“Becky Heads for the Empire State!
OK, so this is not as good a read as the original “Shopaholic…” novel, but that’s fine, nothing is as good as the original these days, right? And Becky Bloomwood is still a lot of fun to read about and her hi-jinks are still a hoot, right?
This is true, but whereas I was absolutely tickled reading the first novel, I found myself getting just a little bored with this story…just a little!
This time out, we find Becky, our girl-about-town, enjoying life as a featured financial guru on a top morning news show in Britain. She’s gotten her act together, so her bills are paid (basically) and she’s living up to all the financial advice she’s given out on the show (kind of). She finds out that her boyfriend Luke Brandon is heading to NYC to open up a new location for his PR company and he asks Becky to come along.
Once she’s there, she’s completely taken with NY’s fashion scene – 5th Avenue is a dream come true for her! Before long, all the lessons that she learned about managing her money have been thrown out of the window. Just as she’s really getting the hang of shopping “sample sales” and finding out all the really great new merchandise in the city, she finds herself, once again, in financial trouble and this time, she just might lose her livelihood!!
We get to be reacquainted with some favorite characters in the original “Shopaholic…” – Becky’s roommate Suze is still around and has a new love interest and we get to hear loads about Becky’s parents and their neighbors, once again. We don’t really get to see Luke from a personal point of view, but we do see him more clearly through Becky’s eyes as she describes the struggles that he goes through in getting the new location off the ground. We are also introduced to Elinore, Luke’s real mother and see them bridge the gap that’s made all the more huge since she didn’t raise him, as she moved to the States when he was just a child. We are also treated to some new characters that help the story along, but even they aren’t enough to make this book seem less shallow.
In the first book, we were mesmerized and a little shocked while watching Becky shop up a storm and a whole lot of debt. This time around, it just doesn’t have the same thrilling effect. In fact, Becky begins to look a little pretentious and flighty, but veteran author Sophie Kinsella stirs things up a little and presents new angles and as they come in to play, happily, we do get swept up again.
While not as good as the original, this book was funny and it was nice to hear about Becky again. I, for one, am determined to ride this horse “all the way” and so I will read the other installments in the series, because I am a Sophie Kinsella fan and those things that I did not love about this book, haven’t changed that. This is a cute book and worth picking up, I’ll give this “one” thumb up!”