The Dial Press 2007Hardcover, 368 pages
I have a love-hate relationship with the Shopaholic books...well, maybe more of a like-hate relationship. I have read all of them - yes, all of them! - but every one makes me so irritated with the protagonist that I can hardly stand it. If you haven't read these books, they are centred around Becky Bloomwood, a young Brit who must have the IQ of a potato. She started out as a financial journalist who had no idea of how to manage her own finances, and spent ridiculous amounts of money on shopping, spa treatments, and the like, racking up huge credit debts. Of course she meets a handsome, rich, intelligent, and charming man who, miracle of miracles, falls in love with her, and the series has followed her love life as well as her struggles to kick the shopping habit.
The most frustrating thing about these books is that Becky spends huge amounts of money, and yet always manages to get herself out of every predicament without too much trouble. I resent the implication in the later books that her husband is likely bailing her out of her financial woes, and although in every book it seems she has mended her ways, she always goes back to her foolish, superficial self.
This book chronicles Becky's pregnancy, and of course there are doubts and confusions (is Luke having an affair?) and lots of shopping for completely over-the-top designer baby gear. It's pretty predicable stuff, really. And yet by the end of the book Becky has not only come out as a workplace hero (despite her apparent aversion to work and complete lack of business sense) but with a perfect husband and baby, to boot. Towards the end of the book Becky confronts her husband Luke, who has been spending far too much time with an old flame who is seemingly a better match for him in every way, with the big question - "Why did you marry me?". Of course Luke comes up with a very romantic answer which wasn't believable to me in the least. But it was the question I constantly ask myself as I'm reading these books. He sounds like quite a catch, and I can't believe that he would put up with all the ridiculousness.
Although these books drive me crazy, I will very likely keep reading them - they're good fluffy reading in between the more serious stuff, and I'm kind of curious to see how things turn out. It's like those really painful episodes of Frasier, where everything is degenerating into sillier and sillier situations and you just want to strangle the characters, but it's kind of fun to see where it ends up. I will be interested to see whether motherhood changes Becky in the least; my gut says "no", if for no other reason than she probably wouldn't sell nearly as many books if she actually acted like a normal human being.
Only two stars from me...but I'm embarrassed to say I'll probably read the next book too!
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