I am back with another book review, today it is Shopaholic to the Rescue by Sophie Kinsella.
This book follows Rebecca/Becky/Bex and her family on a road trip across the United States in search of her father and her friend's husband, both of whom have gone missing together unexplained. Together with her husband, daughter, mother, best friend and her mother's best friend, Becky travels in an RV across the West to Las Vegas. I don't think I can give much more of the synopsis without spoiling anything so I'll leave it at that.
So, just to preface this review, I haven't read the rest of this series. I've read Kinsella's YA debut Finding Audrey, but beyond that, I haven't read any of her books. I would imagine that there is a lot of background info in the rest of the series, especially because this is book eight, but for the most part, I was able to follow the story quite well and would say that this book could easily be read as a standalone, however, if you don't want to be spoiled on elements of this book that appear in previous, i.e. who Becky marries, etc. I would read them in order.
I knew going in from previous experiences reading Kinsella's books and from my personal life (that is, people who've read the series), that I would find this one to be a quick, light read. And I was right. While the book touches on a few serious topics, they never really weigh the book down. The story was just as light and funny as I thought it would be.
I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had extra knowledge from the other books, even just with smaller parts of the book, relationships, that sort of thing, that wasn't too integral to the plot but that left me feeling I was five minutes too late for the joke. I kept feeling like there were references to something a loyal reader would have enjoyed but that seemed vague to me. While it can be read by itself, I think I would have liked it better if I had known more about the character's history.
I guess my biggest question was, what was the point of this book? I mean, from the standpoint of someone who hasn't read all the books, and probably won't pick them up, what did this book bring to the table? The road trip element was fun, and it basically adds an extra star on for me. The family drama was interesting but a bit over the top sometimes. There wasn't really any life changing information in this book. I don't think I am any better off having read it. But, on that same note, I'm not sure I'm any worse off having read it. It was a quick, fun read. I just don't think that, plotwise, there was a lot of value.
I found the whole "shopaholic" parts of this book to be a bit weird. While I understand that this is basically the whole premise of the series, Becky's shopping addiction seemed a bit forced to me, especially her being 'cured' and not wanting to shop. I guess this is an important part of the series, but I felt like there was more going on in this book than there needed to be, and then the whole shopaholic thing thrown in on top.
Overall, it was a quick and fun read but don't expect too much out of it.