Christmas Shopaholic

Aw, it was so cute. Except that her friends and family were pretty awful to her a majority of the time. Luke remains the perfect man though!

SO happy I (finally!) finished this series. Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is probably the most annoying main character I’ve read. There are maybe 2 or 3 books in the Shopaholics series that are better, but the stories always revolves around misunderstandings or the bad decisions Becky takes. Which is very frustrating because ALL of her decisions are bad. On top of that, the amount of money she wastes makes me feel secondhand embarrassment. It’s just completely ridiculous and she never have ANY consequences. She just wastes an infinite amount of money on completely unnecessary material things. I know the series is not suppose to be taken seriously, but it’s not funny either. There would be no stories if the main character wasn’t so stupid and selfish. Which just makes it annoying to read. I wanted to finish the series because the first Shopaholic book was the first book I bought at the brand new (and beautiful!) Indigo store that opened in my town right after I finished University and I wanted something light to bring back my love of reading after being forced to read books I did not want to at school. And it worked! …But 10 years later, I’ve read so many great lighthearted books that I have no more patience for those stupid main characters. On to the next! 📚

i haven't had a book fill me with this much joy for a very long time. after reading the entire series, I'm going to miss becky.

I probably should've read the other books in this series first, but this one kept coming up in Christmas books (I was trying to get into the holiday spirit).

Another joyous instalment from one of my favourite authors <3 Devoured in one sitting!

Full review to follow soon!

Becky Brandon nee Bloomwood is a vapid character, self involved and awful with money and understanding people. Why do I see myself in her so much...?! The moment she decides to buy a Christmas notebook and new pen made me laugh... I contemplated doing the same the other day but managed to stop myself because I have a shelf of half written notebooks and I’m a teacher, I have pens coming out of every pocket of every item of clothes I own. The books are fun, laugh out loud and seriously so easy to get involved in. Another win for the Shopaholic series!

Long live Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood)! Imagine my joy, when I received an email saying I was approved for a galley of her latest novel, Christmas Shopaholic, due to be published in October,2019. I could not read this one fast enough. Becky finds out that her parents are not only moving away for some time to live in a “hipster” neighborhood, but they will not be hosting Christmas this year. It is time for Becky to do so! Becky’s half sister, Jess, is staying in her parent’s house while they are away, so she is invited as well. And you can’t have Christmas without Janice and her husband. Suze, of course, is also invited with her family. And Becky needs to buckle down and shop smart. Is that even possible with a shopaholic? Planning for Christmas would be easy, except Becky suspects something is wrong with Jess’ marriage, her rock-God ex-boyfriend has appeared out of nowhere wanting to be friends with Becky again (but…why?), a fellow mom at school is struggling with her personal life where Becky wants to help, and Luke’s perfect present would be so easy to get, if she can just get admission to a men’s only club. I loved reading this adventure. Becky’s world feels like home to me, and this time around I found myself laughing literally out loud. That wasn’t good for me, as I was sneakily reading it while I was supposed to be working because I couldn’t put it down. This is another classic Becky book that has made me feel festive in August. I cannot wait for Christmas this year, where I hope life will be like a Hallmark movie. Check out my review here: https://momwithbooks.wordpress.com/20... I received this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. RTC

I highly enjoyed this.

actual rating: 3.5

It took me a while to get into this book - I found the extravagant spending rankled a bit more than it had in previous books, but by the end I was as entranced by Becky’s kindness and generosity as ever. I even shed a few tears. Heartwarming and hilarious this is a great Christmas read.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book for a review! Becky is hosting her first family Christmas and I loved the cozy, holiday cheer this book provided. It was hilarious to watch all the madness unfold in such misshapen ways. The awkward family dynamics, the stressors, the shopping, all of it transported me to the magic of Christmas and it was a really sweet feeling. Unfortunately, this book fell a bit flat for me as it took me getting more than 80% through it to see some real depth to the characters. I loved Becky, but most of the story was narrated through her thoughts and they stayed surface-level most of the time. Once I got to the end, I loved it, but I hated that it took me that long to really be attached to the main character and to be able to really appreciate her great qualities.