Late Night Shopping (Annie Valentine)

by Carmen Reid

[Leah]

Uber-busy Annie Valentine – mum to two demanding children and personal shopper in a swanky London fashion store – is now intent on setting up a shoe and handbag empire of her own, and she’ll do anything to get there. But what about her adorable new man? As someone who wants nothing more than a quiet life, Ed is shocked to discover Annie staking their home on her success, and now their relationship is on the line. Is Annie’s surprise remedy – an extravagant friends and family holiday to Italy – really what they all need? Especially when a dashing Italian businessman promises to fulfil Annie’s every dream . . .

After finally deciding to read Carmen Reid’s Annie Valentine series and thoroughly enjoying the first book, I was definitely eager to get stuck into the rest of the series. The next book Late Night Shopping has my favourite cover of all of Carmen’s Annie V books (including new one New York Valentine), so I started it expecting another fun, fashion-filled read and I wasn’t disappointed.

Late Night Shopping is the second novel in Carmen Reid’s Annie Valentine series, with (at least) three more books to follow it, and picks up about a year after where The Personal Shopper left off. Annie is back working for The Store again, her relationship with Ed is as fantastic as ever and she’s trying really hard to turn her EBay store into something a little more… real, and maybe even start up her own business. The fact the book picks up a year later is no hardship at all and I found myself slipping back into the mad world of Annie V very easily.

The book spends a chunk of time in Italy, after Annie books a holiday for herself, Ed, the kids, her sister and Aunty and I quite enjoyed the change of scenery. Of course, being in Italy (the handbag and shoe capital of the World, I think Annie calls it) is Annie’s version of heaven as she finds herself making plans to import a ton of cheap handbags from the handsome Mr Bellisimo (Annie’s nickname for him). But it’s on the holiday where things start to go downhill for Annie and Ed, and it looks like it might be curtains for them! I liked Reid’s descriptions of Italy, and it must have taken some research to get it just so, but I think Reid got the descriptions spot on. I also liked the developing relationship between Ed, Lana and Owen. It’s seems to have moved up a level since the first book and shows that step-parents aren’t always wicked!

Annie is a fantastic character, there’s no doubt about it. She really does shine off the pages and although she can be a little Becky Bloomwood-esque (not telling their boyfriend/husband about shopping purchases, getting into sticky situations), I do find Annie very different to Becky, but both are equally fantastic characters for different reasons. I completely admire Annie’s approach to life, she’s a bit like a pinball, constantly moving, always bouncing from one thing to another. Ed, her partner, on the other hand is Annie’s safety vest, always looking out for her, trying to dissuade her from her more adventurous schemes and making sure her kids are looked after while she’s at work. I find Ed very intriguing, he’s such a lovely character. I personally don’t think we saw as much of Annie’s kids this time around, Lana and Owen, which was disappointing as the family as a unit makes for fabulous reading but what I saw was promising. I love how Owen is getting more confidence and seeing Lana grow up into a young adult is also great. Annie’s GBF, Connor, is back and as glorious as ever, honestly, he deserves his own spin-off series.

Late Night Shopping is, like its predecessor, told from the third person perspective and it works incredibly well. I did have a few problems with the book as a whole, Annie can be a bit lacking sometimes when it comes to her kids, especially when her head is so full of ideas of starting her own business and I didn’t like the way she ignored everything Ed had to say about her running her own business accusing him of not backing her. I didn’t think it was fair of her, at all. But apart from those little niggles I raced through the book as eagerly as I did The Personal Shopper. Honestly, I really cannot believe it’s taken me so long to read this series as it’s hugely enjoyable. I truly never believed a book about a personal shopper could be so good but with a core of five fantastic characters as well as a multitude of others; family, Annie’s clients, etc, makes for fascinating reading and I can’t wait to get stuck into How Not To Shop.