Shopaholic is BACK, babie!!!

I like chocolate cake. I like coffee. And I like Kinsella's Shopaholic series. Well, maybe not all. I didn't particularly like Shopaholic & Sister. I did not see the reason for Rebecca Bloomwood to be wanting so eagerly to bond with the could-have-been sister, Jess, who despised shopping. I thought the ending where Becky was clicking her obsession to shop with Jess's obsession to collect rocks was lame.

So, it made a lot of sense that Kinsella needed to produce another work to bury the what-I-perceive-to-be lower than average Shopaholic episode with bouncy Shopaholic & Baby book. That was a good book. And I thought that would be the last I would hear of Becky. I was wrong. And secretly happy that I would be hearing what Becky would be up to. I did not see the reason for a return, but Rebecca Brandon nee Bloomwood was back. With her two year old baby, Minnie. And hence, the name Mini Shopaholic.

I was horrified to imagine a two year old doing the credit cards like her mom, but I was prepared to be open-minded. I mean, it's Kinsella. Sure, I did not like the Undomestic Goddess - (puhleazzzzze.. a lawyer learning to cook in one lesson?? I still burn my fried rice.). But I have faith in Kinsella. I shall always have her Can I Tell You a Secret? as a testimony of her fun writing. As well as Twenties Girl.

Kinsella made me sit through my free time, not switching on the tv or playing music and even made me staying up past 1am just to finish up the last 50 pages to find out what victory Becky would kick up. I have to say that I was stunned by the ending. Not a typical ending, of the previous Shopaholic episodes. I still think the book was misleading. And thank goodness. I am in for more Becky. Not Minnie. I want to hear what silly stuff Becky would come up with, and not some whining kid. And that was Kinsella served through this new book.

Some scenes really made me laughed out loud. Some scenes made me questioned my loyalty to the idea of a Beckinism. As well as to the question of whether there would be such a patient man like Luke Brandon. It's  amazing to know that there is such a man who would love a woman through anything...

But still, when the book came to an end, I forgave Becky for the creepy shopping habit she was demonstrating in the earlier scenes, as well as her self-denial character. As the book had hinted, I am looking forward to hearing Becky again, in a new world. Hopefully this time I will be more tolerant of her obsession. 

I love Kinsella. I love Rebecca Bloomwood. I love this new book - Mini Shopaholic.

P/s: Nice touch to the mother stuff. Made me wanna hug that icy queen too.

Sophie's Choice - She's Back

I was not planning to blog anything like this. My blog is new - I thought of only blogging about silly things that had happened - to me, around me, on me and about me. You know - silly me, silly job, silly management, stupid management and crazy ex-colleagues. (It's never safe to blog about current colleagues. They read.)

I am a slow reader but I am a fan of Sophie Kinsella's work. I had fallen in love with Kinsella since I got my first copy of Shopaholic. Since then, I became a collector-a-holic for anything Kinsella, minus her Madeline Wickham's books. I am still puzzled about the need to release books under two names, but this is not a blog on that. This is a blog on my new FAVOURITE book - Twenties Girl.
Lara's boyfriend has just dumped her, without any explanation. Her business partner, Natalie, went away for a holiday and never came back. She's stuck with a job title as a small headhunter business parter, but she has no clue on how to be a headhunter. Her uncle is the rich Bill Lington, who owns chains of coffee cafes and has a snobbish wife and a spoilt daughter. Lara's parents are nice, but they are too worried about her condition since the boyfriend break-up thing. Her sister is enjoying her suffering.

Lara's luck takes a turn when she is the only one in her great aunt's funeral who is able to see her great aunt's ghost - a 23 year old ghost, who is looking for her missing necklace. And since that Lara is the only one who can see her, young-looking great aunt Sadie pesters Lara into helping her.

I was giving up a little on Sophie (If you are reading this, Sophie, which I doubt you would, 'coz you are so busy... but if you are, uhm, I'm lying.). I did not buy Domestic Goddess. I mean, I bought the book, but I did not accept the idea. I mean, a business woman knows how to cook a good meal after one lesson? Hell, I still burn fried eggs after so many years of cooking. Remember Me? is a nice book, but it is nothing like Shopaholic series (minus the one with the sister thing - what was that all about??) and Can You Keep a Secret? I am a major fan of these two. Remember Me? failed to impress me because it painted the female lead as a bad person. And I did not see any reason to like the male too.

But Twenties Girl brings back the Kinsella I have learned to love. It is a funny book. Sometimes, as I read along the book, I wondered of the necessity to delay getting-to-the-point thing, but Kinsella has the magic to fit the whole story nicely. I felt for Josh and Lara. Because Kinsella wrote it such a way. I did not feel for Josh and Lara. Because Kinsella wrote it such a way. I felt for Lara and Ed. Again, because Kinsella told me so, in the book. It was delightful.

I read slow. But I could not get the book off my hand. I finished reading it within 2 days, minus the office hours. I was addicted. There were moments I laughed out loud (now I really know what LOL is really about) that I did not even care if my neighbours would think I was crazy. Those were the moments I could believe that only Sophie Kinsella's crazy and funny female lead characters are capable of doing.

It is a good book. That is why I actually decide to blog about it. And it makes me falling in love again with Kinsella, and make me proud that I am a fan of hers. Gosh, if only I can read another new work from her now. :D