Review: Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan is the second book in the Shopaholic series. It really is hard reviewing a sequel, but with a series as popular as this one, it probably doesn't matter. I first heard of the Shopaholic series when the movie came out. They chose a tempting cover for the poster - tempting for shopaholics like me. Shopping makes me crazy. Just like the protagonist, Becky Bloomwood, I look at stuff and imagine what I can do with it. It takes a lot of conscious thinking to look at stuff and actually ask if I need to do something with it.

Confessions of a Shopaholic was a delightful laugh-out-loud book that showed Becky's obsession so well. Sophie Kinsella writes her heroines really well - she makes them unabashedly funny and yet not pitiable. They are strong characters, who happen to be human in their wants and desires. And Becky just wanted to buy stuff. If there was a price tag on something, that surely got her excited. In the second book, we pick up where we left off in the first book. Becky has managed to pay off her debts only to find herself in deeper debts again. In addition, her boyfriend, Luke is opening a branch in New York, so Becky is all excited to crash into the shopping scene in the city of skyscrapers.

I loved this book better than the first one, which I read last year. I'm not exactly sure why that is, since I don't remember much of it, but I guess it has to do with more hilarity and better jokes. In fact, I could barely put the book down, because I was laughing too much. I also ended up talking to the book and to Becky so much whenever I sensed potential disaster, which for Becky happens too often.

Becky tries to be better, true. In fact, she invents excuses for the same. She goes shopping for a business outfit, and adds a cocktail dress to the bill, because she "knows" that she may need to wear it at "some" point. She also walks into a greeting cards shop and buys $100 worth of cards because, you never know when a card comes in useful. Right? She also falls into the same trap I did when I first came to the US - the number being spent is so much less compared to the currency back home. What is $90 when the same thing costs a larger number back home (not necessarily larger price)? And she goes around saying that you can't expect to gain something without putting in something - so she spends a lot, convincing herself and others that she'll only gain by that.

I love Becky, and how she stands up for herself. It's probably an all-things-end-well story, but it works for me, because it's funny, it's about shopping, and Becky is a wonderful character. Plus, I think we book lovers will see something of ourselves in her - how many times have we bought books for the last time ever, for that week? How many times do we keep promising to do clean-up-the-shelves challenges? Don't we all need help with that - everytime? At the same time, we don't let it get to us too much - we know when to put a hold on things.

   

Check out this book @ Goodreads, Amazon, B&N.

I am a bookaholic and I bought this book.

Review: The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice (Audio Book)

Title: The Geometry of Sisters
Author: Luanne Rice
First Published: 2001
Publisher: Bantam Books
Source: Library

10 hours, 44 minutes

  

In a nutshell

After years away, Maura Shaw has returned to Newport to teach English at the academy. Behind her lies her life as the perfect midwestern wife and mother, a life that seemed on the surface to be all she had ever wished for. Ahead lie long-buried truths cracked open by the unfathomable loss of her husband and eldest daughter.

For fourteen-year-old Beck, the move is a painful upheaval from everything she has ever loved—especially her sister, Carrie. Ever since her father disappeared into the storm-tossed waters off Mackinac Island, and her sister ran away, Beck has retreated into the world of mathematics, where principles are permanent, unlike so many other things in life. Without Carrie, Beck has lost half of herself—the half that would have fit in at the elite private school she and her brother, Travis, will now attend. Beck isn’t alone in her struggle to adjust. At sixteen, Travis is juggling a long-distance first love and an attraction to an expensive-looking girl with a wicked sparkle in her eye. And for Maura, ghosts linger here—an unresolved breach with her own beloved sister and a long-ago secret that may now have the power to set her free.

The Geometry of Sisters was actually good. It just wasn't for me.

I think...

The Geometry of Sisters starts with Maura Shaw moving away to Newport, with her two children, Beck and Travis. Maura's daughter, Carrie, is missing and the detective on the case has failed to find any trace of her. Maura is the only one looking forward to the change to Newport. Travis misses his girlfriend, Ally, while Beck is antagonistic to moving away from home, where Carrie could be.

As the story progresses, Maura's perfect outer facade cracks as she comes across elements of her past that she had hidden for years. At the same time, Beck resorts to stealing, as a way to battle her demons. She had been caught and accused of stealing back home, and was in therapy. Travis finds that he is developing feelings for Pell, a girl in his school, whose sister, Lucy, is Beck's close friend in Newport.

I thought this story was pretty good, but somehow I could not connect with any of the characters and their problems at any point, except one. That one moment was late in the book, when I actually felt a character do a sensible action - sensible according to her situation. There are a lot of characters introduced in Newport, who didn't kindle any sort of interest in me. There is J.D., who became paralyzed the day the woman he loved left him, Steven Campbell, the math teacher, who has made helping the Shaw family his responsibility, Pell and Lucy Davis, another pair of sisters, whose story is told in this book's sequel, The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners. Then there is Katherine, Maura's long-estranged, would-be-no-longer-estranged sister.

The many emotions captured in the book felt shallow for me. In addition, Beck often talks about sisters, her family, her problems, and her relationships in very mathematical terms. I didn't mind it initially, but after a while, it got tiring to see so many things expressed in math terms. The audio book narrators however did a very good job. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading books about families and sisters. Since neither theme is for me, I will stay away from this genre.

Title Demystified

I initially assumed this book was about just one pair of sisters. Instead, we have three. Some how that itself ruined the book for me. Not that I don't like reading about sisters. But three pairs was a bit too much. Mainly because I felt it took away the real beauty of the relationship between sisters, by having too many pairs to focus on. Beck's mathematical prowess is brought on very well in the title of the book.

Cover Art Demystified

I however think, the cover and the title go very well together, with the palms of the three pairs of sisters interlocked in a geometrical formation.

What did you think?

Have you read this book? I'd like to know what you thought about it. Please leave your review link in the comments, or a brief opinion, if you hadn't reviewed it.

Review: The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark

Title: The Overnight Socialite
Author: Bridie Clark
First Published: December 2009
Publisher: Weinstein books
Source: Received for free from FSB Associates for review
292 pages



On the flap
Lucy Ellis is a Manhattan transplant who dreams of making it as a fashion designer but instead toils away on a Garment District assembly line.One day, during a torrential downpour, at her most bedraggled, humiliated and disheartened, Lucy meets Wyatt Hayes IV. Wyatt (man-about-town and bored Ph.D. anthropologist) has just been publicly dissed by New York's reigning socialite, Cornelia Rockman, whom he'd been dating. He boasts to his best friend Trip that he can transform any woman -- even a trailer-born nobody like Lucy -- into this year's "It" girl and write a book about it.

Thence begins Wyatt's project and Lucy's transformation. But what happens after three months? Does Lucy get what she wants or will she be revealed as a fraud? Does Wyatt get recognized for his ground-breaking research or does he get plagued by his conscience?

A chick-lit book is always my pleasure-read. If it isn't fluffy and cheesy, of course. Bridie Clark's The Overnight Socialite was quite a delightful read that kept me hooked through its 292 pages.

My opinion
The Overnight Socialite started like a typical chick-lit book. We have the heroine who has everything going against her. A very low paying job. No career growth. A terribly embarrassing day that would make anyone want to scream her lungs out and curse the maker. And, she gets looked down on by the Who's who? of the socialite world. Exactly when she is on the verge of giving up, hope comes to her in the form of a man named Wyatt, who offers her the chance to transform her life in 3 months.

Wyatt, on the other hand, belongs to the upper echelon of the socialite world who insists on a blue-blood parentage in anyone who is part of the socialite circle. The moment he is shrugged aside by his callous and ambitious girlfriend, Cornelia Rockman, he yearns to do something about his life. And writing a book about transforming an ugly duckling into a gracious swan is his means to that end.

This book is a Princess Diaries meets celebrity tabloids kind of story. I found that I enjoyed this book at many levels. It was mildly funny and the behavior and beliefs of the socialites were quite laughable at times. Lucy's attempt to blend into the glamorous yet unforgiving world of the socialites gave me many a chuckle.

The writing was also impressive. As opposed to most chick-lit books, this is written in a non-fluffy style that I wouldn't associate with chick-lit books. Bridie Clark writes in a non-rambling style that worked well with my obsession with good writing.

However, although I liked this book, I wasn't captivated. I couldn't connect with any of the characters who I found very one-dimensional. I wasn't convinced. Most of the characters have the common threads of jealousy, mistrust, ambition flowing through them and at many points, we come across the question of money vs love. I liked watching how some characters came around from their former shallow selves. But after years of being someone or being with someone, I couldn't understand how they could change so conclusively in a day or a week. I thought the book lost a bit of its depth towards the final pages, which ran a bit rushed in its aim to grant closure to all the characters.

Overall, this was a good fun light read. I did enjoy reading it, especially the insights into the fashion industry and the lives of the socialites. I was impressed with the amount of research Bridie Clark did to write this novel. There are several tangential references to many well-known characters and events laced throughout the story, and many a time, that encouraged me to Google some of them. But I wish the plot was more believable and the characters more wholesome.

Title Demystified
Lucy Ellis is Wyatt's subject for his thesis on how one's ancestry and customs have no effect whatsoever on whether one can be a socialite or not. I can tell you that some parts of this research convinced me of Wyatt's belief. But like Cornelia, I found several gaps in the story put forward by Wyatt and Lucy.

Cover Art Demystified
The very fun-looking and chick-lit cover totally belies the kind of book The Overnight Socialite is. Sure, it is chick-lit, but not fluffy. Instead, it is a "mature" chick-lit, if that's possible. I love the midnight-blue cover that screams glamor and style!

What did you think?
Have you read this book? I'd like to know what you thought about it. Please leave your review link in the comments, or a brief opinion, if you hadn't reviewed it.

Did you like it or you didn't? If you didn't, at what point did the book turn you off.

Review: The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

Title: The Undomestic Goddess
Author: Sophie Kinsella
First Published: October 2007
Publisher: Bantam Dell
Source: Personal Copy
404 pages



Summary
Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.

Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.

But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

Sophie Kinsella is my favorite chick-lit author. I enjoy her books a lot for their fun factor. And after reading a lot of serious but rewarding books latelt, I needed to laugh while still enjoying the experience. Really laugh, as in rolling-on-the-floor laughing!

My opinion
I received this book as a Secret Santa gift from a member in a Goodreads group. Before this, I had already read 3 books by Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and Remember Me?, - enjoying all three greatly. This one was no different in recipe.

The humor in The Undomestic Goddess was quite tickling. Not always, but mostly. It started with Samantha sitting in a spa, to use a gift voucher that she got on her birthday the previous year. She is a highly busy lawyer, with a non-existent social life, hoping to become the youngest partner in her firm. There, we get a rib-tickling insight into her stressed life and obsessive preoccupation with her work. Her work is scheduled at 6 minute-phases. Her daily routine would look like this:

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11:00-11.06 drafted contract for Project A
11.06-11.12 amended documentation for Client B
11.12-11.18 consulted on point for Agreement C

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One day, when she makes a costly error, of the value of 50 million pounds, she loses her job and almost in a trance, gets herself employed as a housekeeper. Samantha Sweeting - who couldn't cook to even save her life, or even take care of her own apartment - was suddenly in charge of looking after a mansion and its two owners. What follows is a hilarious account of her transformation!

I liked Samantha Sweeting the best of the Sophie Kinsella heroines so far, because for a change, here is a woman who is not obsessed with make-up or clothes and shoes, or any of the things that fascinate most women in fluff chick-lit books. While I wish she had some "me" time, she was still a smart woman who got things done. Even when she tries to resign from the housekeeper job, she does it so diplomatically that the owners offer her a raise. When she is in a soup, it is a treat to see her worm herself out smartly. In short, an intelligent woman. Initially, she even tried applying her principles from her job to housekeeping, starting with a schedule.

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9:30-9.36 Make Geiger's bed
9.36-9.42 Take laundry out of machine and put in dryer
9.42-10.00 Clean bathrooms

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Needless to say, the result is hilarious!

As with other Sophie Kinsella reads, this one is also predictable, and that's about the only thing I have to complain about. Although this is supposed to be a HEA book, I would have loved some more unpredictability thrown into the ending. In a real world, I find what Samantha did in the ending to be extreme. But then most of the Sophie Kinsella books have heroines who probably wouldn't exist in the real world, such as Lara Lington of Twenties Girl, who could talk to the ghost of her great aunt, Rebecca Bloomwood of Confessions of a Shopaholic, who is very deep in debt and still can't put a stop to her buying behavior, Lexi Smart, of Remember Me?, who has forgotten three years of her life and is now the complete opposite of how she was three years ago.

If you are looking for a light yet sensible read, you would enjoy this book. This isn't high literature stuff, but heck, we all need our laughs, right?

Title Demystified
Samantha Sweeting is the undomestic goddess, who doesn't know to cook, to use the washer or the dryer, or to clean or dust a house. She doesn't know the difference between various spices and herbs and her conversations with the gardener, from whom she gets the vegetables are quite hilarious!

Cover Art Demystified
Sophie Kinsella's books have quite charming covers. This one shows a typical work-woman's bag, the kind that Samantha would own. In the prominent place is a mobile phone!

What did you think?
Have you read this book? I'd like to know what you thought about it. Please leave your review link in the comments, or a brief opinion, if you hadn't reviewed it.