Christmas Shopaholic (Shopaholic, #9)

by Sophie Kinsella

[Leah]

Sophie Kinsella is my favourite author, I have never read a bad book by her, and never read a book by her that I haven’t rated 5 stars. By extension, Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is my favourite, favourite, favourite fictional character. Her adventures are hilarious, I love the bones of her and I think of her, genuinely, as if she’s a real person that I know. We haven’t had a new Shopaholic book in ages, so when it was announced that not only were we getting a new Shopaholic book this year, but a CHRISTMAS SHOPAHOLIC book, I was ecstatic. Christmas & Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood)? Mate, that is perfection right there for me.

Christmas Shopaholic is the first book I’ve finished since April. I have many half-read books since then, but this is the first book I’ve completed since then and probably the quickest I’ve read a book all year. I lost my mojo! But it has been found, and I couldn’t have asked for a better book to get me back into that reading spirit. The Shopaholic novels all follow the same formula at this point – Becky agrees to some outlandish idea (in this case, Christmas), gets supremely stressed (standard), and ends up spending a shedload of money on stuff that she doesn’t actually need (but may need in the future, because PLANNING) and it all ends happily (not a spoiler, just a fact). You don’t read a Shopaholic book for the story (and I don’t mean that in a bad way), you read the Shopaholic books for Becky. She is the star, ultimately. She is The One.

How Becky has never had a Christmas adventure so far is beyond me, I know Minnie was born during December, and if possibly Becky and Luke’s wedding was in the winter time, I would have to go back and check, but we’ve never had a full-fledged, Becky-hosts-Christmas adventure until now and it’s filled with all of the madness you would expect – fighting and sniping and backstabbing people who try to ruin everything (but no Alicia Bitch Long Legs soooooooo, winning?!) and Becky having meltdowns and it is just so much fun. Not for poor Becky, but for the reader it is immense. As soon as you step into Becky’s world, it’s like having a warm blanket wrapped around your shoulders, so cosy and nice. It’s like she’s never been away. I cannot overstate this, but I could read about Becky permanently, like I sincerely hope Sophie Kinsella does Becky forever, like can you imagine old-age Becky and Luke? AMAZING. And then the potential Minnie spin-off? Excuse me, I think I’m in heaven.

And it wouldn’t be a Shopaholic book if Becky didn’t do it in her own way and pull off some kind of wonder-stroke in the name of making her family happy, and what she does for Luke in Christmas Shopaholic is just IMMENSE. Like *chefs kiss* perfect. She is honestly a genuine wonder. Not to mention all my old favourites – Suze and Becky’s parents, and Jess and Janice and Martin and the kids. It’s like a satisfying mad-cap sitcom that I’m honoured to get a glimpse of. This series just fills me with so much joy and wonder and happiness. And I haven’t even gotten to my absolute favourite part of this series and that’s Becky and Luke’s relationship. It is everything you would ever want a relationship to be. We’ve seen them go from strength to strength and face so many issues and obstacles and difficulties to finally get to this place where the point of the books isn’t about whether their marriage will survive, because it will always survive and prevail. We’ve seen Luke grow to just accept Becky as she is and just go along with whatever she’s planning and even help out. It fills me with so much joy to read because I just love them. They are the perfect couple in every way and it just makes me so happy.

I genuinely loved every page of Christmas Shopaholic, until I got to the end which made me SCREAM. Like out loud. Sophie Kinsella, you are the absolute worst to end the book the way you did. In a good way, because boy was that a satisfying ending, though. I cannot get over it, I cannot get over that final line in Christmas Shopaholic. I will not get over it, until I have the next Shopaholic book in my hands and if it is not in my hands within the next 6 months, I will start a bloody petition, because you can’t end a book like that and then leave it possibly for 2 or 3 years. YOU JUST CAN’T. So I beg of you, Sophie, please, please, please make your next book a Shopholic book, preferably coming out in like 6 weeks time? Please? I adored this book. It made me so happy. We don’t deserve the Shopaholic books, they are too precious for this world and long may that continue. Bravo, Sophie Kinsella, you’ve done it again.