-Becky Bloomwood

Universally beloved by readers, Sophie Kinsella’s national bestseller, Confessions of a Shopaholic, introduced the irrepressible one-woman shopping phenomenon, Becky Bloomwood. Now, in this hilarious follow-up, Becky and her credit cards are headed across the Atlantic….

With her shopping excesses (somewhat) in check and her career as a TV financial guru thriving, Becky’s biggest problem seems to be tearing her entrepreneur boyfriend, Luke, away from work for a romantic country weekend. And worse, figuring out how to “pack light.” But packing takes on a whole new meaning when Luke announces he’s moving to New York for business-and he asks Becky to go with him!

Before you can say “Prada sample sale,” Becky has landed in the Big Apple, home of Park Avenue penthouses and luxury department stores.

Surely it’s only a matter of time until she becomes an American TV celebrity, and she and Luke are the toast of Gotham society. Nothing can stand in their way, especially with Becky’s bills miles away in London.

Rebecca Bloomwood the shopping maven is back in another book by Sophie Kinsella. When we last left Rebecca she had gotten a good job on Morning Coffee and had paid off all her debts. She had a handsome boyfriend in Luke Brandon, and everything seemed to be on the rise for her.

When we come on her again, things are looking similar to when we left. There is the Morning Coffee show she has Luke Brandon, and of course she is still living in the flat with Suze her best friend and roommate. There is however something old and yet new, Becky is again in debt. She just can not seem to get her shopping under control, we have found her again unable to say no to even the stupidest of purchases that she will never use! She rations them away and finds some obscure reason as to why she will need them. And than those letters start coming from the bank again, Oh my!

Sophie has made another laughable and yet emotional book that you can enjoy and that is a fast read. I had fun reading this book and it is just as enjoyable as the first one. Although you do find yourself saying why is Becky doing this again? Didn’t she learn the last time? You still get a good chuckle out of it. Especially when our poor girl who so needs treatment for the addiction finds herself in New York with Luke. Things are certainly not perfect, and once again things come crashing down around Becky’s ears. But well what does any self respecting person do? Try again. If you like Chic Lit, and loved the first book Confessions of a Shopaholic you will love Shopaholic takes Manhattan.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister’s Keeper follows the emotional story of a family that has one daughter stricken with a very serious rare form of leukemia and the daughter that they genetically matched to be her donor. They also have the eldest son Jesse who is a rebel without a cause and the heart breaking core issue of, just how much is too much to ask a Sister to do?

In My Sister’s Keeper we are forced to look at some serious and emotional issues is it right to genetically have a child to be another ones spare parts? It truly brings out the old English saying of an Heir and a Spare. Does that mean you love the child who is the donor any less? Does it mean that they should always feel obligated to give, give and give? Who is the selfish one the child who keeps getting or the child who no longer wishes to give? And can you yourself honestly answer any of these questions yourself in Black and white.

The writing in this book is amazing; it pulls you into the story so that you can see the pieces fitting together. I can honestly see why this book was made into a movie, the storytelling is painted so well and so vivid you can’t help but seeing it as a reel of movie film in your head. I went into this book knowing it was going to be emotional and sad, and I came out with tears on my face and not expecting the ending that came. I will recommend this book to anyone I know who reads, and even those who don’t. My Sister’s Keeper is the best book I have read in 2009.

It is a choice which is not easily made. As Commander-in-chief George Washington declares a major victory in New York, the rest of the colonies separate into Patriots and Tories. Kate Darby never expected to be swept up in this political storm. The Darbys are Quakers who have pledged their allegiance to God first–but that soon changes. Kate’s younger brother, Seth, can no longer deny his soul’s cry against tyranny. Fleeing from his Loyalist parents’ house to join General Washington’s ragtag forces, Seth enters a life he never expected.
With the influx of British soldiers, Philadelphia soon becomes a temporary base camp for the English forces. When the Darbys find themselves forced to take in Major Jonathan Andre, Kate falls quickly for his charm.

Despite her warring affections, Kate finds herself drawn deep into the war. As she attempts to follow her brother, she risks her life and her family’s reputation by becoming a spy for the patriot forces, a role which quickly transforms the once-timid Quaker girl. With a world of danger and political upheaval thrown before them, Kate and Seth face incredible danger in the hopes of shaping one of the single most important events in American history: the war for freedom.

The rest of the book seems to drag by at a confusing pace; it jumps from one city to the next without giving any real flow of what we are doing or how we got there. It follows the solider and than the normal people without giving us a good sense of why or how we are switching views. And perhaps the thing that bothersome the most is that it switches from using thee and thy and back to talking with a modern tone. In my opinion if you’re going to talk in one fashion stick with it. Do not jump around; it is too choppy for the reader. As much as I love the era, this book was very difficult to finish I almost didn’t.