Archive for August 30th, 2010

Note: This book is known as ‘Shopaholic Takes Manhattan‘ in the US.

Will travel broaden the mind…or loosen the purse strings? For Rebecca Bloomwood, life is peachy. She has a job on morning TV, her bank manager is actually being nice to her, and when it comes to spending money, her new motto is Buy Only What You Need - and she’s really (sort of) sticking to it. The icing on the brioche is that she’s been offered a chance to work in New York. New York! The Museum of Modern Art! The Guggenheim! The Metropolitan Opera House! And Becky does mean to go to them all. Honestly. It’s just that it seems silly not to check out a few other places first. Like Saks. And Bloomingdales. And Barneys. And one of those fantastic sample sales where you can get a Prada dress for $10. Or was it $100? Is Becky too dazzled to care? Shopaholic Abroad – for the biggest culture shop of your life.

Leah: My inital thinking of Shopaholic Abroad was that it was Confessions of a Shopaholic set in New York. I really did think it was a re-hash of book one and it was only when I started reading it did it all come back to me and I realised it wasn’t the same at all. Yes, Becky manages to get herself into a lot of pickles, almost identical pickles to the one she finds herself in throughout the first book but the book is still different in a lot of ways. Shopaholic Abroad probably isn’t my favourite of the Shopaholic novels - it would definitely come last if I listed them all in order, but Kinsella manages to easily get us into Becky’s life and gives us another fantastic tale! I really admire her writing style because it isn’t as wordy as some authors, but the chatty style works and makes it easier to get into the books.

Chloe: Soon after reading and loving ‘The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic’, I knew that I wanted to try and read as many more of these books as I could, and quickly got hold of a copy of the second book in the series, Shopaholic Abroad. I was wondering how Becky and her quirkiness would translate over the pond, but it did brilliant, and it was still so funny. I’d actually been to New York by the time I’d read this, and so was able to imagine the places Becky went, and for me that made it even better. I love how Kinsella moves along the relationship of Becky and Luke in this book, you really do have to feel sorry for Luke lol but overall, it is a great read and a fab follow-up to the first book in the series.

Danielle: I have to say, at first I was a bit confused, because in America Shopaholic Abroad is actually Shopaholic Takes Manhattan. Which, as Leah pointed out to me, makes more since because I’m not exactly going abroad by heading to Manhattan. Either way it’s a fantastic read! One of the aspects I really enjoyed was her relationship with her favorite banker Derek Smeath. It was such fun to see him more relaxed and the interaction between the two. Overall, it wasn’t my absolute favourite of the series, but it was so nice to have this story to help develop Becky and Luke’s relationship a little more before Shopaholic Ties the Knot.

As well as finding out why YOU love Sophie Kinsella, we decided to ask some authors and people in the publishing world why they love Sophie Kinsella as well, just to see if she had huge appeal amongst her fellow authors too, so here we go!

Kate Johnson: “She wrote such a lovely hero in Luke that I named my own favourite hero after him!”

Victoria Connelly: “I love Sophie Kinsella because … because she writes the very best romantic comedies around! Her heroines are adorable and totally identifiable, her heroes are always gorgeous (I’m still in love with Nathaniel from The Undomestic Goddess) and she has plenty of laugh out loud moments which never fail to brighten up a reader’s day.”

Clodagh Murphy: “What I love about Sophie Kinsella is that she’s very funny - one of the funniest chick lit writers, in my opinion.”

Jill Mansell: “I love Sophie Kinsella’s books because they’re so feel-good, so funny, so cleverly plotted and so beautifully written. The style is deceptively simple but impossible to replicate. No one else writes like Sophie Kinsella, although many have tried. And her characters are flawed but loveable - traits we all secretly wish we could possess!”

Lynsey Dalladay (Transworld Pubs): “I love Sophie Kinsella because she created Becky Bloomwood! Every time I open a credit card bill with a sense of foreboding I think of Becky and laugh. Sophie Kinsella has the magical touch of making our everyday problems larger than life and intensely funny. There is a little bit of Becky in all of us! “

Polly Andrews (Transworld pubs): I love Sophie Kinsella because she’s a great comic writer. Becky Bloomwood gets in to bottom-clenchingly embarrassing situations and yet you love her for it. I don’t know one girl who hasn’t justified a purchase the way Becky does. Sophie’s comic timing is also impeccable and she’s got an eye for creating hilarious but believable characters that you know you’ll miss once you’ve put that book down. Every time the proof of the new Kinsella arrives at the publishers, there are whispers of excitement through the corridors and all the available copies seem to hop off my shelves and into people’s handbags without me noticing. A new Shopaholic is one of those treats you wish you could savour but you end up gulping down in one and snorting embarrassingly throughout. Sophie Kinsella’s novels are timely, witty and have a big heart – much like the lady herself!

Ruth Saberton: “I think the reason I love Sophie Kinsella’s writing so much is because although it’s laugh out loud funny and so easy to read she deals with really relevant and serious issues by tempering them with humour. I remember the first time I read “The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic” and although I was laughing at all the things Becky does to try and solve her financial problems I also recognised that there was an awful lot of truth in the humour. It’s so easy to get into debt and many times I’ve used Becky’s flawed logic to justify buying the same shoes in different colours (They’re in the sale so it’s saving money!) and who hasn’t bought a lottery ticket and convinced themselves that they’re bound to win that night and solve all their problems? I think Kinsella’s gift is that she manages to tune into the zeitgeist but in such a fresh and light hearted way that the reader doesn’t mind laughing at herself as well as at Becky’s antics. Her novels also make the reader think and examine their own lives and relationships.

Sasha Wagstaff: I love Sophie Kinsella because I think she’s one of the key players when it comes to writers of classic ‘chick lit’. Her characters are instantly likeable as well as relatable and we’re rooting for them from the first couple of pages. Kinsella writes stories that flow easily…ones that can be devoured in one sitting and that’s a sign of a great writer, in my opinion. ‘Easy reading’ doesn’t mean ‘easy writing’…it’s a tricky thing to pull off and not every writer manages it. I loved the ‘Shopaholic’ series and I am catching up with the stand alone books at the moment. They are great fun, hugely enjoyable and a pleasure to read…here’s hoping there are plenty more in the pipeline!

Note: This book is also published under the title of ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’

Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time …shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can’t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something - just a little something …Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card? Confessions of a Shopaholic …the perfect pick me up for when it’s all hanging in the (bank) balance.

Leah: Despite there being five other Shopaholic books, I’m firmly in the mind that the original is undoubtedly the best. Because as much as I’ve loved the continuing adventures of Becky Bloomwood, you just can’t beat getting to meet her that first time as she worries about opening her bank statement. Or how she borrows £20 from Luke for a scarf. There’s just something about Becky that makes me whiz through the book, despite her often flighty ways and inability to stop spending! It’s an absolute must-read for all Chick Lit fans and I assure you that Becky will keep you coming back for more.

Chloe: I didn’t actually read this book until around 2004 when I went to University. I was given some money by my family to buy some bit with, and I knew I wanted to take some books, and this was one of my choices simply based on the synopsis… it sounded hilarious and I knew I needed something funny to get me through the lonely nights! Becky Bloomwood was the perfect companion for my evening reads, and I found Kinsella’s writing style so funny and natural that I knew she would become one of my favourite authors after reading this book. It genuinely is laugh-out-loud funny, has the perfect heroine and is an absolutely brilliant start to one of the most readable book series of all time.