Book Review : Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella

Title : Shopaholic to the Stars

Author : Sophie Kinsella

Publication Date : 25 September 2014

Publisher : Bantam Press

Source : Sent by the publisher (Thanks!)

Overall : 6/5

Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) has stars in her eyes. She and her daughter, Minnie, have joined husband Luke in LA—city of herbal smoothies and multimillion-dollar yoga retreats and the lure of celebrity. Luke is there to help manage the career of famous actress Sage Seymour—and Becky is convinced she is destined to be Sage’s personal stylist, and go from there to every A-list celebrity in Hollywood! Red carpet here she comes!

But things become complicated when Becky joins the team of Sage’s archrival without telling Luke. Will her ambition to make it in Hollywood cost too much?

I fell in love with Sophie Kinsella’s books after reading I’ve Got Your Number. I picked up a copy of Confessions of a Shopaholic (Book 1) when I was at a book sale. Read that, fell in love with Becky and I mentally cursed myself for not reading the series earlier. Lots of people recommended the series to me, even non-bookworms. I thought; why not give it a try? Man, I was blown away by the first book and then I bought the rest of the series. I can’t believe that Shopaholic to the Stars is the seventh book! Such a long way from the first book and this is probably the longest series in my reading history. I just don’t understand why there are some people who do not want it to be longer.

Since finishing Mini Shopaholic in July this year, I have been waiting excitedly for a new Shopaholic book. Becky is one of my fave female leads and when the new book was announced, it became the most anticipated read of 2014. I was jumping with excitement when I received a limited edition proof copy and I started on it immediately. It’s set in Land of the Stars, Hollywood and the whole setting became more glittery to me from Becky’s POV.

Shopaholic to the Stars follows the story of Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood), a great stylist. She is fabulous at being a stylist but she is horribly bad at managing her money. When her husband, Luke goes to LA to manage Sage’s career, Becky has a great big plan of her own. She is head over heels in love with Hollywood but does it love her back? Her aim is to be a celebrity stylist and be friends with every A-lister. Since Becky made friends with Sage Seymour in the previous Shopaholic book, Sage would be the starting point to her styling career. Nothing goes smooth in Bex’s life, right? Expect drama.

Fabulous continuation to the epic life of Becky Brandon! A big round of virtual applause for Sophie Kinsella. My fave, crazy shopaholic bunny is back and this time with more drama in a grand place, Hollywood. I was totally in love with this lovely Brit, Becky since the day I read Confessions. I could never get enough of her craziness and her life is so full of drama to deal with. I was over the moon when STTS was announced; I could ‘meet’ Becky and the gang again. I caught up with the best female lead, her awesome friends and her shopping adventure. Sophie has done a great job in reuniting all the characters in this book. It was fun reading about their days in the city that has more stars than the galaxy.

To me, this book was like a reunion where I have tea and biscuits with close friends. It made me feel comfortable and I loved it from the very first chapter. Becky doesn’t think straight when it comes to shopping or this time, the red carpet. In STTS, there are a lot of fab people from the film industry, red carpets and fun activities. It’s a star studded place and Becky is trying to make it big as a celeb stylist. With Becky, there is drama to everything. This time in Hollywood, drama gets bigger and more people are involved. I could completely relate to Becky and I loved Luke for being so supportive towards their relationship. She falls into a deep pit of trouble unknowingly and she will find her way out of it. Becky’s perception of life is simple and she’s happy go lucky. The things she does are crazy and I just can’t help but laugh. She has a fabulous, genuine heart. She stands up for herself even when everyone else thinks she’s mad. This is why I enjoyed reading about her. She’s all about being herself, doing what is right and living life to the fullest.

Reading about her LA adventures, her insecurities and funny conversations, I felt as if I was there with her and went through all of those with her. For Becky, life is never complete without shopping. Shopping is a part of her. You can take her out of shopping but shopping out of her? Never. To me, Bex has matured a lot in Shopaholic to the Stars. More rational and there’s less ‘When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping’. Definitely more responsible and she’s ready to settle down as a wife and mother, taking Becky the Shopaholic to a whole new level. This tiny sort of detail in the story made a huge impact to readers and we could see clearly Becky’s developments from book one to seven. The same could be seen for all the other characters and the cutie pie, Minnie. Her favourite word used to be "Mine" and now, she has more new words in her dictionary.

Sophie’s writing is so brilliant and this long series would be a fab TV show. Some of the lines had me laughing like a mad person, just too funny. She’s so fabulous that I would read anything (really!) by her. I enjoyed the whole LA experience that Sophie has greatly described. I just want to be in LA and maybe check out the Walk of Fame. Sophie has clearly researched before writing this book and I could see she really enjoyed LA. I liked the supporting characters and all the people Becky has in her life. Each character has a great role to play in the story and I loved how cleverly Sophie linked them together. I was so absorbed that I found myself angry and sometimes laughing along with the characters. This book was an easy read for me and the flow was fast-paced. One of Sophie Kinsella’s greatest strengths is her ability to give her books the fun factor. Every one of her book should come with a ‘Will brighten your day’ yellow sticker, STTS included. However rubbish your day is, books by this author will boost your mood instantly.

Shopaholic to the Stars is as amazing as the other books, absolutely a must read for fans of the Shopaholic series. The long wait was absolutely worth it and everything Sophie writes is gold, even shopping list I’m sure! So, book seven is out now and I am eagerly hoping and waiting for the next one! I have a feeling that the next one will be set in Paris. Fingers crossed.