The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (Shopaholic, #1)

by Sophie Kinsella

[Leah]

Rebecca ("Becky") Bloomwood lives in a fantastic flat in "Trendy Fulham" along with best friend Suze, has a (boring) job at Successful Savings and has a stunning wardrobe and can't stop buying new clothes. The trouble is, she can't actually afford any of the clothes (or shoes, or furnishings) that she's buying. Becky is constantly being hounded by letters from her bank and her credit card company but instead of dealing with them she instead hides them in drawers and throws them in skips. Becky tries to cut back, and when that fails she tries to make more money, and it looks as though this Shopaholic isn't ever going to get out of debt or find a job she cares about... until a story opens up that could change her life (and her finances). But can Becky finally get the respect she feels she deserves, and will she ever learn the errors of her money spending ways?

I adore Sophie Kinsella. And although this might be a cliche, I am a Sophie-Kinsella-aholic. Yes, I went there. I have loved everything she has ever written under her Sophie Kinsella moniker (that's 9 books and counting). Her 'Shopaholic' series featuring the ever-lovely Becky Bloomwood is probably one of the best known series in Chick Lit and it's one you'll either love or hate. Despite my fear of shopping - I really, really hate it - I surprisingly adore the books and because I knew a new Shopaholic is coming our way in September, I decided I needed to give the books a re-read and see if they stood up to the re-read test.

A surprising thing I realised when I was looking at the first few pages of the book was the fact that, this year, Confessions of a Shopaholic (or The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic) is 10 years old. I'm fairly surprised at that, as I wasn't sure the book was that old. There are some pop culture mentions that are fairly aged - Live and Kicking, anyone? - but overall the book has aged tremendously well and anyone reading it for the first time won't have any trouble reading it. I don't particularly know what it is about the Shopaholic books that are so appealing to me but they're just so easy and accessible reads that I breeze through them with relative ease.

Despite the fact I have no idea when it comes to fashion, nor do I ever see myself getting into the ridiculous amounts of debt Becky finds herself in, I do find Becky easy to relate to. She's warm, she's funny and although I do sometimes want to slap her due to her debt-related blind ignorance, I do still love her. Much like the book, she is a Marmite character and you'll either love her or hate her. I love her, as I've said because despite her ignorance towards the letters she receives about her debt, she does still seem to be kind at heart and the only reason she lies is from embarrassment or to save her parents from knowing the truth. She does also manage to get herself into some hilarious pickles. One of my favourite pickles happens early on in the book when she accidentally asks out loud for £20 so she can get a Denny and George scarf at a conference, and Luke Brandon, head honcho of Brandon Communications, lends her it thinking it's for her (fake) Aunt Ermintrude who's in hospital. There are many other instances like that, and they help endear Becky to readers more and more.

There are many other characters who make up Confessions of a Shopaholic; there's Suze, Becky's rich flatmate and best friend, who I really love. She does kind of fuel Becky's addiction to shopping (she's rich, she can shop all she likes, after all) but I love her just as much as I love Becky. In fact I would probably say I love all of the important characters in the book, Becky's parents in particular are hilarious and I love the family relationship they share. Finally there's the lovely Luke Brandon. He and Becky don't get off to the most auspicious start; the money for the scarf, among other things, but I enjoy their relationship and it's good to see how it all began, with the knowledge of the future books in mind. Confessions of a Shopaholic has such a good cast of characters, characters it's easy to like and easy to care for.

One thing I will admit is that Sophie Kinsella is not the best writer in the world; I don't mean that she's a 'bad' writer, on the contrary, she's a fantastic writer, but her books aren't written like some chick lit author's books. They're written in a fairly simple manner, very chatty, making it so easy to get into Becky and her life and it works so well. Confessions of a Shopaholic is certainly a book I would say all Chick Lit fans should read because it is so enjoyable. It's not one of the deep chick lit books, it's light, it's airy and I just plain old love it.