Author: Sophie Kinsella
Series: None
Publication Date: October 12, 2021
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 352
Obtained: Dial Press
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: For anyone who has had to deal with the moving on from your childhood home
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab
Summary: t’s been over two years since Effie’s beloved parents got divorced, destroying the image of the happy, loving childhood she thought she had. Since then, she’s become estranged from her father and embarked on a feud with his hot (and much younger) girlfriend, Krista. And now, more earth-shattering news: Greenoaks, the rambling Victorian country house Effie called home her whole life, has been sold. When Krista decides to throw a grand “house cooling” party, Effie is originally left off the guest list—and then receives a last-minute “anti-invitation” (maybe it’s because she called Krista a gold-digger, but Krista totally deserved it, and it was mostly a joke anyway). Effie declines, but then remembers a beloved childhood treasure is still hidden in the house. Her only chance to retrieve it is to break into Greenoaks while everyone is busy celebrating. As Effie sneaks around the house, hiding under tables and peeping through trapdoors, she realizes the secrets Greenoaks holds aren’t just in the dusty passageways and hidden attics she grew up exploring. Watching how her sister, brother, and dad behave when they think no one is looking, Effie overhears conversations, makes discoveries, and begins to see her family in a new light. Then she runs into Joe—the love of her life, who long ago broke her heart, and who’s still as handsome and funny as ever—and even more truths emerge. But will Effie act on these revelations? Will she stay hidden or step out into the party and take her place with her family? And truthfully, what did she really come back to Greenoaks for? Over the course of one blowout party, Effie realizes that she must be honest with herself and confront her past before she’ll ever be able to face her future. ~amazon.com
Review: For any of us have been through a divorce of their parents as adults, it comes with certain loss that I feel is different than if you are in your youth. As an adult you have to stare what you thought you knew to be true and solid to questioning your own memories. This is what is going on with Effie in The Party Crasher, as her dad and his girlfriend decide to sell the only home she's ever known, Greenoaks.
Not only is Effie still dealing with her parents divorce, but now her dad is dating someone much younger who doesn't have an appreciation for Greenoaks uniqueness. She's also cut off her dad from all his children and they can't get direct answers from his girlfriend, Krista. Now her dad is selling the beloved home and there's a home-cooling party to send it off into the sunset. Except Effie hasn't been invited to the party and she remembers her most treasured childhood item is still in the house. What's a girl to do but go ninja to get them back.
Of course hilarity ensues immediately upon coming up on the house and finding it's not just going to be as easy as popping in and out to get her item. Her step-mom has hired a bouncer to check people in from a list and she won't be on there. So, of course Effie has to find hiding spaces in different areas to avoid all the people she loves and of course, the ones she doesn't.
What Effie doesn't expect to happen is to find out things about her family, friends and most of all herself while she hides. She comes across truths and secrets abound. In the end she learns that family really is everything and that while losing a family house SUCKS, it's the memories made there that she won't lose.
Ms. Kinsella has always done a bang up job on getting me to giggle and laugh but she's also so awesome at getting the heart of what matters no matter how crazy it is to get there.
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