Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
It's light chick lit. Becky is ridiculous, the story line is crazy, and it's just the sunshine I needed on these cold Nov days! and a cliff hanger!!! Killing me Kinsella!!!! ;)
Why in the world did I do this to myself.
I knew that there was going to be a slim chance that I would like this book and of course I ended up not caring for it at all. At least I got it from the library and didn't pay for it.
Synopsis:
Sophie Kinsella returns to her beloved Shopaholic series with Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) newly arrived in Hollywood and starry-eyed. She and her two-year-old daughter, Minnie, have relocated to L.A. to join Becky’s husband, Luke, who is there to handle PR for famous actress Sage Seymour. Becky can’t wait to start living the A-list lifestyle, complete with celebrity sightings, yoga retreats, and shopping trips to Rodeo Drive. But she really hopes to become a personal stylist—Sage’s personal stylist—if only Luke would set up an introduction. Then, unexpectedly, Becky is offered the chance to dress Sage’s archrival, and though things become a bit more complicated, it’s a dream come true!
Red carpet premieres, velvet ropes, paparazzi clamoring for attention—suddenly Becky has everything she’s ever wanted.
Or does she?
Here's the main thing that you should take away from this. In the decade that Kinsella has been writing this character the locations may change but the character never shows any growth at all. No matter what foolishness Becky gets embroiled in, it eventually works out in the end and she is told how great she is by Luke. Transporting Becky to L.A. was just not a great idea. Having her fully caught up in becoming an A list actor's best friend and then her trying to become a personal stylist was just grown inducing.
I absolutely adored the first book in this series, Confessions of a Shopaholic and found myself sympathizing with the character of Becky who realizes that her shopping has caused her to have balances on her credit cards and not have a bit of savings. Becky and her best friend Suze made me think fondly of my best friends I made after college who were there for you through thick and thin and no matter what had your back. Heck I even loved the character of Luke in that first book.
In book two, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan even though I cringed a bit at Becky having out of control spending again and putting her relationship with Luke at risk due to it I was still a fan of the character. However, after book two I thought the subsequent books started to go downhill in quality.
Here is the main problem that Sophie Kinsella needs to realize. You can only have a character learn the same lesson over and over again. In the first book Becky was early twenties, by this book she has to be early or mid thirties and she has a two year old daughter. You would think she would get it drilled into her head that shopping is not the end all be all in the world. That shopping to excess has caused her and her family and friends a lot of trouble and get her shit together. Instead she indulges in shopping for things she doesn't need and schemes her way into trying to become a stylist. Scenes with her daughter are very few and Luke is completely a non-entity throughout this entire book. You get tired of Becky having the same epiphany in every book. It starts to ring hollow after a while.
I was not surprised to see that at this point in time this book has a 3.1 star rating on Amazon. I think a lot of readers are completely fed up with this character as well. Having the book end on a freaking cliffhanger with another location opening up for the character to act more of a fool at is not appealing. The only reason why I am glad for the cliffhanger is because it seems the next book will be the last and hopefully we can retire Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood).
I knew that there was going to be a slim chance that I would like this book and of course I ended up not caring for it at all. At least I got it from the library and didn't pay for it.
Synopsis:
Sophie Kinsella returns to her beloved Shopaholic series with Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) newly arrived in Hollywood and starry-eyed. She and her two-year-old daughter, Minnie, have relocated to L.A. to join Becky’s husband, Luke, who is there to handle PR for famous actress Sage Seymour. Becky can’t wait to start living the A-list lifestyle, complete with celebrity sightings, yoga retreats, and shopping trips to Rodeo Drive. But she really hopes to become a personal stylist—Sage’s personal stylist—if only Luke would set up an introduction. Then, unexpectedly, Becky is offered the chance to dress Sage’s archrival, and though things become a bit more complicated, it’s a dream come true!
Red carpet premieres, velvet ropes, paparazzi clamoring for attention—suddenly Becky has everything she’s ever wanted.
Or does she?
Here's the main thing that you should take away from this. In the decade that Kinsella has been writing this character the locations may change but the character never shows any growth at all. No matter what foolishness Becky gets embroiled in, it eventually works out in the end and she is told how great she is by Luke. Transporting Becky to L.A. was just not a great idea. Having her fully caught up in becoming an A list actor's best friend and then her trying to become a personal stylist was just grown inducing.
I absolutely adored the first book in this series, Confessions of a Shopaholic and found myself sympathizing with the character of Becky who realizes that her shopping has caused her to have balances on her credit cards and not have a bit of savings. Becky and her best friend Suze made me think fondly of my best friends I made after college who were there for you through thick and thin and no matter what had your back. Heck I even loved the character of Luke in that first book.
In book two, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan even though I cringed a bit at Becky having out of control spending again and putting her relationship with Luke at risk due to it I was still a fan of the character. However, after book two I thought the subsequent books started to go downhill in quality.
Here is the main problem that Sophie Kinsella needs to realize. You can only have a character learn the same lesson over and over again. In the first book Becky was early twenties, by this book she has to be early or mid thirties and she has a two year old daughter. You would think she would get it drilled into her head that shopping is not the end all be all in the world. That shopping to excess has caused her and her family and friends a lot of trouble and get her shit together. Instead she indulges in shopping for things she doesn't need and schemes her way into trying to become a stylist. Scenes with her daughter are very few and Luke is completely a non-entity throughout this entire book. You get tired of Becky having the same epiphany in every book. It starts to ring hollow after a while.
I was not surprised to see that at this point in time this book has a 3.1 star rating on Amazon. I think a lot of readers are completely fed up with this character as well. Having the book end on a freaking cliffhanger with another location opening up for the character to act more of a fool at is not appealing. The only reason why I am glad for the cliffhanger is because it seems the next book will be the last and hopefully we can retire Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood).
This wasn't my favorite Shopaholic book but I do enjoy a Becky Brandon novel.
Becky and Luke are living in Los Angeles as Luke handles his new client Sage Seymour. Becky is immediately starstruck and trying to get into the movie business as a stylist. A chance encounter with Sage's biggest rival makes things even more complicated for Becky, as she also deals with a visit from Suze and Tarquin and the disappearance of her father. Honestly, at this point, Shopaholic should have ended. Maybe even several books ago, because Becky's antics are quite exhausting. Fortunately there's only one book left and it's a direct sequel.
Don't judge me!! I was looking for an easy read while waiting with my Mum at chemo and I thought this would be a good choice, OMG, it was so awful that I literally had to force myself to continue to read it.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Becky Bloomwood is the worst. None of these books were all that wonderful, but they were fun to read. Becky's antics were chringeworthy but she was ultimately a redeemable character. Maybe it's not surprising that in moving to Hollywood she becomes vapid on a whole other level. I wanted to slap her the entire book. Yet still I read the whole thing. The other characters are quite lovely, I actually wish the book had focussed on the subplots and not on Becky. Of course it ended on a cliffhanger so I can only assume I will keep reading the series.
I wasn't expecting much from the Shopaholic books but I loved the first one and it's one of the best 'chick lit' books I've read. I loved Becky as a character and so I've read each follow up as they've come out and my love for the Shopaholic world has declined steadily as the quality of the books have gotten worse and worse.
I was surprised that there was a seventh book because the last one was pretty awful. This one is even worse.
Good stuff first (and why this book got 2 stars instead of 1):
- Kinsella's writing is still great.
- It made me laugh out loud in parts.
Bad stuff:
- What has happened to Becky?! So I get that the whole point of this book is that she becomes swept up in what's happening to her but she's just SO self centered that it doesn't seem like her. I know she's always been a bit selfish and dim but still.
- There are too many sub-plots. There is too much going on and it all snowballs in the second half of the book, so much so that when I saw I was 80% done on my Kindle version I thought there must be some kind of mistake because there was so much left to resolve. But of course...nothing does get resolved because there's a bloody cliffhanger and a promise of book number 8. NO NO NO. I don't care about Becky's dad/Tarkie/Bryce's plot enough to read a WHOLE other book following up on it. Why couldn't Kinsella have cut the crap and just brought everything to a nice end?
- I've read so many romcom books (I hate the term chick lit) that this shouldn't bother me, but C'MON why doesn't Becky or Luke care one jot about all the money she is spending? Her shopping problem is mentioned a few times and I do think it's amusing how she justifies purchases to herself but aside from a few tame remarks by Luke she never gets questioned about it.
- The Luke/Elinor story was bizarre, over in a flash and added why exactly?
- I'd like to think that the next book is the last, it's been dragged out for so long and it needs to be put to rest. Kinsella has written some great stand alone books and doesn't need the safety of the Shopaholic series any longer. At the moment I'm thinking this Shopaholic book will be my last but I know I'll be buying the next one out of a sense of loyalty and finality, which I suppose answers the question of why Kinsella is still bothering with the series.
All in all...so disappointing.
I was surprised that there was a seventh book because the last one was pretty awful. This one is even worse.
Good stuff first (and why this book got 2 stars instead of 1):
- Kinsella's writing is still great.
- It made me laugh out loud in parts.
Bad stuff:
- What has happened to Becky?! So I get that the whole point of this book is that she becomes swept up in what's happening to her but she's just SO self centered that it doesn't seem like her. I know she's always been a bit selfish and dim but still.
- There are too many sub-plots. There is too much going on and it all snowballs in the second half of the book, so much so that when I saw I was 80% done on my Kindle version I thought there must be some kind of mistake because there was so much left to resolve. But of course...nothing does get resolved because there's a bloody cliffhanger and a promise of book number 8. NO NO NO. I don't care about Becky's dad/Tarkie/Bryce's plot enough to read a WHOLE other book following up on it. Why couldn't Kinsella have cut the crap and just brought everything to a nice end?
- I've read so many romcom books (I hate the term chick lit) that this shouldn't bother me, but C'MON why doesn't Becky or Luke care one jot about all the money she is spending? Her shopping problem is mentioned a few times and I do think it's amusing how she justifies purchases to herself but aside from a few tame remarks by Luke she never gets questioned about it.
- The Luke/Elinor story was bizarre, over in a flash and added why exactly?
- I'd like to think that the next book is the last, it's been dragged out for so long and it needs to be put to rest. Kinsella has written some great stand alone books and doesn't need the safety of the Shopaholic series any longer. At the moment I'm thinking this Shopaholic book will be my last but I know I'll be buying the next one out of a sense of loyalty and finality, which I suppose answers the question of why Kinsella is still bothering with the series.
All in all...so disappointing.
I was rather disappointed in this book, and was so excited to read it! Becky Bloomwood Brandon was ugly as could be in this 7th book in the series. She was always fun, crazy, and ditsy... this time she was super self-centered and could have lost her marriage... I don't know what her husband was thinking... and the cliffhanger! Ugh.