[Please scroll down for English]

Abszolút megérte a várakozást. Az előző rész szörnyű csalódás volt, már csak azért is, mert hiányzott belőle a szokásos megoldó lezárás. Eszkalálódott, aztán a levegőben maradt. Ez a könyv viszont talán kárpótolt azért az élményért.

Ebben is megvoltak az ismerős hangulatok, és még sokkal több. Annyi izgalom, és olyan filmszerűen leírt jelenetek, hogy remélhetőleg kihagyják a többit, és erre csap le Hollywood. Már ha bírja a fricskát. (Sosem lesz belőle film, igaz?)

Ja, és 98%-ban totál antishopping, ha valakit (khm-khm) az tart vissza.

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“People say, ‘This is a good story,’ and what they mean is, ‘I’m going to share a random slice of my life with you now, and you have to look fascinated.'” (Location 3313) But this really is a good story. Go, read it!

Oh, I loved it! This is what I call exciting – you know how I found Undomestic Goddess kind of foreseeable. With all the twists and turns, this one had me on the edge of my seat. It was absolutely worth the wait – and I hope there will be more Shopaholic books, I really love this gang. If I had the time, I would’ve read it in one sitting (Only to regret that it ended so fast. Which is still the case.).

Many people including myself were quite upset about the last Shopaholic book. It ended without the usual climax and left us waiting for a year. It is a great second part though. However, please, Sophie Kinsella, don’t ever do this to us again!

For those who moaned Becky doesn’t mature, you can’t say a word now. And you wished she returned to her old self, didn’t you? All the characters developed, except for Luke maybe. (But he’s at quite a good stage already. He should cut back on those work emails though.) And Alicia. But the others! There was so much depth and reality I don’t remember from previous books.

It was entertaining, I love Kinsella’s sense of humour. Only one thing that bothered me really. They were going on about Becky’s dad never holding a secret from them and that it just can’t be another woman. Did they all forget about Jess, Becky’s half-sister? I guess that case involved another woman that Graham did not tell his family about. (I know it was before his marriage but still.)

Oh, and of course it shouts: make me into a movie! Please, skip all the others, and make this one! With all the cinematic references and great sights, it was a pleasure to watch in my inner movie while reading. I’m looking forward to the Hollywood version, too. ( )

Nel solco della serie un altro libro carino e piacevole per una lettura di piena evasione. ( )

[Please scroll down for English]

Abszolút megérte a várakozást. Az előző rész szörnyű csalódás volt, már csak azért is, mert hiányzott belőle a szokásos megoldó lezárás. Eszkalálódott, aztán a levegőben maradt. Ez a könyv viszont talán kárpótolt azért az élményért.

Ebben is megvoltak az ismerős hangulatok, és még sokkal több. Annyi izgalom, és olyan filmszerűen leírt jelenetek, hogy remélhetőleg kihagyják a többit, és erre csap le Hollywood. Már ha bírja a fricskát. (Sosem lesz belőle film, igaz?)

Ja, és 98%-ban totál antishopping, ha valakit (khm-khm) az tart vissza.

------------------------------------------------

“People say, ‘This is a good story,’ and what they mean is, ‘I’m going to share a random slice of my life with you now, and you have to look fascinated.'” (Location 3313) But this really is a good story. Go, read it!

Oh, I loved it! This is what I call exciting – you know how I found Undomestic Goddess kind of foreseeable. With all the twists and turns, this one had me on the edge of my seat. It was absolutely worth the wait – and I hope there will be more Shopaholic books, I really love this gang. If I had the time, I would’ve read it in one sitting (Only to regret that it ended so fast. Which is still the case.).

Many people including myself were quite upset about the last Shopaholic book. It ended without the usual climax and left us waiting for a year. It is a great second part though. However, please, Sophie Kinsella, don’t ever do this to us again!

For those who moaned Becky doesn’t mature, you can’t say a word now. And you wished she returned to her old self, didn’t you? All the characters developed, except for Luke maybe. (But he’s at quite a good stage already. He should cut back on those work emails though.) And Alicia. But the others! There was so much depth and reality I don’t remember from previous books.

It was entertaining, I love Kinsella’s sense of humour. Only one thing that bothered me really. They were going on about Becky’s dad never holding a secret from them and that it just can’t be another woman. Did they all forget about Jess, Becky’s half-sister? I guess that case involved another woman that Graham did not tell his family about. (I know it was before his marriage but still.)

Oh, and of course it shouts: make me into a movie! Please, skip all the others, and make this one! With all the cinematic references and great sights, it was a pleasure to watch in my inner movie while reading. I’m looking forward to the Hollywood version, too. ( )

A satisfying conclusion to the previous novel, but not my favorite in the series. ( )

The last book I read in the series was Shopaholic to the Stars and I was so ready to be done with this series, it wasn't even funny. You can see my review
here.

I was so annoyed with Ms. Kinsella for writing a cliffhanger and what I felt was such a disaster of a book I seriously asked myself would I push on through to the last book? I have a thing about finishing things when I start them.

One of the reasons why I cut off a lot of series when they start to go bad is that if I don't, I feel beholden to keep reading even after the bloom is off the rose (looking at you Dean Koontz). So I was pleasantly surprised that this book was so good.

In fact, I think this is the first book in the series that I have really enjoyed since Shopaholic Ties the Knot (Shopaholic #3). The other books in the series after that one Shopaholic and Sister (Shopaholic #4), Shopaholic and Baby (Shopaholic #5), Mini Shopaholic (Shopaholic #6), and Shopaholic to the Stars (Shopaholic #7) were either average to really bad reads in my opinion.

Please don't read if you have not read the last book in the series, Shopaholic to the Stars, spoilers are in this review dealing with that book.

Becky, her daughter Minnie, husband Luke, along with her best friend Suz, her mom, and her moms, best friend, and one of Luke's former workers, Alicia, are out to track down Becky's run away father and Suz's husband Tarquin who left LA for Las Vegas. Becky got obsessed with a wellness center called Golden Peace in the last book and was unpleasantly surprised to find out that Alicia (former nemesis of Becky) is now a wife and mother to the owner of the center. Becky hates the fact that Alicia has seemingly turned over a new leaf and is now a close confidante to Suz. A former worker at Golden Peace, Bryce, has also joined the runaway crowd and Suz and Alicia are both afraid that he is going to prey on Tarquin while he is in a state of denial about his recent failure back at home.

At first I was so annoyed by this book. It didn't make a lot of sense why Becky's dad was off to do something mysterious and why he didn't want Becky or her mother involved. It also seemed weird that Tarquin and Suz who always seemed so together, seemed to be miles apart. Instead the story shaped slowly and I thought everything tied together so well though I thought the actual plot was a bit too flimsy to be believed which is why I gave it four stars.

We have Becky, actually acting like an adult in this book. For once she's not obsessed with shopping. In fact, she is pretty much repelled by the thought of buying things through the whole book. In the end though she and shopping are good, but Becky starts to feel happier when she buys things for other people, rather, than when she buys random things and starts thinking of herself as the girl/woman in the (insert object here). We actually have her being a great mother to her daughter Minnie.

The other characters which I despaired of in recent books actually came across great in this one too.

For example, Minnie, who had the personality of a wet dishrag through the last few books was actually pretty cute in this one. And you get to see how much Becky and Luke adore her.

And even Luke was great in this too. Luke who was a non-entity through so many books I was wondering why he was ever included, has actual in depth conversations with Becky. We get actual dialogue. We don't skip over them talking and have Becky refer to it later (I hate that by the way). Luke was a present person through the whole book, and it was wonderful for the first time to see why he absolutely loves Becky and why they are both a great team together.

And you get to see a change to Becky and Suz's relationship in this one. Suz who has always been the level headed one and the one that no matter what was always on Becky's side, now she and Becky have grown apart with no sign that they can repair their friendship. I was actually surprised by what Kinsella did with Suz's character and thought it fit the book very well.

Becky's mother and Janice were pretty much played for comic relief (per usual) but were actually not annoying or aggravating as usual. We also get the return of Luke's mother Elinoir and it was great to see how much this character has unbended over the years.

The writing is typical Sophie Kinsella. If you have read the previous Shopaholic books, there's nothing new to see here. You can whip through this book pretty quickly and the flow actually works almost through the entire book, until we get towards the end when it just dragged on a bit too much.

The setting of the group traveling in the RV from Los Angeles to Las Vegas was pretty funny. I with that Kinsella had incorporated that element more. They just seemed to stop at hotels/motels along the way so we didn't really get them camping outdoors and using the facilities. Once the group gets to Las Vegas I didn't think that Kinsella utilized Las Vegas as well as she should have. She mentions the Venetian, but she doesn't really mention or showcase the sheer number of people in Las Vegas and it's another city that never really sleeps. I know the group was there to 'rescue' Becky's dad and Tarquin, but I wish we had gotten some more time in Las Vegas with them.

The ending wrapped things up nicely. And I think the way that it ended, I can't see another Shopaholic book happening. Maybe a novella or something if Kinsella really wants to say a final goodbye to the characters. In my opinion, she left Becky and crew in a nice grown-up and more honest place and I would really hate to see another book where Becky is off the rails and shopping and hiding it again. We've read those books, no need for another one. ( )