Author: Sophie Kinsella
Published: February 2007
Publisher: The Dial Press
Series: Shopaholic series #5
358 pages (hardcover)
I know, I skipped books 2,3 and 4 in the series and jumped straight to book 5. It was because the library happened to have all the middle books checked out, and I didn’t think it would be a huge deal to skip the middle books … Anyway, Shopaholic & Baby is book five in the Shopaholic series, and I read it just fine without reading the in-between books. Anything that happened in the previous books was explained quickly so I didn’t feel confused at any point.
I was reunited with Becky Bloomwood — now Becky Brandon, since she married Luke in book 3, which was a good two or three years ago within the storyline — and she is pregnant! (Personally, I was a little worried because Becky does not give off the impression she’d make a great mother, hahaha). Of course, Becky is excitedly purchasing loads of things for the baby, which she believes is a completely selfless act because they’re not things for herself strictly. Since she’s Luke Brandon’s wife now, she’s able to afford all these expensive strollers, baby toys, designer baby clothes and shoes (her child is going to be a spoiled brat, I know it). When Becky hears about Venetia Carter, an obstetrician who treats all the pregnant celebrities, Becky decides she must have Venetia be her doctor.
However, it turns out Venetia is actually Luke’s ex-girlfriend from college! Venetia and Luke are excited at being reunited after so long and are constantly going out for get-togethers with their old college friends. Meanwhile, Becky is feeling incredibly suspicious of Venetia and is convinced she’s trying to be a homewrecker!
I don’t want anybody to misunderstand — I truly did enjoy this book, but it was nothing special. My problem was that the first Shopaholic book was so much better, this one just felt like a huge let-down. Firstly, I don’t remember Becky being this stupid. Sure, she was an airhead and couldn’t really handle complicated numbers or words, but she wasn’t plain stupid. I feel that her character had backtracked instead of progressed and Luke’s really married to a high school middle school little girl. She used to have an air of realism around her, but in this novel, she’s a caricature. This was really disappointing to me because I liked Becky from the first novel, actually; now she’s like … dumb. It’s a little less thrilling when Becky purchases things because she’s a millionaire’s wife now. I miss the days when she was overspending and running away from her Visa bill, that’s what made her shopping so adrenaline-filled! So I guess maybe that’s why she’s ‘dumber’ now, to maintain some spark in her character, but I can’t say I like it.
The story was enjoyable, my only issue was that it was incredibly predictable. This may be because I am a veteran with chick-flicks so I’ve seen all the plotlines this genre can whip out, so maybe that’s why I saw the truth behind the whole situation Becky is in a mile away. The sub-plots aren’t very interesting either. Overall, I feel the story is really unimaginative. Enjoyable, yes. New and exciting? Ehh …
My Rating: 2/5
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