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Books : Romance
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Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic Abroad will prove a big treat for fans of The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic with the irrepressible Rebecca Bloomwood, the financial journalist with the stratospheric credit card bills, returning to the high streets. But things have changed for the impulsive shopper: "I'm a completely different person from the old Becky. I'm a reformed character. I haven't even got an overdraft!" Her high-flying boyfriend Luke has got a job in America and Becky's going with him to the land of "yellow taxi cabs and skyscrapers, and Woody Allen and Breakfast at Tiffanys"; she's also got the possibility of a television slot advising viewers on money matters. Of course New York also has department stores, lots of them:
There's always that buzz as you push open the door, that hope, that belief that this is going to be the shop of all shops, which will bring you everything you ever wanted, at magically low prices.
And Rebecca starts to indulge in the poetry of purchasing. Unfortunately she's brought down to earth with a bump, the light and glitter and the voices telling her she was the next big thing are an illusion, her debts are still scary and her boyfriend hates her. So it's back to England for Becky, for an inventive denouement and a delayed happy ending.This is a hugely engaging novel. The breathless pace speeds you through the story, and Becky's character is so funny and feckless that you'll be laughing out loud, while turning a blind eye to your own credit card bill. This is a must-read for retail therapy addicts everywhere. --Eithne Farry
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On the face of it, Rebecca Bloomwood has it all. Confident, single and happily living in des-res Fulham with her best friend Suze, she's a financial journalist who spends her days writing articles advising other people on the importance of budgeting and prudent investing. Her private life is a different story though; Rebecca manages her own finances in a way that would make most of her readers' hair curl--for Rebecca is a woman on a mission--she just can't stop spending.
I look up and I'm in front of Octagon. My favourite shop in the whole world. Three floors of clothes, accessories, furnishing, gifts, coffee shops, juice bars and a florist which makes you want to fill your entire home with flowers. I've got my purse with me. Just something small, to cheer me up. A T-shirt or something. Or even some bubble bath. I won't spend much. I'll just go in and... I'm already pushing my way through the doors. Oh God, the relief. The warmth, the light. This is where I belong. This is my natural habitat.
As the plot unfolds, Rebecca finds increasingly bizarre and often highly comical ways to ignore her ever-growing debts and mounting pile of unpaid Visa bills and red bank statements. Got a bill you can't pay? No problem. Just take it out for a walk and deposit it in the nearest skip whilst no-one is looking. Need to justify that £120 velvet scarf? Don't worry! It was a snip at half price in the sale, so what initially looks like a splurge is actually an example of canny discount shopping. Rebecca's disastrous love life mirrors her finances. And her career seems to be taking a turn for the worse, too. That is, until she finds a financial story that really sparks her journalistic interest, and begins to spar with handsome and successful financial PR millionaire Luke Brandon. Witty, light-hearted and often hilarious, The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic is the ideal read for anyone who has ever found themselves mentally justifying rash purchases in their heads, or buying just one more pair of black trousers because they are so different from the other eight pairs in their wardrobe. --Emily Lowson -





















