About this title: Since Becky Bloomwood's last adventures in the national bestsellers "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, " she has become the best personal shopper at Barneys, and is living with her boyfriend Luke. So not everything is smooth as silk--Becky's ring finger is still bare.
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Description: Very Good. First printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Slight cover wear with minor scuffing to edges GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Description: Good. This book has medium cover wear, light cover lift, spine creases, medium spine tilt, light creases on covers, light page edge wear. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Dial Press
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780385336178ISBN:0385336179
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. clean, straight, tight and unmarked. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
"Oh no! Oh no! What happened to Sophie Kinsella when she wrote this book??!!! Needless to say I wasn't really pleased with the third novel. The problem book series have, especially when the first two novels were really good, is that the reader is hungry for more good story telling. But unfortunately, with Shopaholic Ties the Knot, it seems like the author has lost her fire....OH NO!!! Okay, what didn't I like about it? Well, for starters, the plot seems really ridiculous. Becky Bloomwood's character builds a certain level of expectation particularly readers she was introduced to in two prior novels. She is a Shopaholic, right? Then why would she allow two other people to plan her wedding? I mean, if she loves to shop, then what better way to start the story with Becky not being able to resist the huge million-dollar industry of Weddings? There are tons of irresistibly spending sprees she could have done and could have used the excuse, 'Hey, I only get married once!' to explain her splurges. But instead Ms. Kinsella takes the reader to a bizarre scenario where two weddings are being planning for Becky to occur on the same day. How weird is that! I know this is fiction, but at the very least try to think of the readers and how they would relate to the main character! I just got married very recently and I was hoping for the book to indulge me with wedding (mis)adventures so that I can relate, laugh, and recollect about my own wedding planning (not that I splurged...well, maybe a little...)! The new characters Ms. Kinsella introduced are annoying and incomprehensible. First there is Becky's NYC bestfriend, Danny. He is supposed to be an up and coming designer. Hmmm, really now...then why does he leech off his older brother (who pays the rent) and lies about having his clothes being sold in Barney's? And when he does design Becky's outfits, the clothes come apart!!!?? Becky wears one of his 'T-shirt Gowns' (what the heck is that???!!!) when she walked down as Suze's maid-of-honor, but the pieces of the outfit were coming off!!! Isn't the criteria of a good fashion designer not just in the creativity of the work but the WORKMANSHIP and innovation of the sewing! Danny also creates Becky's wedding gown by making 'denim' ruffles? WHAT?????!!!! What bride in her right mind would wear such a thing in a supposedly posh wedding at the New York Plaza, where Hollywood Stars get married? The theme of the wedding is Sleeping Beauty, but Becky has DENIM material on her gown? I am completely appalled at the ridiculousness of all this! Ms. Kinsella should have done some research in dress-making...OR should have not created the Danny character and stuck it out with Suze, whom I always found to be super cool! The character of Luke's Mom, Elinor, is incomprehensible. Did Ms. Kinsella do this on purpose? Are we really not suppose to understand her? She is rich, snobbish, and very narcistic (she has 'secret' surgeries in Switzerland), who apparently does not really care for Luke and is in fact using him for his time to build up her charity work. However, if she really doesn't care much for him and is using him for money, then why would she pay six figures to throw them a wedding? Why not be consistent and have him pay for the wedding? The falling out Luke eventually had with Elinor causes him to break down, which Becky calls 'mid-life crisis'. I find this part of the story very unconvincing. In the end, Luke and Elinor made-up in such a casual way that I end up shaking my head and asking the question, "Why go through the trouble of putting a crisis in the story when it is clearly half-baked crisis?" The part I like the best was whenever Becky would find ways to 'cover' her expenses on the bank statement. One of the arguments she and Luke had was "Is a Miu-Miu skirt a house hold expense?" I found that quite funny, but everything else in the story, I shrugged in disappointment."
"Once again, I have to say that the overall issue I have with the Shopaholic books is that I can't like the protagonist, which makes it impossible for me to bond with the books. The writing style is, again, great, but this main character seriously needs lessons in self-control, and even moreso, honesty!
Most of the time, I am at a complete loss to understand what Luke sees in Becky. Her redeeming qualities are that she is clever, resourceful, and admittedly, charming. Having said that, I can't warm up to her. She has no backbone, doesn't stand up for herself or others, and allows herself to be carried away far too easily.
I think the ending of this book was all too convenient, to be honest. Now, I know that it's a tradition for Becky to very suddenly find the solutions to all of her problems and work everything out perfectly, but the double-wedding was pushing the bounds of reality further than I was willing to accept.
I really like this author's style and writing, but I'm just sincerely not a fan of Becky Bloomwood, and sometimes the stories themselves just put me off of reading her work."
What? Did I really do that? I, who LOVED the first two Shopaholic books?
Why yes I did. This book could not have been dragged out longer. I don't know if Sophie just ran out of tangled spots for Becky to work her way out of, but man did this book drag. By the end I couldn't care less if Becky actually got married or not.
I thought there would be more fun with the wedding planning - Becky's style versus her mother's or Luke's mother's style. Lots of shopping, spending too much - I mean, that's why I love these freaking books so I can shop vicariously through the character.
No deal.
Just a lot of "GET ON WITH IT!"
I won't be reading the fourth installment. I'm blatantly against silly people procreating (which is why I have no children of my own). The idea that Becky is going to have a baby now is just silly. And the premise is tacky and cliche.
Stick with the first two books and enjoy them. Skip the third."
"Read the whole series this spring. I needed something light-hearted and funny, and these books fit the bill. What I liked about them: they made me laugh. I could identify with some of the rationalizations the character makes when buying things she doesn't really need. I loved her friendship with Suze. Her parents are a hoot, and she has a good relationship with them.
Things I didn't like: her boyfriend/husband is loaded, so after the first couple of books, there really is no consequence of her spending all that money. She lies to people ALL the time. She obsesses over designers. In every book she has a relationship crisis with boyfriend/husband where she feels unwanted by him, or uncertain of his devotion. In every book he keeps information from her, or isn't forthright with her, or generally treats her like someone silly, only later to repent and tell her how much he respects/admires/loves her. How many times must they go through that cycle? And what, really, does he see in her?
I will admit I am curious to see a Denny & George scarf, though!"
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