Shopaholic Abroad

"Shopaholic Abroad" is very funny and I can relate to some of Rebecca (Becky, Bex) Bloomwood's problems with shopping (after all, on a 10 week business trip to the U.K. I shopped so much I had to pay £625 in excess baggage fees). Although, in my case, it's not lilac sandals I think I need (on the other hand, I went into a shoe store on Neal Street in London with a woman on my team I was traveling with and debating if I should get some sandals and when I was doubtful she pushed me, "get them, get them" and I spent £69 on them) I'm more into CDs and books...

I last read "Confessions of a Shopaholic" a few years ago so when starting this I'd forgotten various details about Becky's life, Luke, her job and what-not, but it didn't take too show more long to pick it up again, and as a completely new story, it wasn't too much trouble.

Following Becky around as she's mostly oblivious to anything except clothes is a lot of fun, and then the stories she tells her roommate, Suze or her boyfriend, Luke and the way she digs deeper and deeper holes to cover up her trail... The one page letters from her bank scattered here and there give us a view of what's happening financially.

In this case, Luke takes her on her first trip to New York City, where she goes absolutely bonkers hitting all the shops, while staying at the Four Seasons. Meanwhile she's being spied upon by someone hired by Luke's main assistant who has her own plans for his downfall, which gives Becky no few problems of her own.

Very fast paced, easy to get through, and quite a few laughs. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series, when Becky and Luke get married.

I should reread this now that I live in Manhattan and might know the locations better than previously. show less

This was the second in the Shopaholic series.

My favourite part about this book was definitely in watching how Becky accustomed to the United States and found the differences in culture. She definitely might have a skewed perception, but small details were very amusing, such as her reaction to the gym.

I felt like I saw her mature when events in the second half of the book stirred her world up and forced her to move a little into reality. I was glad that misfortune had struck her as her world was beginning to feel a little too perfect, so the drama was good.

Becky proved herself to be more real in this book and I appreciated how she grew as a character. The ultimate solution was highly entertaining, and I feel like the book had a very show more satisfying ending.

I enjoyed this one more than the first, and think it would stand well if read alone. show less

3.5 stars

Becky paid off her debt a while back, but is having trouble keeping it down again. Though she has promised her roommate she’ll be better, it’s really hard sticking to it! Her corporate boyfriend, Luke, is wanting to expand his company to the U.S., so he and Becky plan to go to New York for a couple of weeks to work on that, while Becky does some networking to see if she can also find a job. Things start off looking good, but something goes drastically wrong while there…

I have mixed feelings about Becky. I hated all the lies! Seemingly little white lies, but they build and build and build! Of course, I also don’t like shopping, so I don’t understand how she can’t hold back better on the spending, knowing how much show more trouble she’s getting into (though she doesn’t seem to be able to understand that, and she certainly can’t seem to face it). At the same time, I did feel badly for her when things went wrong. Whatever my feelings about Becky’s character, I did enjoy the book for light, mild entertainment. Except… mild ewwwww, cousins…. Ewwwwww! show less

After Confessions of a Shopaholic, I was hoping, in a very Becky-like manner, that the things I didn't like about it would magically resolve themselves in the sequel.

Becky is the stereotypical dumb girl everyone in her life, including her boyfriend, puts up with 'cause she's cute. Cute in a pity-you-cause-you're-stupid kind of way. At the sight of Luke, who ended their relationhip over a little bad publicity she freezes "like a bunny." He is the prey and she is the frozen bunny, he is the man and she is the woman. Any bells ringing?

Every other woman in the book also either lacks morals, a heart, or is moronic like Bex. Luke's mom is a bitch, Suze is a spoiled rich brat who sits around doing yoga all day and the only person buying her show more handmade frames is best friend Becky. And what about this inconspicuous roommate's (Suze) disregard of Western sexual etiquette? And Becky's mother? She lives to keep face with the neighbours.

As if the author's apparent hatred of her own gender were not quite enough to get the point across, the characters themselves are misogynous. Take a look at the way Becky views Alicia based on ... womanly intuition?? Granted, Alicia -wait for it- turns out to be a conniving bitch, but Becky couldn't know that.

Who investigates for the daily world article? well, the tax GIRL!!

Couple that with the spews of rich, successful and PATRONIZING men filling the pages of Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, and we get a glimpse of the sick world someone must phantasize about: there isn't a single struggling male in the book if one disregards Luke's momentary breakdown which he recovers from stronger than before.

And who's Becky Bloomwood after 750 paperback pages of being Becky Bloomwood? Well... she's still Becky, the dumb, irresponsible, immature girl-in-a-woman-body who can't manage herself.

For a moment or two approaching the end of the book I thought I'd finish satisfied. Leave it to Kinsella to take everything back in the last chapter or so.

It's very hard to believe that Sophie Kinsella may have used the likable but trashy Becky as a tool for social commentary. I don't believe it. And this second book is hardly a reflection of society. So why write this very catchy novel that deep down wounds the confidence women have worked for?!

All I'm left with is anger. And that's for picking up Shopaholic Ties the Knot when I bought this. I won't read any more of the mechanical raising of Becky's hopes and their shattering when she fails once more, as she indubitably will. More importantly, I won't stand idle against my own shattered hopes. show less

The first 3/4 of this book is unbearable. Becky is so incredibly irresponsible I could only read a chapter or two at a time before putting it down for the day. What's worse than her complete lack of self control however is that she is a pathological liar. She desperately needs a therapist and yet no one ever mentions this to her. Becky becomes less of a colourful character and more of a ridiculous caricature as the book progresses. Finally you hit the stage where everything catches up with her but by that point it's hard to feel for her enough to really care.
Her romance with Luke also made very little sense because we're never given any deep indication of what Rebecca even feels about him outside of her narcissistic fantasies about what show more his success might bring her. It's impossible to tell what these characters even see in each other.

Despite my frustrations I will give it 2 stars because it did keep me coming back and I felt the story did greatly improve once things went sideways for Becky show less

Second in the 'shopaholic' series... which I enjoy a great deal more than I expected to. Becky Bloomwood is a wonderful creation. Despite being appalling with money and constantly in debt, she is friendly, kind and extremely generous. It's ironic that she's the financial advisor on a TV show, and in love with Luke, a wealthy businessman.. yet she cannot give up her strange compulsion to go shopping.

In this book Luke has the opportunity to go to New York, and (as one might gather from the title) Becky goes too... and, unaware at first of the worth of US dollars, goes a little crazy in some of the shops.

The pace is great, the style very enjoyable, and - unusually for me - there were two or three places where I almost laughed out loud. A show more little bad language here and there, but , happily, no explicit bedroom scenes. Definitely recommended to anyone who likes light women's fiction. show less

Originally published as Shopaholic Abroad, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella is the sequel to Confessions of a Shopaholic. Rebecca Bloomwood, now dating financial mogul, Luke Brandon, feels like she finally has her life under control. Her debts are paid, she has a great career on television, and she has a boyfriend most everyone is envious of. But all that changes when he invites her on a business trip to Manhattan.

Manhattan isn't London. Although Luke has ties (his mother), Rebecca's in for a bit of culture shock. Free time and the chance of a new career in New York, brings out the worst of her impulses. A complete in ability (or at least unwillingness) to convert pounds to dollars further exacerbates the situation.

At home show more in London, thinks aren't all golden either. Rebecca learns first hand about the ephemeral nature of public reputation. So much merit is placed on exaggerated moral behavior — usually with more of the onus placed on women. Rebecca's exuberance for the finest things available in Manhattan is used in an attempt to bring down Luke Brandon.

I'll be up front here, I don't like Luke. Even with the added melodrama of his cold mother, I'm not sold on him as the right one for Rebecca. I was really hoping that Luke would crash and burn. Oh well. show less