Leah
Written on Jun 16, 2010
I first heard about Holly McQueen’s Isabel Bookbinder series when I saw it on Amazon. I liked the sound of the synopsis for the first book (The Glamorous (Double) Life of Isabel Bookbinder) and I wanted to read it even more after reading all the reviews on Amazon. They weren’t nice and likened Isabel to everyone’s favourite heroine Becky Bloomwood which is why I wanted to read the book; I love Becky so I figured it would be interesting to see if the Amazon reviewers were correct and Isabel was indeed a carbon copy of Becky. I managed to get a hold of the book and I actually loved it. Yes, it was remarkably similar to Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I then picked up book two (The Fabulously Fashionable Life of Isabel Bookbinder) and I didn’t think it was as good. After reading the synopsis of Confetti Confidential, though, I decided I would buy the book because, believe it or not, I do like Isabel so I was looking forward to reading it.
All of Holly McQueen’s books seem to follow the same format for Isabel: she comes up with a wacky new career she’d like to try (novelist, fashion designer and, now, wedding planner), she ends up getting herself a good job in each of those careers before messing it up spectacularly and deciding she’ll just do it herself. There may be some variations on that theme, but that’s generally how the books go. It works, don’t get me wrong, although it is debatable just how believable it is that Isabel changes careers so often. My main problem with the second Isabel Bookbinder book (Fabulously Fashionable) was that Isabel didn’t seem to learn anything after everything that happened in book one (Glamorous (Double) Life). That’s the only problem I had with the book and overall I did enjoy it.
Confetti Confidential sees Isabel trying to become a wedding planner. She manages to wangle herself a job with Pippa Everitt but it all goes inevitably wrong so she decides to set up her own wedding planning business called Isabel Bookbinder, Individual Weddings. I have to admit I do admire Isabel’s determination. Despite not being a very good novelist, and not being able to stitch or anything, she does stick to her career choice (until another one comes along, anyway). Isabel is easily likeable, too. A lot of people may use the term ‘annoying’ rather like ‘likeable’ but I personally like her. She’s sweet and the things she does aren’t out of spite or anything but to try and help her friends and family. Isabel does seem to have grown up a little bit and does recognize (eventually) how some of her ideas and full-on-ness might be misconstrued. Isabel’s family and best friend Lara play a huge part in all of the books and despite the fact that it seems Isabel’s dad doesn’t totally get her, they do seem like a nice family. Finally we have Will, Isabel’s boyfriend. I like Will, but even after three books I still don’t think we know him as well as we could and I wish he featured a bit more.
Confetti Confidential is fairly well written; it’s very similar to Sophie Kinsella’s writing so it’s easy to read and I did manage to fly through the book which has just over 500 pages. One thing that is starting to get a little annoying is the many letters/interviews Isabel conducts between some of the chapters. They kind of break up the flow of the story, despite some of them being a bit amusing. There are also some amusing parts throughout the book and Holly McQueen definitely writes some good comedy moments. My main problem with Confetti Confidential though was how Isabel and Will’s relationship progressed. Or, rather, how it didn’t progress. You would think after two books we would be making good progress in the third but there wasn’t much, not really. Isabel does wonder if he might be about to propose, and Isabel does move back in, but as expected another man comes into the picture and it all goes back to square one. It’s frustrating because I personally believe that instead of throwing other men between Isabel and Will, we should instead see how their relationship moves on (like Becky and Luke’s in the Shopaholic series). There’s no need for man drama, because Isabel has enough drama with her job.
There was a nice ending to Confetti Confidential, which rather paves the way for book four, should such a book be in the works and I will certainly buy it. I do enjoy getting into Isabel’s life because it’s certainly full of colour and drama but I do wish there’d be more progress made. I’d love to see Isabel stick with a job for more than one book and I’d love it if Isabel and Will could make a bit more progress together. Overall, it was a decent enough read and it certainly has readability. It’s a good series, don’t get me wrong, but the two sequels so far haven’t managed to live up to the fab first book