Party Girl: A Novel [Paperback]

Sarah Mason (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2005

When life hands her lemons, she makes a French martini.

Life is one big party for event planner Isabel Serranti. Armed with cell and laptop, she’s game to field any fete–including her next nearly impossible gig: an impromptu themed party. Five hundred guests? (No problem.) On a country estate? (Lovely!) Near her girlhood home and hosted by her infamous childhood tormentor Simon Monkwell? (Uh-oh. . . .)

Luckily, Simon is away for most of the planning, which leaves Izzy to cope with his kindly, eccentric family and their curious secrets. But when Simon–looking good enough to eat–makes a surprise visit, he’s not quite the wretched oaf she remembers. And he needs her help to pull off something daring that requires clever planning, devious imagination, and a lot of panache. Naturally, they’ll be working together very, very closely. . . .

“Hilarious and touching.”
–Romantic Times, about Playing James

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Brit Mason's amusing latest (after Society Girls), Isabel "Izzy" Serranti is newly dumped, plumped and certain that her future as an event planner is in danger. Family connections net her the bash of a lifetime, but the big event—a swank charity ball—is set to take place at Pantiles, the ancestral estate of her childhood best friend turned tormentor, Simon Monkwell, England's hottest financier. Everything gets turned on its head, though, when Simon confesses that the estate is a financial disaster; he needs Izzy's help to spruce up Pantiles to reassure his American investors. Mason borrows from Helen Fielding: Izzy frets over her weight, her ill-conceived outfits and her clumsy shenanigans; much like Mark Darcy, Simon is disciplined, dangerously handsome and enamored with a clumsy, pudgy girl. Mason's creativity comes through in her winningly eccentric cast of secondary characters, but there are too many of them and their attendant complications: Izzy's parents fly in from Tokyo to explain an old family scandal, Pantile's housekeeper's estranged husband stops by for a pint and Izzy's best friend admits he's shagging her sister. Kiss Simon, Izzy, and get on with it! Eventually she does, in this fun if familiar story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

After a successful yet miserable career in finance, Isabel Serranti becomes a party planner. She loves going to work in her London office with her fellow quirky employees, and she even enjoys her tyrannical boss until she is asked to return to Pantiles, the estate where she spent her childhood being tormented by Simon Monkwell, who was her best friend until he turned mean. Isabel and her sister ended up living with their aunt Winnie, who is now returning to Pantiles to prepare for an emergency-themed charity event. Isabel is happy to help the Monkwell family, and to her surprise, Simon isn't as awful as she feared. But the family is hiding secrets that, as they unfurl, play havoc with Isabel's party--and heart. Forget the British stiff upper lip: Mason provides readers with a laugh-out-loud good time. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 321 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345469569
• ISBN-13: 978-0345469564
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #572,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fun and quirky romance, March 21, 2006

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Party Girl: A Novel (Paperback)

Isabel is a successful party coordinator. When she is asked by the Monkwell family patriarch (an old family friend) to put together the ultimate party, she finds herself working for the boy who broke her heart and tormented her as a young girl. But Simon has grown into a very sexy and successful businessman, and appears to have let bygones be bygones.

While she tries to keep her distance, she finds that she is suffering from a growing attraction to the one man she should steer clear of. When she inadvertently shares information with her former boyfriend regarding the Monkwell party, it has repercussions she could never have imagined, and threatens the acquisition that the Monkwell family is counting on. To make amends, she works closely with Simon to charm investors and win back his trust. Will Izzy be able to forgive Simon when she finds out the basis for his evil teen machinations?

Mason has created another quirky cast of characters that will capture your attention and keep you glued to the end of the story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars warm British chick lit romance, December 27, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Party Girl: A Novel (Paperback)

In England though several weeks have passed, event planner Isabel "Izzy" Serranti has not recovered from being dumped by her boyfriend. That coupled with feeling overweight has left Izzy lacking confidence in her abilities to hold the attention of a man. When she sees her childhood best friend, who inexplicably became her teenage tormentor, financier Simon Monkwell she babbles about food while he apparently fails to recognize her.

Simon hires Izzy to perform a planner's miracle as his family estate Pantiles is in financial trouble, but to save it he must fool potential American investors that all is well. She would like to refuse him, but he is so handsome and debonair while she is oafish, but the reason she agrees is because she inadvertently gave away some Pantiles' insider information to her lout of an ex. Thus she hosts a weekend in the English countryside where investors, their wacko families, a tarantula and others interfere with the attraction between Simon and Izzy; however it is what caused teenage Simon to turn into a bully that remains between them.

PARTY GIRL is a warm British chick lit romance starring a likable but unconfident lead female struggling to make a weekend right for the man she loves who she expects will mistreat her as he did when he turned thirteen. Izzy is an interesting protagonist coping with the families of her and Simon, other fractious souls like the help, the demands of the Americans, and SOCIETY GIRLS invited to the gala. Though the support cast at times overwhelms the tale with the baggage they bring to the weekend event, dizzy Izzy makes this a fun often amusing romantic romp.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read!, January 3, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Party Girl: A Novel (Paperback)

In Party Girl Sarah Mason has served up a light-hearted and fun British chick lit romance with an interesting cast of primary and secondary characters.

Isabel (Izzy) Serranti is an event planner who loves her job and is good at it. She's recovering from a failed relationship, her self-esteem has plummeted and she's feeling overweight and lacking confidence in the "man" arena.

Izzy is hired to plan a large party at the Monkwell estate, Pantiles. Pantiles is the childhood home of her former best friend turned tormentor, Simon Monkwell.

She's concerned about returning to the place of her childhood filled with memories of the rude and difficult Simon. But since Simon is not around, she's up for the challenge. After all, she's adept at handling the rude, the difficult and the eccentric rich. What she doesn't count on is handling all that and facing her childhood demons at the same time.

When Simon appears, he's not the young tormentor she remembered. He's dashing and unattached and seems genuinely happy to see Izzy. But Izzy inadvertently gives information to her ex-boyfriend that could topple Simon's current business deal.

Can Izzy pull off the impossible and execute the perfect party? Can she straighten out her life and relationship with Simon?

Party Girl is an inviting and fast read that will leave you chuckling. You'll enjoy it so much that you will overlook some of its minor flaws.

Armchair Interviews says: Party Girl is the perfect weekend read. When you're finished, you'll probably want to search out Playing James, Mason's first novel.