Shopaholic on honeymoon (by Sophie Kinsella)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve enjoyed several books by Sophie Kinsella over the years, slightly to my surprise as I’m not, in general, a fan of light ‘chick-lit’. But her writing style is excellent and she has a wonderfully ironic sense of humour which has occasionally made me laugh out loud. I even enjoy the ‘Shopaholic’ series about Becky Bloomfield who is addicted to shopping and unable to resist a bargain… yet somehow extremely likeable.

‘Shopaholic on Honeymoon’ is not much more than a short story, really, and I would not normally review short stories on this blog. However, as it's part of a series of books - a kind of addendum - I thought it relevant. It's available in Kindle form only, as a free download. It nicely fills in part of the gap between ‘Shopaholic ties the knot’, which is perhaps my favourite of the series, and ‘Shopaholic and Sister’, which opens with letters received by Becky during and after a year’s round-the-world honeymoon.

In this episode, we find Becky and her husband Luke in Venice. They are about a month into their honeymoon and Becky’s having a wonderful time. She has evidently bought - and shipped - a large number of souvenirs, and decides on new interests and hobbies, albeit short-lived. She’s a wonderful caricature of an ultra spontaneous person who revels in the moment and rarely thinks about the future. Undoubtedly she would be annoying in real life, but for a bit of escapism I love reading about her life, which is so different from mine!

Luke is more shadowy in this story; he’s starting to get a bit antsy about his business, and wants to get back to work. Inevitably there’s some conflict and a bit of compromise, and I was surprised at how moving it was.

I know this was written after the other books and only intended to be a short filler story, but I was disappointed when it ended. I’d have liked a bit more.

I downloaded it to my Kindle and it made ideal reading on a flight. It wasn’t at all demanding and was brief enough to read in one sitting without needing to stretch my legs. It’s some time since I read the other books in the series but that didn’t matter at all. The two main characters were memorable enough.

Recommended if you like the Shopaholic series, although it would probably work as a standalone story too. However, I suspect it’s only really of interest to anyone who’s read at least one or two of the others in the series. Only available in electronic form, as far as I know.

Review copyright 2015 Sue's Book Reviews