And baby makes three
SHOPAHOLIC & BABY<br>by Sophie Kinsela<br>Bantam Press pp 368, ISBN 9780593053874
If you're a woman and you like to shop and read, then you simply must have heard of the Shopaholic series; if you have not, then perhaps you have been living in a box and should instantly emerge from it and trundle off to your nearest bookshop to get a head start.
The brainchild of financial-journalist-turned-novelist Sophie Kinsella, the series follows Becky Bloomwood, a mad-as-a-hatter journalist with a penchant for unbridled shopping sprees who burst onto our bookshelves back in 2000 and has been with us consistently ever since. Becky's life in London reads like the columns of any glossy magazine and has kept readers glued since her initial adventure and brush with the bank manager in the first book The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic.
The next three volumes followed Becky through the ups and downs of her gold card life: First as she moved to New York to chase fame and fortune in Shopaholic Abroad, next as she fell in love with and married her very own millionaire Luke Brandon in Shopaholic Ties the Knot, and lastly when she had to deal with the mixed emotions of discovering a long-lost sibling in Shopaholic and Sister.
Life for Becky and her maxed-out credit card have certainly never been uneventful, and in this latest instalment things get all the more exciting as the prospect of a mini-Becky Bloomwood appears on the scene.
As she and Luke expect their first child, things really could not look peachier. The baby is due just before Christmas, they appear set to enjoy their first holiday season as a family in the luxurious new house that they've recently bought (complete with shoe-room), and Luke's career seems to be going from strength to strength. But of course, life doesn't quite work out the way Becky expects it to, and it's all downhill from our heroine's first appointment with her new celebrity obstetrician Venetia (who also happens to be Luke's ex-girlfriend). While all the while there's the added predicament that she's now shopping for two...
Just like the other books in this series, Shopaholic and Baby reads much like a long-awaited bar of chocolate and it's very hard to put down.
The laugh-out-loud moments (of which there are numerous) are eclectically mingled in with instances where, just for a second, things might not turn out alright.
Occasionally you'd be forgiven for wondering "could this girl be any dumber?" and this book does end in the same way the others do: With Becky realising another of life's lessons and determinedly deciding to reduce her shopping sprees while becoming a more well-rounded person in the process. But then she forgets it all again by the next book. That said, where would the world be if Becky Bloomwood wasn't shopping incessantly and putting the world to rights in a way only she can?
Shopaholic and Baby is definitely another delectable and delicious read that will keep you glued and enthralled till the very last page.
Sophie Kinsella's writing is hardly going to secure world peace or enlighten you on the infinite details of global warming, but it is going to divert and entertain you through yet another delightful helping of Becky Bloomwood's hilarious antics.
• Ms Caruana is a Becky Bloomwood in the making.
The brainchild of financial-journalist-turned-novelist Sophie Kinsella, the series follows Becky Bloomwood, a mad-as-a-hatter journalist with a penchant for unbridled shopping sprees who burst onto our bookshelves back in 2000 and has been with us consistently ever since. Becky's life in London reads like the columns of any glossy magazine and has kept readers glued since her initial adventure and brush with the bank manager in the first book The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic.
The next three volumes followed Becky through the ups and downs of her gold card life: First as she moved to New York to chase fame and fortune in Shopaholic Abroad, next as she fell in love with and married her very own millionaire Luke Brandon in Shopaholic Ties the Knot, and lastly when she had to deal with the mixed emotions of discovering a long-lost sibling in Shopaholic and Sister.
Life for Becky and her maxed-out credit card have certainly never been uneventful, and in this latest instalment things get all the more exciting as the prospect of a mini-Becky Bloomwood appears on the scene.
As she and Luke expect their first child, things really could not look peachier. The baby is due just before Christmas, they appear set to enjoy their first holiday season as a family in the luxurious new house that they've recently bought (complete with shoe-room), and Luke's career seems to be going from strength to strength. But of course, life doesn't quite work out the way Becky expects it to, and it's all downhill from our heroine's first appointment with her new celebrity obstetrician Venetia (who also happens to be Luke's ex-girlfriend). While all the while there's the added predicament that she's now shopping for two...
Just like the other books in this series, Shopaholic and Baby reads much like a long-awaited bar of chocolate and it's very hard to put down.
The laugh-out-loud moments (of which there are numerous) are eclectically mingled in with instances where, just for a second, things might not turn out alright.
Occasionally you'd be forgiven for wondering "could this girl be any dumber?" and this book does end in the same way the others do: With Becky realising another of life's lessons and determinedly deciding to reduce her shopping sprees while becoming a more well-rounded person in the process. But then she forgets it all again by the next book. That said, where would the world be if Becky Bloomwood wasn't shopping incessantly and putting the world to rights in a way only she can?
Shopaholic and Baby is definitely another delectable and delicious read that will keep you glued and enthralled till the very last page.
Sophie Kinsella's writing is hardly going to secure world peace or enlighten you on the infinite details of global warming, but it is going to divert and entertain you through yet another delightful helping of Becky Bloomwood's hilarious antics.
• Ms Caruana is a Becky Bloomwood in the making.