Wednesday, 14 March 2007

Book ~ "Shopaholic & Baby" (2004) Sophie Kinsella

From Goodreads ~ Hail the return of Kinsella's airhead heroine, Becky Bloomwood, now married, pregnant and working as the head personal shopper for a brand-new London boutique. 

In this latest installment of the Shopaholic franchise, the commercially insatiable Bex shops for two in every upscale baby shop and catalogue in London, snags a celebrity ob/gyn and leverages a pair of the moment's "most coveted" boots to negotiate a home purchase. Complicating an otherwise uneventful pregnancy, Becky suspects her husband, PR biz-wiz Luke Brandon, is having an affair with her hot doc (who also happens to be Luke's ex-girlfriend) so she hires a detective with predictable madcap results.

For chick lit lovers with babies of their own, Kinsella mines a rich vein by tweaking 21st-century glossy mag obsessions: from sonograms to the hottest baby strollers to tricked-out birthing rooms. Kinsella's ode to baby blues is both sly and slapstick - and for now, at least, Becky is more lovably Lucille Ball than annoyingly Paris Hilton.

I enjoyed the other books in the series.

Though this one hasn't changed the successful format, I found Becky a bit annoying in this one ... her self-centeredness and self-indulgence didn't strike me as cute. Really, who needs five prams?! I know, I know ... that's the character of Becky.

Would I recommend it? Not really.  Maybe if I was a mom, I would have enjoyed it more.

2 comments:

B said...

I can't wait to read this I have the the other's I love Becky she's nuts

Anonymous said...

I must admit that I've never read any of her books. I see them everywhere though. Even as a mom, I think I'd find all of that pram business a bit annoying. Of course, my son is far past the pram age. But even when he was young I never wanted to chat for hours about prams or car seats or whatever. I think too many SAHMs and moms in general don't have enough life of their own outside of their children. I've been both, so I know. With this, as with most things in life, balance is the key.

How's your first week at the new job going?