A review by aplace_inthesun
The Personal Shopper by Carmen Reid

lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book is a reinventing 15 years or so after the first version, as I understand it. 

Annie Valentine Is a personal shopper at a hoity toity department store, with a few fashion oriented side hustles as well. She’s forever chasing her tail having been left in a precarious position by her husband. You’re never quite sure what happened to Roddy, and wonder what he did to her, but all is revealed about 2/3 in. 

Annie gets the sack from work and has no idea how she’s going to pay her kids exorbitant school fees. Enter Gray a rich dentist, some years older and financially secure. Annie and her children move in with him. But what about Ed, the lovely school music teacher who she shares a scorcher of a kiss with? 

The Personal Shopper is a slow burn womens fiction book. Annie grated on me a little with her ‘babes’ left right and centre. She definitely tries to hard to be a ‘have’ and seems to think it’s so much better than a ‘have not’. It makes her appear pretty shallow and a bit of a snob. It’s a book where largely not much happens, and looks at the minutiae of Annie’s life. I felt like I needed a little more from this one, though I loved the ending ….

 She just seemed to go so quickly from one suitor to another, which is also not my thing.