June’s book: Mini Shopaholic

Mini Shopaholic is the sixth and final book in Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series. Becky Bloomwood (now Brandon, of course), heroine of the collection returns, with toddler in tow and the phrase ‘like mother, like daughter’ couldn’t be more apt. Two-year-old Minnie appears to be quite a handful, with an early addiction to shopping and behavioural problems – including being banned from four Santa’s grottos. Her favourite word is “mine” but Becky doesn’t believe she is spoilt, just spirited.

While Becky thought having a ‘mini me’ would be a dream come true, Minnie isn’t her only worry – the family still live at Becky’s parents (the deal with house four fell through!) and disaster strikes when there’s a huge financial crisis (meaning cutbacks, a word that isn’t familiar to her vocabulary).

Her decision to throw Luke a surprise party comes completely at the wrong time and as always things spiral out of control, because of money – when has economising being Becky’s forte? There’s also the matter of keeping the party a secret and of course, word soon gets out, she was never one for keeping quiet! But when an unexpected source arrives on the scene, help is at hand. Keen to prove friends and family wrong, she ends up alienating them. Becky is given a huge dilemma, admit defeat and expect some help or risk hurting the one person closes to her: Luke? Will she be able to pull off the most amazing celebration of the year? Will she finally be able to move out? And will her Christmas wish come true?

A fan of the Shopaholic series (although I should probably have read at least book five before this one), I loved this and the storyline was a great way to end the series, still leaving a cliff hanger. A lot of people complain that the plots are very samey, but when there’s really only one central character, it is difficult to make them that much more different. To me, each book is slightly different and each story is still funny – because Becky never learns her lessons! Like the others, it’s an easy-read and I find Sophie Kinsella a perfect holiday read – they have the feel-good factor! Now I’ve just got to purchase the others I haven’t already got...

Next month’s book: LA Candy by Lauren Conrad (eeek! I love LC and have just purchased the trilogy!)