Sunday, December 20, 2009

Book Review - Remember Me?: A Novel by Sophie Kinsella

Sophie Kinsella takes a stab at writing an amnesia fic with Remember Me?: A Novel and I thought she did a pretty good job of making a cliche'd plot seem fresh.

Lexi Smart, ordinary girl with a loser boyfriend and bad hair days, wakes up to find that she has magically become a different person. She discovers that it is not 2004 as she thinks, and that she has no memory of the past three years. Lexi has somehow woken up to the life she has always dreamed of - she's rich, she's a successful businesswoman, she's thin & gorgeous (!) with perfect hair, teeth and clothes, and get this, a freakin' gorgeous hunk of a millionaire husband Eric. Like, wowza! If only we all woke up to that fairytale too, huh?

Pretty soon though, Lexi discovers that things are not as rosy as they appear. She can't quite strike up a romantic spark with her new husband, none of her old friends like her in the present time, and her new-self is this cold-hearted, cut-throat person known for being a holy terror of a boss.

Lexi can't get a handle on her new life and job, and on top of everything, she finds herself attracted to her husband's friend & business colleague Jon. Imagine her shock when Jon tells Lexi that they were having an affair and that she was about to leave her husband for him before she got amnesia!

What a terribly muddled turn of events, right? Yes, the amnesia schtick is overused, but Sophie Kinsella manages to coax a funny, fresh and ultimately, heartwarming and love-affirming story out of it. You will cheer Lexi on as she tries to rediscover herself and reconcile who she was with who she had become.

Check out Remember Me?: A Novel by Sophie Kinsella on Amazon!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Book Review - The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

I skipped over Sophie Kinsella's 'Can You Keep A Secret?' since I couldn't make myself finish it. Just too horrid of a book.

Anyway, bearing in mind that I really really liked 'Confessions of a Shopaholic', I decided to take a chance on 'The Undomestic Goddess'.

Samantha Sweeting, Sophie Kinsella's new heroine, is thankfully about 180 degrees NOT a Becky Bloomwood clone. Samantha is pushing thirty, and is a very driven workaholic lawyer at the London-based law firm Carter Spink. She is also just about to achieve the dream of a lifetime - she may just be the firm's newest partner!

Alas, in one horrible day, Samantha's entire carefully constructed life collapses around her. She discovers that she has made an awful awful mistake at work that could cost a client more money than God, and Samantha goes into nervous breakdown and runs to the boondocks to hide.

This is where the entire premise of the novel goes haywire, and Sophie Kinsella asks her readers to set aside all sense of reality and just go with the flow... Somehow, Samantha finds herself employed as a housekeeper out in the English countryside by the noveau rich Geigers. Samantha (who does not have the first idea on running a household and household chores) then deals with absurd situation after absurd household situation, and at the same time, falls in love with the local gardener Nathaniel.

Yeah, like I can believe that a hard-driving attorney would be happy scrubbing toilets ;-) Samantha has to deal with her old life eventually, though, so how will she be able to connect her new self with all her old problems? And what about Nathaniel? Read the book to find out!

This book is not even in the same universe of quality of Chick-lit as 'Confessions of a Shopaholic', but it is still a fun humorous read, as long as you are willing to suspend all sense of reality while reading.

Check out The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella on Amazon!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Book Review - Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella

In what has to be the last book of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series, Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood)is back in 'Shopaholic & Baby' and yes, horrors of horrors, Becky is going to be a mother! Heavens, will she grow up in time for this responsibility?

Becky should be a responsible adult - she's a respectable married woman (to that hunky Luke Brandon who is still so enigmatic to me even though this is the 5th book!), well employed as a personal shopper at a trendy London boutique, AND she is pregnant and about to have a baby!

Sophie Kinsella scrapes the barrel in the plot for this novel - basically, she shows how silly and out-touch-with reality people can be with the obsession over shopping only in upscale baby boutiques, snagging the IT celebrity ob-gyn, the latest in 21st century strollers.

Pumped up with pregnancy hormones and the extra weight, Becky is extra insecure and suspects that her hubbie Luke is having an affair with her ob-gyne Venetia (who also happens to be Luke's ex!) - and Becky's kinda half right there... So, will Becky triumph in the end and have her happy ever after?

Well, all I can say is that I did hope for a happy ever after, since to be honest, I don't think I can stomach another book in this series. There's a point where you have to admit that a gimmick is all played out, and that point occurred in book #4 for me.

Check out Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella on Amazon!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Book Review - Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella

Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is back in Sophie Kinsella's fourth book 'Shopaholic & Sister' in her highly successful series. Personally, I think that the whole Shopaholic series is all played out, but Ms Kinsella is still pushing for as long as this ride lasts.

Becky is high flying and has had an amazing year! Somehow, Luke has agreed to go on a round-the-world honeymoon (slash shopping) trip with her, where Becky has managed to also indulge her spendthrift ways. But Becky goes crashing back on the ground when the couple go back to London.

Luke is none too happy when Becky's honeymoon purchases show up, and is buried back at work pretty soon. An increasingly insecure Becky finds that life has moved on while she went on her year-long jaunt around the world - her best friend Suze has found a new best friend AND Becky finds out that she has a hitherto undiscovered older half-sister Jessica (a product of Becky's dad's indiscretions before marrying Becky's mom).

Becky figures out that she gets to have the best of both worlds - why not befriend her new half-sister and end up with a new best friend of her very own? Unfortunately, Jessica turns out to be anti- Becky with her thrifty anti-shopping approach to life. Horrors!

Becky ends up wallowing in angst she has never had to deal with before (including a purchase that could possibly put a wedge between her and Luke), but will she be able to turn things around in the nick of time for her happiness as before?

The answer is of course yes for the irrepressible Becky, but I have to say that this is the least winning-est book yet in this series. It's hard not to be annoyed by how Becky never seems to learn her lessons and yet, how everyone around her always end up giving her a free pass in the end.

Check out Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella on Amazon!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Book Review - Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella

Scatter-brained heroine Becky Bloomwood returns in book #3 'Shopaholic Ties the Knot' of Sophie Kinsella's highly successful series!

Life is amazingly good for Becky Bloomwood these days. Instead of slaving away in finance circles (which she has always hated), she has a dream job as a personal shopper at Barney's! Plus points in her life with employee discounts which Becky avails of liberally (yes, she is still the hair-brained spendthrift she has always been, sigh). But the best news ever is that she and her hunk of a millionaire boyfriend Luke have reunited and are now living blissfully in trendy West Village in New York (as long as Luke doesn't find out about her shopping habit... dun dun dun).

Life will just get more amazing for Becky, right? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, Luke has finally popped the question, and hello, of course Becky has said yes, I will marry you, silly! And just like that, Becky gets herself in a bit a quandary.

Luke's high society mother has booked the Plaza, and a wedding coordinator who is planning a glamorous high society frothy concoction of a Manhattan wedding for Luke and Becky. Lovely, right? I'd be happy with that too!

Unfortunately, Becky's own mum is also planning a wedding to take place in the backyard of her childhood home in England. And hapless Becky has said yes to both weddings! What is she to do now with two weddings scheduled to happen on the same day??? Well, leave it to Becky to blunder her way back and forth to a happy ending!

Chock full of hilarity as always, but I must say that events get to be even more nonsensical than the previous. I'm wondering how long Sophie Kinsella can work this schtick in a new novel!

Check out Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella on Amazon!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Book Review - Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella

Becky Bloomwood is back in the second book by Sophie Kinsella, following the success of 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'.

When we meet Becky Bloomwood again, she's in a very good place. She's in love with her hunk of a millionaire boyfriend Luke Brandon, and has a very good high paying job as a personal finance expert on a morning TV show. Those days of debt are behind her!

Um, not quite, unfortunately. Becky hasn't really kicked her habit, and her new high paying job may have paid off her old debts, but she has wasted no time in collecting a new pile of unpaid bills! Oh, Becky!

When Luke relocates temporarily to New York City to open a new office for his financial PR agency, he brings Becky along with him. While Becky tries to look for a job in New York so she can stay longer in the States, she also discovers the joys of New York Boutique shopping and yes, sample sales! Despite knowing she is sinking further into debt, Becky can't help rationalizing by saying that foreign money ($$$) doesn't count, right?

Unfortunately, things (i.e. all her lying and debts) eventually blow up in Becky's face and she's left without both a job and a boyfriend! Oh, no, how will Becky turn things around this time? Because you betcha that Becky will pick herself up and dust herself off in the end...

Becky is a winning personality and there remain numerous laugh out loud comic instances in the pages, but to be honest, I'm getting tired of how out of control she is. Does she finally learn her lesson here? Find out!

Check out Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella on Amazon!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Book Review - Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Nobody does silly chick-lit quite like Sophie Kinsella. 'Confessions of a Shopaholic', where I first met her scattered and spacey heroine Rebecca Bloomwood, made me an instant fan.

Rebecca Bloomwood is just like you and me - after graduating from college, she is offered a line of credit by her bank and gets a job writing for the financial magazine called Successful Saving. Sounds like a model citizen? Well, not quite - Becky has a problem. She can't stop shopping even though she's in debt many times over. Things are so bad that she is using a credit card to pay off old credit card bills, she hides/ throws out all the new credit card bills, she avoids her banker like the plague and tells a string of white lies more implausible than the previous - and still, when she passes by any store that has a sign saying 'SALE', she can't help but shop yet again.

Becky finds a self-help book that promises to help her deal with her debt. First line of business, scaling back! Becky earnestly tries this out by going to the museum, and attempting to cook her own food etc... all with hilarious results where Becky only ends up spending more money! Horrors!

Next, Becky tries earning more money, such as trying to apply for a new job with a resume that has been 'polished' and ends up in more trouble. She even briefly considers seducing the young cousin of her roommate (who also happens to be an aristocratic millionare) with hilarious shenanigans.

Finally, in a fit of panic, Becky ends up hiding in her parent's home with a string of lies behind her. How does she get out of this mess? Well, she does this quite brilliantly in the end while attracting the attention of young millionaire Luke Brandon. Happy ending! Well, that part reads like a fantasy to be honest, because I can't quite believe that someone like Luke would actually fall for someone like Becky, but I guess that stranger things have happened in real life!

Check out Confessions of a Shopaholic on Amazon!