Review: Mini Shopoholic by Sophie Kinsella

Plot: Becky Brandon (nee 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?

My opinion: Sophie Kinsella-s Shopoholic-series is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I have followed Rebecca Bloom Wood ever since the first book Confessions of a Shopaholic eas released in Swedish paperback in 2006 and have gotten to experience great things in her life: marriage, new job, baby. And this latest book is supposed to be about Rebecca's daughter according to the blurb.

I find this book to have a little more serious and darker undertones than normal; not even in the Rebecca Blomwoods universe can one escape the financial crisis. But Rebecca Bloom Wood must be at least partially, cat, because no matter what obstacles she encounters, she always lands on two feet. My favorite part, which recurs in all the books, are the at first very polite but at the end more and more frustrated letter Rebecca get from banks, shops and so on. In this book she receives such a letter from the Treasury, with a polite thanks but no thanks for her tips on the government finances. Epic.

Like the previous books in the series, this one is also easy to get into and hard to put down. A more light read than this is hard to find, and although I sometimes get a little angry with Rebecca for never being able to stop spending money, I still like here. In the future, if there will be another book in the series, I will definitely read it.