins sending emails to company employees under Sam's name. The debacles she causes are downright hilarious. As the novel progresses and as expected, Sam and Poppy develop a friendship that soon turns into a romantic relationship.
However, Poppy is engaged. Magnus, Poppy's fiancé, is a hotshot college professor who comes from a stuck up family of brainiacs who think he is marrying beneath himself. Poppy tries hard to impress Magnus's family but instead she only ends up making a fool of herself.
Poppy is the most loveable character in the novel; she's the kind of person who would pretend to be an answering machine if she accidentally answers a call; her endearing childishness is quite hilarious. However, if you've read other works by Kinsella, you might notice that she bears a striking resemblance to her other female leads.
On the other hand Magnus and Sam, the two male leads, feel made-up and are endowed with few tangible differences in their personalities, making them somewhat indistinguishable.
I've Got Your Number has a flimsy plot. But chick-lit isn't really about strong plots, is it? Kinsella's writing is witty and offers some laugh-out-loud moments, and that's really what holds the novel together.
