Years ago I read the first Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella having seen it in a book store in London and heard others raving about the funny storyline. As I had just moved to London I enjoyed reading about my new city and this happy, financially challenged character called Becky who was a similar age to myself. As the years have passed Sophie has evolved Becky to find love, get married to Luke and have her first child Minnie. Each book takes you into Becky’s world and her kind hearted, often flawed, way she tries to help her friends and family and her enormous shopping addiction that leads to significant financial woes!
The latest book, Shopaholic to the Rescue, is the second in a two parter which to be honest I found shocking in itself. Sophie has not done this before and left her readers on a cliffhanger last year GOT style with little clues on what might happen next. I remember reading the last pages and racing to find my phone to google and understand what was happening!! It was one of the first google search terms associated with Shopaholic and the internet was up in arms on this out of character splitting of the book! Especially when they learnt it would be another year before we learnt anything about the conclusion. Drama, Drama!! Poor Sophie. I expect in this day of social media she got a few nasty tweets.
Now that a year has passed I recently read and finished this chapter of Shopaholic on my trip to Portugal. These two books cover Becky’s move to LA, her disastrous interactions with celebrities, unsurprisingly quick ability to become famous herself and how these distractions mean she damages her relationships with her best friend, Lady Tarquin. The adventure starts in the second book when Becky’s father, Graham, dramatically disappears with her best friends husband, Tarquin, to chase an old friend across the US without letting anyone know and not answering their phones. Becky then rallies the troops including Lady Tarquin, who is convinced her husband has joined a cult, her mother Jane and best friend Janet who have flown in from England and her little Minnie into a moterhome to roadtrip across the US and track her dad!
The best bit for me reading this book is how Sophie has let all the characters grow up in real time. Danny who was an over the top stylist in the first books working with Becky is now the well known international fashion designer you were all hoping he would become. Becky continues to enjoy shopping but her sense of family over material possessions starts to shine through in this book. Don’t worry though she is still all about getting a bargain as who doesn’t love three for two deals!
If you haven’t read any of these books I am soooo jealous as you get to start from the beginning. For those of you who are nearly up to date of have dipped in and out I encourage you to pick up the next book in the series. These books are great light reads for summer, well written and very easy to read for as little as 10minutes without struggling to pick up the plot line again.
PF xo
