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obsidian_blue 's review for:
Shopaholic to the Stars
by Sophie 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).