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Lizzie Jordan"s Secret Life
Five years after leaving university, Lizzie Jordan considers herself one of life's failures. Unlike her highflying friends, Lizzie works as a lowly typist, shares a grotty flat and 'makes do' with her accountant boyfriend. She's never really been able to get over Brian, the handsome American student she dated at university, who is now a hugely successful Wall Street banker. Lizzie still corresponds with Brian by email. But the life she describes to him, with its extravagant parties and million-pound business deals, bears little relation to reality. Lizzie is overjoyed when Brian announces he's coming to stay. But how can she conceal from him the fact that the glamorous lifestyle she's been describing to him all these years is based on a tissue of lies? Ever resourceful, Lizzie comes up with a cunning plan. But the best-laid plans have a habit of going horribly wrong.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
9 people are currently reading
384 people want to read
About the author
Chris Manby
38 books122 followersThis author has also released books under the name Chrissie Manby.
Encouraged my by English teacher, Mrs. Pocock, I published my first short story in Just Seventeen when I was fourteen years old. The story was called ‘Whatever happened to the wonderful boy I fell in love with’ and I published it under the pseudonym ‘Carolyn Lane’ because it largely consisted of a transcript of an argument I’d had with my boyfriend. I bought a black denim jacket from C & A with the proceeds.
I continued to contribute short stories to Just Seventeen to help pay my way through university. I studied Experimental Psychology at St Edmund Hall in Oxford. Alas, I devoted rather too much time to my social life and staggered away with an unimpressive 2:2. In retrospect, that 2:2 saved my life. It meant that none of the graduate training schemes I had hoped to join would have me. I wouldn’t become an accountant after all. I moved to London and took a series of temp jobs to support myself. It was while I was working at Prelude Audio Books, a company which took erotic ‘classics’ and put them on tape, that I met my first real novelist: David Garnett.
David is a very well respected science fiction writer, who once dabbled with writing erotica under the name Angelique. Prelude was recording the Angelique novels. One afternoon, David spent a couple of hours sitting on my desk, waiting for my boss to come back from a very long publishing lunch to discuss some unpaid royalties. I told David I’d always wanted to be a writer. He dared me to write a novella like Angelique’s. A few weeks later, I handed him my first full-length manuscript. David cast his experienced eye over my scribblings, helped me tweak it and then passed it on to his editor at Little Brown. Incredibly, she made an offer on it. My dream of becoming a proper writer was reborn.
That first book was called ‘Inspiration’. It centred on the sexual shenanigans of a group of artists in St Ives. Wary of embarrassing my parents, I published ‘Inspiration’ as Stephanie Ash. Four more Stephanie Ash novellas followed, helping me to pay my rent and attract the attention of a literary agent. In 1997, I published my first Chris Manby novel, ‘Flatmates’…
Thirteen novels on the single life as Chris Manby later, I’ve just published ‘Getting Over Mr. Right’ as ‘Chrissie Manby’ (apparently too many people are under the impression that I am a bloke!).
I live in London and when I’m not writing (in fact, even when I’m supposed to be writing) I spend an awful lot of time on Twitter. Follow me on @chrissiemanby.
Encouraged my by English teacher, Mrs. Pocock, I published my first short story in Just Seventeen when I was fourteen years old. The story was called ‘Whatever happened to the wonderful boy I fell in love with’ and I published it under the pseudonym ‘Carolyn Lane’ because it largely consisted of a transcript of an argument I’d had with my boyfriend. I bought a black denim jacket from C & A with the proceeds.
I continued to contribute short stories to Just Seventeen to help pay my way through university. I studied Experimental Psychology at St Edmund Hall in Oxford. Alas, I devoted rather too much time to my social life and staggered away with an unimpressive 2:2. In retrospect, that 2:2 saved my life. It meant that none of the graduate training schemes I had hoped to join would have me. I wouldn’t become an accountant after all. I moved to London and took a series of temp jobs to support myself. It was while I was working at Prelude Audio Books, a company which took erotic ‘classics’ and put them on tape, that I met my first real novelist: David Garnett.
David is a very well respected science fiction writer, who once dabbled with writing erotica under the name Angelique. Prelude was recording the Angelique novels. One afternoon, David spent a couple of hours sitting on my desk, waiting for my boss to come back from a very long publishing lunch to discuss some unpaid royalties. I told David I’d always wanted to be a writer. He dared me to write a novella like Angelique’s. A few weeks later, I handed him my first full-length manuscript. David cast his experienced eye over my scribblings, helped me tweak it and then passed it on to his editor at Little Brown. Incredibly, she made an offer on it. My dream of becoming a proper writer was reborn.
That first book was called ‘Inspiration’. It centred on the sexual shenanigans of a group of artists in St Ives. Wary of embarrassing my parents, I published ‘Inspiration’ as Stephanie Ash. Four more Stephanie Ash novellas followed, helping me to pay my rent and attract the attention of a literary agent. In 1997, I published my first Chris Manby novel, ‘Flatmates’…
Thirteen novels on the single life as Chris Manby later, I’ve just published ‘Getting Over Mr. Right’ as ‘Chrissie Manby’ (apparently too many people are under the impression that I am a bloke!).
I live in London and when I’m not writing (in fact, even when I’m supposed to be writing) I spend an awful lot of time on Twitter. Follow me on @chrissiemanby.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 15, 2023
It started promising. When Lizzie Jordan said that she barely graduated, she has a low paid job, she lives with two messy roommates and everybody says she's 30 when she's 27... well, I felt that. But somehow she writes e-mails to her ex in New York in which she says she as a great job, great apartment and great everything. When he decides to visit her, she's in trouble, but actually her boss leaves an empty apartment for a vacation and her ""best"" friend borrows her designer clothes, so Lizzie decides to hoax her fabulous life. The worst thing is that when she finds herself in a fake luxury reality for just a couple of days, she loses her mind. Does she really think at some point, that if Brian takes her with him, she won't work? Her ambitions vanish and it turns out how shallow she is.
Over all, the book was fun to read but went in wrong direction.
Over all, the book was fun to read but went in wrong direction.
January 15, 2021
The first part was lovely, funny and made me want to read it all at once. After a few more chapters it started getting a bit boring, slightly predictable and I wasn't really enjoying Lizzie's way of thinking. The ending was somewhat unexpected but disappointed me. I have two more books from this author on my shelf, I hope those have better endings.
To be honest, I think I might read the first few chapters again in a few years.
To be honest, I think I might read the first few chapters again in a few years.
January 18, 2018
Hurray, at last I've finished it after several 'pickings up/putting downs'. As you can tell I didn't find it riveting, it was ok, if somewhat predictable, and if I'm honest, a wee bit tedious, but I got there in the end.
January 3, 2024
Being a person who does not understand the concept of lying, I found the main character to be frustrating. But I can relate to life being overwhelming and things taking wrong turns so I still felt entertained and did not feel like I wasted my time.
May 4, 2018
Lots of fun. There are elements which stretch belief but its still a wonderful romp.
September 12, 2018
A fun light hearted read.
May 8, 2020
Really funny easy read with one twist I didn't see coming.
May 7, 2023
Ta ksiazka daje mi vibe "Dziennik Bridget Jones", mega mi sie podobala, plottwist byl mocno sredni
March 17, 2016
This was a long, hard read for me. The beginning of the book had so much promise and there was also a feeling of mischievousness within the quad of friends which kept the story interesting. However when it jumped forward 6 years to the present day and the story followed Lizzie and her 'disappointing' life, the book took a bit of a nose dive. It was at this point where reading became a struggle and was a test of perseverance .
So fast forward into the present day and Lizzie has not really progressed in her life as much as she would like her ex-boyfriend believe. Lizzie has been corresponding with Brian, the ex and has concocted wonderful tales of business contracts and high living to the unsuspecting Brian. Predictably all this turns on its head when he phones Lizzie with the promise of coming over to visit her. Lizzie soon sets a plan into action where she tries to continue with the farcical idea that she is a successful businesswoman and gets a couple of friends involved including some illegal squatting in her boss's impressive home whilst she is away.
Needless to say the pretence falls flat and the truth is revealed in a humiliating way.
I found the main character Lizzie to be shallow and not a likeable person. In fact I found a lot of similarities between her and the protagonist in the 'Shopaholic' series -dizzy and not very bright with the intention of misleading people.
Flat mate Seema seemed annoying and pretty unforgettable. In all honesty I don't think there was anyone in the book that I enjoyed reading about much.
The 'big reveal' at the end was rather pathetic and would have caused an uproar in the real world but not in this book whereby all the characters concerned seemed to have a very forgiving nature. Not a very believable ending but neither is the beginning and core of the book actually. Not a book to be taken seriously, it is simply pure, exageratted silliness personified.
So fast forward into the present day and Lizzie has not really progressed in her life as much as she would like her ex-boyfriend believe. Lizzie has been corresponding with Brian, the ex and has concocted wonderful tales of business contracts and high living to the unsuspecting Brian. Predictably all this turns on its head when he phones Lizzie with the promise of coming over to visit her. Lizzie soon sets a plan into action where she tries to continue with the farcical idea that she is a successful businesswoman and gets a couple of friends involved including some illegal squatting in her boss's impressive home whilst she is away.
Needless to say the pretence falls flat and the truth is revealed in a humiliating way.
I found the main character Lizzie to be shallow and not a likeable person. In fact I found a lot of similarities between her and the protagonist in the 'Shopaholic' series -dizzy and not very bright with the intention of misleading people.
Flat mate Seema seemed annoying and pretty unforgettable. In all honesty I don't think there was anyone in the book that I enjoyed reading about much.
The 'big reveal' at the end was rather pathetic and would have caused an uproar in the real world but not in this book whereby all the characters concerned seemed to have a very forgiving nature. Not a very believable ending but neither is the beginning and core of the book actually. Not a book to be taken seriously, it is simply pure, exageratted silliness personified.
September 27, 2014
I find that the main character, Lizzie Jordan , is unlovable. She is one mess up and selfish girl.
The rest of the characters, Brian, Mary, Richard and what-not were also not endearing.
For a Chic-lit, I had expected it to be light and fluffy . At least with characters that have some quality which can be lovable.
Why I dislike Lizzie? For example she had the nerve to accuse Mary of not being a true friend to her when she asked Mary to lend her Mary's apartment for her to pretend as hers. Even have the nerve to "regret" not grabbing her expensive birthday present from Mary before she blew off. How selfish is that?
Just not something that I would read if I want to have a happy feel.
The rest of the characters, Brian, Mary, Richard and what-not were also not endearing.
For a Chic-lit, I had expected it to be light and fluffy . At least with characters that have some quality which can be lovable.
Why I dislike Lizzie? For example she had the nerve to accuse Mary of not being a true friend to her when she asked Mary to lend her Mary's apartment for her to pretend as hers. Even have the nerve to "regret" not grabbing her expensive birthday present from Mary before she blew off. How selfish is that?
Just not something that I would read if I want to have a happy feel.
January 6, 2012
To be honest, I really don't know what to say about this book, except that I really enjoyed it.
It's a total no - brainer but I need something like this from time to time: just to read and doesn't have to think too much:)
Lizzie was just hilarious with all her problems, but so warm and nice. She did make me angry with herslef a little at the end but fortunately, just shortly:) Actually, all the other characters were really good, and although I didn't like Mary for the biggest part of the book, I can say that at the end she was OK.
And one thing still: cavalier / king charles spaniel doesn't have the possibility and character to bite a fly, what about a neck of a child!!!:)))))
It's a total no - brainer but I need something like this from time to time: just to read and doesn't have to think too much:)
Lizzie was just hilarious with all her problems, but so warm and nice. She did make me angry with herslef a little at the end but fortunately, just shortly:) Actually, all the other characters were really good, and although I didn't like Mary for the biggest part of the book, I can say that at the end she was OK.
And one thing still: cavalier / king charles spaniel doesn't have the possibility and character to bite a fly, what about a neck of a child!!!:)))))
August 31, 2012
I enjoyed this book... it was a good, light read. I was smiling, cringing and shaking my head at times.
The protaganist was a weird one for me. I liked her, somewhat, but I kind of didn't want to. She annoyed me and I found what she was doing horrible, but at the same time... I was rooting for her. That was strange.
The protaganist was a weird one for me. I liked her, somewhat, but I kind of didn't want to. She annoyed me and I found what she was doing horrible, but at the same time... I was rooting for her. That was strange.
September 2, 2013
This book was said to be "hilarious" by various reviews. I don't think I laughed one time while reading it. It was written well enough to keep me entertained throughout the book but not enough to make me want to read any of the author's other books. Slightly disappointing.
August 20, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. Good story, a little unbelievable at times but I have to say I was unsure who she was going to end up with. I would recommend this to anyone looking for some good chick lit.
July 3, 2014
A bit predictable. I didn't like Lizzie Jordan or any of her friends at all so as a result I didn't feel sorry for what happened to her. In fact I skipped a few chapters because it seemed to be dragging on. It could've got to the plot much quicker.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
March 24, 20111 of 25 books bought today for $10 (the lot).
In L's room somewhere.
In L's room somewhere.
June 13, 2012
Couldn't put it down!
June 27, 2012
Addicted to the story. I can't put the book down!
June 18, 2013
I was really enjoying this book and then it began to get unreal, that was slightly off putting. On the whole a bad read, well written and made me smile in parts.
December 12, 2012
very funny
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews