by Sophie Kinsella
First published in Great Britain in 2000.
I'm the first to confess that several of my teenage years were spent reading cheesy books about romance, shopping, holidays and other female-related dramas; in short 'chick lit'. As I have grown and expanded my reading, most of the chick lit has been donated to charity shops, however there is one series which has survived and kept it's place on my bookcase. The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic is the first in Sophie Kinsella's (as of April 2014) six book series.
Rebecca (Becky) Bloomwood is a finance journalist with a shopping problem. She indulges in retail therapy without checking her bank statements and dreads getting her credit card bills. Although Rebecca knows she should stop, she fails at both 'Cutting Back' and 'Making More Money'. The first book follows Rebecca as she lives with her best friend Suze, tries different jobs and meets a Mr Luke Brandon, all the while telling her bank manager she is ill or on holiday to avoid seeing him.
The story is rather lightweight and easy to read, but is one which will always be relevant. The struggle Becky faces with her bills is one a lot of people will relate to, although nowadays the idea of getting into debt through clothes shopping seems pretty silly. The financial jargon is minimal, and the fact that most readers (unless you're a financial business person) will have a minimal understanding adds to the lack of understanding Becky has in her job and her lifestyle.
Becky is a strong character with emotions every woman can relate to, and although she is a bit annoying at times, she always redeems herself. She manages to get herself into tangles of fibs and messes, but comes through at the last minute. I do despair at times, but the writing is so funny that it is easy to see past Becky constantly falling back into her shopping habits and see the good heart underneath. There are not many books which make me laugh out loud, but this series is definitely one.
The rest of the series is Shopaholic Abroad, Shopaholic Ties The Knot, Shopaholic And Sister, Shopaholic And Baby and Mini Shopaholic. Even with Becky going through different stages and events in her life she stays true to herself and what she knows to be right. I feel that readers will relate to each book differently, depending on where they are at in their own lives, and I know I'll be re-reading them in the future.
On a side note, there was a film released in 2009 based on the first book, but the books are definitely better. (Don't even get me started on them making Becky American!)
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