The Fabulously Fashionable Life of Isabel Bookbinder

by Holly McQueen

[Leah]

Isabel Bookbinder is back and she isn’t going to be a novelist any more. No, Isabel Bookbinder is going to be a fashion designer.

She can’t actually sew or anything, but she has her mood-book which is a must-have for any wannabe fashionista!

Bagging a job with Nancy Tavistock, admittedly, as a PA, is like a dream come true for Isabel…. everything’s going smoothly, or so it seems, because things don’t always go right when Isabel’s involved…

Having thoroughly enjoyed Isabel’s escapades in the first Holly McQueen novel, The Glamorous (Double) Life of Isabel Bookbinder, I was looking forward to its sequel The Fabulously Fashionable Life of Isabel Bookbinder. This time though, I was disappointed.

Let’s start with the fact that Isabel hasn’t changed at all. She didn’t learn from anything that took place in The Glamorous (Double) Life, namely not to lie and embellish details of her life. Even the hardest of Becky Bloomwood fans (of Shopaholic fame) would find it difficult to believe Isabel’s stupidity – not only that but Isabel isn’t that stupid since, as the heroine of the novel, she has to save the day. I know Isabel is ambitious and wants to make it as a fashionista but, like before when she wanted to be a novelist, she didn’t seem to grasp that to be either of those things you need to have talent – ie. if you want to be a fashion designer you do have to make your own clothes.

The stupid thing is I liked Isabel. She does remind me of Becky Bloomwood she just irritates me when she doesn’t grasp things. The drug arrest was funny but the things leading up to it, namely Isabel thinking in the first place it was anything to do with drugs, wasn’t funny and came across really badly. I don’t expect Isabel to be ridiculously clever but as a 27-year-old woman she should be a bit street-wise.

I found the sub-plot with Ben pointless beyond belief. Probably because I actually liked Will. He was barely featured in the first book so I expected so much more of him in this one and, again, he was barely in it. I think Holly could have written the book the way she did but with Will and Isabel together and it still would have worked. Breaking them up was pointless and happened in the most cliched of ways.

Whereas I liked the articles between each chapter in the first book I thought they were dull and uninspired in this one. I found myself skipping them because I just couldn’t be bothered with them.

However, for all I’ve said, it wasn’t a horrific book. I found I could still easily carry on reading it, although at some points I did want it to end. I loved the fashion plot of the book even though I’m in no way fashion inclined. I liked Nancy Tavistock, and thought she and Isabel got on really well. I found Lara and Matthew’s continuing sub-plot tiresome but I wanted Lara to have her happy ending.

Overall this was a really disappointing book and I can now see why Chloe hated the first one. I liked how Isabel came across in the first book because it was more naivety than stupidity but to carry it on in the second just made it tiresome. Isabel is likeable enough but the fact Holly McQueen wants us to think she’s that naive is just unbelievable. It’s good escapism, but you really need to take a huge pinch of salt before reading it.

Rating: 2/5