Book Review: Shopaholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella
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.
Most people would think Annie Baker had it all: an idyllic life in the country and a fabulous job as a film producer. And so would she, if it weren’t for the men in her life. 
There’s an art to choosing men …but Thea’s just discovering it. 
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.
Bee Bearhorn had a number-one hit single in 1985 – and was never heard of again. Fifteen years later she is found dead in her flat and nobody seems to care … 
