The Book Whisperer

jottings, musings and recommendations of an incurable bookaholic

Book Review: Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella August 5, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Chick Lit,Comfort Reading,Laugh Out Loud,Sophie Kinsella,Summer Reads — The Book Whisperer @ 9:23 am

The Blurb:

 ”Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) thought motherhood would be a breeze and that having a daughter was a dream come true a shopping friend for life!

But it s trickier than she thought two-year-old Minnie has a quite different approach to shopping. She can create havoc everywhere from Harrods to Harvey Nicks to her own christening. She hires taxis at random, her favourite word is Mine , and she s even started bidding for designer bags on ebay.

On top of everything else, there s a big financial crisis. People are having to Cut Back including all of Becky s personal shopping clients and she and Luke are still living with Becky s Mum and Dad. To cheer everyone up, Becky decides to throw a surprise birthday party on a budget but then things become really complicated.

Who will end up on the naughty step, who will get a gold star and will Becky s secret wishes come true?”

(source: Amazon)

 

What I thought:

She’s ba-aack! And this time she has a mini-me in tow. My very favourite Calamity-Jane, Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood), is double trouble in this latest giggle-fest as hanging on to her Gucci coat tails is two year old Minnie, who comes complete with her own very finely tuned shopping instincts.

I have been literally chomping at the bit since I found out that this book was coming out. I am a HUGE Sophie Kinsella fan – she is one of my favourite authors, chicklit or otherwise, as every single one of her books (and I’ve read them all) make me laugh out loud and they are the ultimate tonic for me. I knew this book wouldn’t deviate from my expectations and I was right.

 Mini Shopaholic starts, as you might expect, in a shopping mall where young Minnie is wrestling with Becky over a toy pony that she just has to have! Becky is trying to look like the responsible parent in public and tries reasoning with a increasinly loud Minnie. When this doesn’t appear to have any affect, and Becky also realises that the pony is, in fact, gorgeous and Minnie really should have one, she devises a pocket money plan for Minnie whereby she will get 50p per week and as she will be backdating this to the day of her birth, she can afford to buy the pony now! Result!

This is only the beginning and what ensues is a cab-hailing Minnie with instructions to drive to Starbucks, the arrival of a nanny who quits after just one day, a TV personality called Nanny Sue who accompanies Becky and Minnie to a play area (which gets quickly forgotten when the cab pulls up at lights right outside a brand new shopping mall where every visitor gets a gift). In the middle of trying to assure Nanny Sue and the rest of the world that she can cope, Becky is also trying to arrange a surprise birthday party for Luke which just screams disaster from the start, especially while she has to deal with trying to prevent Minnie from bidding for designer shoes on ebay!

I just loved this book. Becky had me in stitches and hiding behind pillows cringing at the mess she gets herself into, in equal measures. If you’ve read the others in the series (and if not, why not?) then you MUST read this one – it’s hillarious, sweet and feel-good and I am already excited that the next book in the series has been nicely lined up at the end of this one (and when you read it and see why at the end, you just know you’re in for a real treat).

 

Here are my reviews of all the other books in the Shopaholic series and here are my reviews of Kinsella’s stand-alone books.

 

Have you read any of Sophie Kinsella’s books? What did you think? Are you looking forward to Mini Shopahoic coming out?

 

(I received my copy of this book for review from Bantam Press – thank you!)

 

 

 

A bookish review of July August 1, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Donato Carrisi,Gabriella Ambrosio,Katherine Webb,Lucie Whitehouse,Nicci French,Rebecca Frayn,Sophie Kinsella,Tana French,Yann Martel — The Book Whisperer @ 10:19 am

Feelin’ hot hot hot…

I wish! Apparantly July is the hottest month of the year in the northern hemisphere. If someone could just remind the sun where the UK is, that would be great.

July has been a pretty eventful month for me – the end of my wonderful France holiday, the brilliant *Harrogate Crime Festival and meeting some great crime fiction authors, and reading some fantastic books!

*You can see my post about the Crime Fiction Awards here.

 

 My July reads

I have read eleven books this month and I have had some cracking reads!

 

The Bed I Made by Lucie Whitehouse
The Legacy by Katherine Webb
Deceptions by Rebecca Frayn
The Likeness by Tana French
Tryptich by Karin Slaughter
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
Losing You by Nicci French (review to follow)
The Whisperer by Donata Carrisi
Before We Say Goodbye by Gabriella Ambrosio
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (review to follow)
Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (review to follow)

 

Trying to narrow it down to my top 3 has been impossible so I have had to go for my Top 5:

The Likeness – Tana French

Mini Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella (review to follow)

The Crossing Places – Elly Griffiths (review to follow)

The Legacy – Katherine Webb

Before We Say Goodbye - Gabriella Ambrosio

 

 

Most looked at reviews in July

The Legacy – Katherine Webb

Mornings In Jenin – Susan Abulhawa

The Bed I Made – Lucie Whitehouse

 

Most looked at other posts in July

The Best 11 Book Club Reads EVER!!!

“Please let those be books, Please let those be books…”

“There’s been a murder…”

 

 A great July for me book-wize: I’ve discovered some great new authors and re-discovered old favourites. Have you read any of the above? Which books did you read and love in July?

 

 

Book Review: Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella February 15, 2010

Filed under: Chick Lit,Comfort Reading,Sophie Kinsella — The Book Whisperer @ 2:25 pm

In honour of Valentines I thought it was appropriate to review some chicklit (my favourite comfort read genre – I love some brain candy!). One of my favourite chicklit authors is Sophie Kinsella (along with Katie Fforde) – her books never ever let me down; they are just wonderful to read and always leave me with a big smile on my face. I have already reviewed Kinsella’s standalone books here.

 

Oh how I loved this book. The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (Confessions of a Shopaholic in the US)  is the first book in the Shopaholic series and where we first meet Becky Bloomwood. Becky had me crying with laughter at her shopping addictions and I hate to say it but I had several “oh my god, I do that!” moments (more than I care to admit to in fact).

Becky is a bored financial journalist who just can’t stop spending money she hasn’t got. She’s constantly in trouble with the bank and all her store cards have gone over their limits so she decides to try and save money using a self help book. I really did laugh out loud at some of the ideas she tried to try to curtail her spending, which usually ended up with her spending more.

Shopping has never been so much fun.

 

In this second helping, Shopaholic Abroad (Shopaholic Takes Manhattan in the US),  Becky Bloomwood is back and this time she’s in New York (think Prada, Barneys, Bloomingdales…) all a recipe for disaster in Becky’s world. Becky has gone to the Big Apple with her boyfriend Luke and is staying at the Four Seasons while Luke tries to launch his business in the States. Becky has great intentions of sightseeing and getting herself a great job on American TV, but she still can’t resist the lure of the shops…. even the museums have stores! Since according to Becky the money you spend overseas really doesn’t count she feels free to go crazy, and in her usual fashion, she does. But when Luke gets wind of her excessive spending their relationship becomes in serious jeopardy.

I read this in one evening, I just couldn’t put it down. It’s absolutely hillarious and I howled with laughter all the way through.

 

I cried with laughter at this next chapter in the Shopaholic saga (Shopaholic Ties the Knot) on so many occasions; it was just brilliant!


Luke has proposed to Becky and both families immediately leap into organisation mode, planning weddings in both England and New York. Becky is so caught up in both weddings (a big over-the-top affair in the New York Plaza with $3000 wedding cake and pine trees shipped in from Switzerland and a traditional, stripey marquee in her parents back garden) that she doesn’t have the heart to cancel either of them and the weddings just get nearer and nearer…….
Instead of taking the bull by the horns and sorting it out, she does what she knows best – goes shopping.

This book was hillarious and I just love seeing what situations Becky finds herself in next. When her best friend, Suze, goes into labour I couldn’t see the words on the page for tears streaming dowbn my face with laughter!

Shopaholic & Sister opens with Becky & Luke on their honeymoon round the world trip. Finally growing tired of traveling after 10mths they decide to go home early. But not everyone is excited that they’re home. Not least Becky’s parents who have the unenviable task of telling Becky that she has a long lost sister she never knew about. Becky being Becky sees hours of girly hours and shopping with her sister ahead of her. But as is usually with real life…..things don’t go according to plan.

Beckys plans of her and her new sis hitting the shops in their new stilettos she (gasp!) discovers that her sister Jess is a tightfisted spendthrift. Opposites certainly don’t attract in this page-tuner and Jess is a hilarious character with her obsession with collecting rocks and going on outdoor protests. Read it and weep (with laughter!)

Once again, in Shopaholic and Baby Becky Brandon manages to get up to her eyeballs in misfortune, sticky situations (and debt!) and yes we know it’ll all be alright in the end but half the fun is following her mishaps along the way. In this latest book, a pregnant Becky thinks that Luke is having an affair with her obstetritian, Venetia (who just happens to be an ex-girlfriend from his uni days). As she gets bigger (and more paranoid) she decides to have them followed by a Private Detective but still manages to find plenty of time for doing what she does best – shopping (5 prams, 400 count egyptian cotton sheets for the baby’s crib, Christian Dior baby dressing-gowns). BRILLIANT!!!

 

If you haven’t read any of the shopaholic series you are missing an absolutel treat! They are true laugh-out-loud books and you can’t help but laugh at the scrapes Becky always managed to get herself into.

 

The next in the series is Mini Shopaholic about Becky and her now toddler, Minnie, and the disasters that befall them (it sounds like Becky has finally met her match!). This book is due out in September 2010 (no cover yet) and I cannot wait!

 

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My Top 10 Reads of 2009 December 31, 2009

Filed under: Aravind Adiga,Charlotte Bronte,Edith Wharton,Jiang Rong,Joanne Harris,Sophie Kinsella,Suzanne Collins,Tracy Chevalier — The Book Whisperer @ 3:26 pm
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So here we are, the end of another year. I have read exactly 100 books this year (well, I will have when I race through #100 today!). I’ve read some truly fantastic books and some real humdingers too! So here is my Top 10 of 2009:

This book is just awesome! I can’t believe that I have never read it before this year. I fell in love with the Bronte’s from reading this and went on to read several more of theirs this year. I also live in Yorkshire and my Mum bought me membership to the Bronte Society for my birthday this year (so excited!). The village of Hawarth is stunning – it’s no wonder that those sisters were so inspired to write such wonderful books.

You can read my review of Jane Eyre here. I also highly recommend Villette which only just missed out on a Top 10 spot.

Wolf Totem is quite possibly my favourite book of all time! I devour books about China as I am fascinated with the country (I even went there on holiday in 2004 to feed my fascination). I picked this up one night just to flick through the pages (as I was already in the middle of another book) and before I knew it I had read about 20 pages and could not put it down. Wolf Totem is not only beautifually written (I don’t know what the Chinese version is like but the translation is stunning) but I really felt like I was right there in the pages. It also made me fall head over heals in love with wolves (which has started another book buying craze!). I cannot recommed this book highly enough – it really is a gem. You can read my review here.

I started reading this book on the plane to New York a few weeks ago and I was gripped! This is one of the best written, on-the-edge-of-your-seat books that I have ever read. The plot is amazing: dystopia novels always frighten me because I can see something like this so easily happening  just as I did with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (another awesome book). This is a YA book but really is one for the adults too; in fact I didn’t notice that I was reading something aimed at teenagers, I was so engrossed in it.

You can read my review here. Read this and then read the second in the series, Catching Fire. The third is out in August and I cannot wait!

I am a massive Joanne Harris fan. If you have read Chocolat and loved it, then you will love Five Quarters of the Orange even more. I love the way Harris can make you fall in love with a place and want to be there among the village and the characters, despite the fact that it’s set in the middle of a war. All her books are wonderful but I think that this is my favourite of them all.

I will be uploading my review of this book shortly so watch this space.

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I just love books with really bleak settings which is exactly what Ethan Frome is. I think it’s because I crave peace and quiet and solitude so to me a tiny village that regularly gets cut off by the snow sounds like heaven to me! This book really is bleak, the characters have hard lives and there is little to look forward to. Yet in the middle of that is one of the most beautiful love stories that I have ever read. I know that this book is not a favourite among a lot of people (I think it was a set read in some American schools and seems to have really turned people off it) but seriously, it is such a treat to read. I highly recommend.

You can read my review of Ethan Frome here.

Tracy Chevalier is another author that I am a massive fan of. She writes historical fiction but often based on true stories (of people that aren’t well known historical figures). Remarkable Creatures is one of those. It is based on a fossil hunter called Mary Anning who lived on the English coast in the early 19th century. This book really was a joy to read; I felt like I knew Mary and her friends and that I was there in the pages with them. I love it when a book can do that to you. It’s such a gentle read yet the pace never slackens and I found myself not able to put it down.

You can read my review here.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first in a trilogy of books. It is written by a Swedish journalis (which also stars a Swedish journalist) who died just after completing the trilogy (I wonder if he had any idea just how big this series would become). The girl in question is a computer hacker who ends up helping the journalist to solve a “locked room” mystery. It’s such a fabulous page-turner of a book, just as the second in the series The Girl who Played with Fire is. I have the third book at home which has stopped whispering to me and is now yelling at me from the bookshelf! I must read that really soon.

You can read my review here.

This book is a real eye-opener into Indian society. White Tiger is about a young boy whom we watch grow up and try to carve out an existance for himself in India. It is shocking, heartbreaking and funny all at once. There are no real heros in this book; there is no-one to root for as they all make bad choices but ultimately you have to ask yourself what would you do in their situation? They are trying to survive in a corupt world. Fantastic narrative, witty, sharp and ultimately a real page-turner.

You can read my review here.

No list is complete without some chicklit on it. And this is the best of them for 2009. I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan and have read all her books, but out of the 4 standalone this is my favourite. I read it while curled up on a sun lounger in Kefalonia this summer and it was perfect summer reading. In Twenties Girl, yes there is the usual shopping and shoes and boys (what’s not to love?) but this time there is a ghost who wants to relive her glory years in the roaring 20′s and boy does she make sure she has fun.

You can read my review here.

Who knew that science fiction could be so much fun? I just loved this book! The Midwich Cuckoos is about a little English village that suddenly freezes in time for a few hours and all the residents collapse. Nobody can get in and nobody can get out. When they wake up they have no idea what happened but in the following weeks all the women and girls over about 15 find themselves pregnant. When their children are born they all have the same white blonde hair and don’t communicate with anyone but themselves. It’s creepy and brilliant! Don’t miss it.

I will upload my review soon so watch this space.

So that’s my Top 10 of 2009. You can see the full list of 100 books that I read here.

 

Book Reviews: Sophie Kinsella – standalone books December 28, 2009

Filed under: Chick Lit,Comfort Reading,Laugh Out Loud,Sophie Kinsella — The Book Whisperer @ 7:38 pm

Sophie Kinesella is one of my favourite authors. Her books are funny and pure escapism. Here are the reviews for her standalone books (I will review the Shopaholic series separately).

 

Sophie Kinsella’s latest standalone book, Twenties Girl, is her best in my opinion. What an absolute treat this was to read. I took this on my holiday with me as I do like a good dose of chick-lit while relaxing in my sunlounger and Sophie Kinsella never lets me down.

This book was a delight from start to finish. It is narrated by Lara, newly dumped and struggling to run a business on her own. All she needs is to be pestered by the ghost of her Great Auntie Sadie whom she never even met but is here, larger than life, as a 23 year old dancing, drinking, fun-loving girl that only Lara can see and whom she insists help her find her necklace before she is buried without it.

The character of Sadie was just fabulous! One of the most endearing I have come across in a long time; she was such good fun. This book is my new favourite out of all the independents (i.e. not the shopaholic series). I love, love, loved it!

In Remember Me Lexi wakes up in hospital thinking that it is still 2004 and she is going out with Loser Dave, has wonky teeth, loads of friends and works in a low paid job in a carpet company. In fact it is 2007 and she is married to a gorgeous multi-millionaire, has perfect teeth, lives in a huge penthouse overlooing the Thames and has a high-flying job as a Director (oh, and she is the bitch-boss-from-hell), only Lexi can’t remember a thing about it. The story follows Lexi as she tries to fit in with her new life and fill in the gaps as to how she ended up where she did (and how she managed to alienate all her friends in the process).

All the ususal magic is here – young girl, a love interest (or two), nice clothes and shoes (v. important!)

While I agree that nothing can beat the Shopaholic series (who could replace Becky?), this is still a great book to get lost in. Thumbs up for Ms Kinsella once again.

 

 Can you Keep a Secret is such a funny book. I decided to work from home one day I ended up doing nothing other than curling up on the sofa and giggling my way through endless cups of tea until I had finnished the whole thing in a day – I know, I know, shhhhhh but I just couldn’t put the thing down!!!

A great idea for a story and a great heroine make this big-hearted book a real joy to read.  This was the first of all Kinsellas books that I read and it was the start of a love affair with all her books.

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I picked up Undomestic Godess  after having just read all the Shopaholic series back to back and loving them I just had to devour more of her books.

Samantha is a high flying, stressed out workaholic lawyer for a huge London firm and spends her every waking moment either working or thinking about work and that promotion to Partner she so desperately wants. On the day she is about to find out if she has made Partner or not, she discovers a document she has overlooked that will cost her client £50 million. In a daze, Samantha runs out of the office and ends up on a train without knowing where she’s going and ends up, quite by accident, ono the doorstep of a huge mansion. The owners then mistake Samantha for the Housekeeper they’ve been trying to hire and offer her the job on the spot.

To say that Samantha has no domestic skills whatsoever is an understatement but somehow she manages to muddle her way through (mainly by ordering sandwiches through a catering company and sending the laundry away to be ironed). Of course, there is a sexy gardner to liven up the plot too (which always helps).

I really enjoyed this book, I just love Sophie Kinsella. Her books are so readable, funny and once you pick them up you can’t put them down.

 

 

 

 
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