Monday 29 September 2014

Review: Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella

Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) has stars in her eyes. She and her daughter, Minnie, have joined husband Luke in LA—city of herbal smoothies and multimillion-dollar yoga retreats and the lure of celebrity. Luke is there to help manage the career of famous actress Sage Seymour—and Becky is convinced she is destined to be Sage’s personal stylist, and go from there to every A-list celebrity in Hollywood! Red carpet here she comes!
But things become complicated when Becky joins the team of Sage’s archrival without telling Luke. Will her ambition to make it in Hollywood cost too much?



Review: It was great to be back in the world of Becky Brandon again, remembering how much she has made me laugh over the years it just felt so uplifting to be back with such a familiar character. You dive right into the storyline with Becky, as you always do and starting off right in the middle of everything is always a sure-fire way of getting me hooked into a book right away. The storyline is like that the whole way through. Events aren't always necessarily built up, they just come along and happen. If you aren't familiar with the world of Becky and the way things go in that world then this could be a little disconcerting, but if you know Becky like fans of the Sophie Kinsella will, then you're used to this structure and will be swept along with the story the way I was.

Becky is just so lovable as a character, she is ditzy and always takes things one step too far, i imagine she would have been a nightmare to teach, but we love her for it because she always means well and she tries to do everything right for those around her, for Suze and for Luke and now for her daughter Minnie too! Becky's dad features in this one which I found to be a bit of a surprise and we never actually find out what exact role he plays in the book, which was a little frustrating.

The story began to slow down a little towards the end for me, I found the last hundred pages dragged a little bit as if they had been written at a separate time to the beginning of the book which seemed to race along as a great reading pace. I don't know if it was perhaps the overly glamorous part of the storyline and so that's why it was a little more difficult for me to relate to or if it was supposed to slow down a little at this point in the story but i struggled a little bit to reach the finishing line.

The ending of this novel was rather abrupt. I fell I am left with far more questions than answers and I'm not quite sure why it was left in this way. It has left it open for another Shopaholic novel and one which will have to be a direct sequel to this novel. No other novels in this series have been left on such a cliffhanger and I'm not sure I'm very happy. Its a shame that the book left me feeling this way because i loved the first 75% of it and i love the series and Becky as a character, but the ending just left me actually shouting at the book and closing it with a certain vigour which i don't normally allow myself to use towards books. Overall I enjoyed the book and I enjoyed reading about Becky's latest escapades but I don't leave the story feeling satisfied or fulfilled. I love Sohpie Kinsella and I love Becky Brandon but I need some answers from this book and I need them soon!














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