Shopaholic Ties the Knot

By Sophie Kinsella

This novel in the Shopaholic series finds Becky living in New York City with her boyfriend, Luke. She is working as a stylist at a clothing store and Luke is running his public relations business. All is going wonderfully, even though Becky still has a tendency to buy everything that strikes her fancy and a lot of things do strike her fancy. The only fly in the ointment is the entrance into Luke's life of his long-absent mother.
Mother is a society lady and it seems to Becky that she is more interested in Luke's business connections than she is in Luke himself. But Luke is enchanted to have his mother back in his life for the first time in over twenty years and he is deaf to Becky's words of caution.
Luke has asked Becky to marry him and now Mother is taking over the wedding, which she wants to be a big, important society event. Meanwhile, Becky's parents are planning to have the wedding in the garden of their home in England, unaware of the big society wedding that is being put together in New York.
So three weeks before the wedding and Becky has completely failed to tell her parents about the New York wedding. And if she backs out of the NYC wedding, she will have to pay the wedding planner $100,000 penalty, money Becky doesn't have. But if she doesn't cancel the city wedding, she will break her mother's heart, not to mention all the expense and bother her parents are going through for her back-home wedding. Meanwhile Luke is beginning to see Mother with clearer eyes and he is taking it badly. He is sunk in depression and skipping work and talking about the two of them just running away and leaving it all behind.
What's a Shopaholic to do? Is there any way to shop herself of the this new mess?

This was a pretty good story. For one thing, Becky doesn't lie as much in this book as she did in the first novel in the series. Her main lies in this story are ones of omission. She just goes along with everything without leveling with anyone, including her fiancé, Luke.
The ending was kind of odd and not what I was hoping for.  But everything works out, of course, since it seems Becky the Liar lives a charmed life.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

By Sophie Kinsella

Becky is a writer for a financial magazine. She doesn't like her job. She would rather be working in fashion.
Becky loves to shop. So much so that she is overdrawn at her bank and has maxed out her credit cards.  Oddly, even though she is a financial writer, she doesn't really try to manage her own finances. She throws letters from the bank and overdue bills in the garbage. Out of sight, out of mind, eh?
Becky is young and a bit silly. She rationalizes her purchases, telling herself she is saving money by shopping sales for things that she actually doesn't need.  She buys clothes and then never wears them. She buys things just to be buying something. She will spend £25 to get 50 pence on her Club Card, a kind of customer rebate program.
But fortunately for Becky, all her problems will be solved because she is young and attractive and well spoken. And all her lies will be forgiven and money will be thrown at her and the millionaire males will be lining up to wine and dine her.  Which only goes to show that being a liar pays off big time. Just look at Donald Trump.

I was more than a little put off by the endless stream of lies that flow from Becky's mouth. She lies to her coworkers, her boss, her parents, the bankers, her friends, just about every one. Mainly, she lies to herself. I was about 100 pages into the story when I decided to go back and keep track of every lie she told, including lies on paper, lies to herself, and lies she plans to tell if the occasion arises. I counted 124 lies. At 250 pages, that is a lie every other page. The book ought to be called, Confessions of a Habitual Liar.
Becky is supposed to be sympathetic and charming. But to me, she was just another damned liar. I can't really say that I like a story in which the main character is so dishonest and unappealing.
I pass. I will not be reading another story in the saga of Becky the Liar.

A review by Publishers Weekly.