Shopaholic Ties the Knot
“The thing about Becky Bloomwood is, she just can’t decide. Orange shoes or purple shoes? Get them both. Black T shirt or white T shirt? Get them both. (After all, they’re ‘staple items’.)
When her boyfriend Luke proposes to her, she’s blown away with excitement. She’s going to have the best wedding ever! But that’s where the trouble starts. Her mum wants her to have a family wedding in the garden in Oxshott. Perfect. Lovely. Until mother-in-law Elinor offers her a blow-out, spectacular wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York.
How can she let Mum down? But how can she reject a zillion dollar Plaza wedding? What’s she going to do? Answer: go into total denial. As time ticks away, Becky tries on dresses, chooses wedding presents, and hopes that everything will just magically sort itself out. Which needless to say, does NOT happen, and soon she’s in trouble…
This was a hugely fun book to write, but also quite tense-making. Fun, because I got to research it by eating wedding cake and trying on Vera Wang dresses in New York… tense-making because it’s probably the worst dilemma she’s ever had, and it’s all of her own making, and I, as author, had to sort it all out!”
Shopaholic and Sister
“I think the Becky-Jess double act is a really fascinating relationship, and I loved creating it.
The story begins on honeymoon, where Becky is displaying her usual reserve about buying souvenirs (ie buying everything in sight, shipping it home and forgetting about it). She and Luke are ready to come back to England and begin married life properly. But when they arrive, they’re in for a shock as they discover that Becky has a long-lost half sister, Jess.
She couldn’t be more excited. At last, a real sister! Someone to go shopping with, be girly with, have manicures with… Until she meets her – and her shock is complete. Surely her own sister can’t… hate shopping?
Jess is ethical, puritanical and serious-minded. She doesn’t paint her nails. She doesn’t watch rom coms. Do she and Becky have anything in common…?
The story of Becky and Jess is almost like a romance. Hate, love, hate, love… they go through a rollercoaster as they both try to get used to the idea of having a sister they never knew about. The story ends up with Becky embarking on perhaps her most foolhardy, extreme adventure ever, and was very exciting to write!”
Shopaholic and Baby
“Becky is having maybe her biggest adventure ever… having a baby! Being the shopaholic that she is, of course she has to have EVERYTHING perfect for her new baby, so she goes shopping, big-time! She gets the perfect nursery furniture… she’s obsessed by the pram… everything has to be just right.
It all comes to a head when she hears about an amazing celebrity obstetrician to the stars, and being Becky Bloomwood, she HAS to have this doctor. So, she rushes off to this trendy new place only to find that the celebrity obstetrician is Luke’s ex-girlfriend. The doctor is tall, glamorous and intellectual and knew Luke before Becky did, and poor Becky starts feeling paranoid – is this doctor still interested in Luke? Is he interested in her? What’s going on?
It’s tough for Becky, she’s pregnant, she’s growing every day, as you do, and I think for every pregnant woman there’s a moment where however blooming you are, however glowing, however much people say “you look fabulous, you’re carrying a new life, you’re wonderful!” there’s a moment when you get undressed, you look in the mirror and you think OMG I’m huge, I’m hideous, this is just so awful. That happens to Becky. It really is a time of emotional vulnerability, more than she’s ever had.
Becky goes on quite a journey in this one, and for me it was a really moving book to write.”
Mini Shopaholic
“I had such fun with this book – reuniting with Becky and Luke, creating their daughter Minnie and putting Becky in as many scrapes as possible! The title is a bit of a play on words, because Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) has had a daughter, Minnie… and she really is a little Mini Shopaholic!
It’s the story of Becky’s adventures with motherhood, with Minnie and with a whole bunch of other stuff in her life. I think you’ll be surprised by just how busy Becky’s life has become – she’s got so many challenges and she’s fighting them all at once so although motherhood is a big theme, there’s also recession-busting, the fact she’s living at home with her parents as she hasn’t found a house yet, and then a massive great plot involving a surprise party for Luke… It’s a book full of themes, packed with incident and adventure and I hope you’ll find it a lot of fun to read!”
Shopaholic to the Stars
(Click on the extract tab above to read a sample chapter from the book)
Where’s the most crazy, extreme, shiny place in the world? Los Angeles! So what better setting for Becky’s latest adventure? I’d been planning to send Becky to Hollywood for years – ever since I had the whole film experience myself. I couldn’t wait to see what she would get up to. Now she’s finally made it and it’s quite a story! I think Hollywood can go to anyone’s head – and it certainly goes to Becky’s.
She arrives full of vim and optimism, determined to enjoy LA, meet film stars and lead a glamorous life. Luke her husband is managing a movie superstar – Sage Seymour – and Becky’s sure they’ll end up being best friends (even though Luke hasn’t even introduced them yet.) But, as ever with Becky, things don’t go according to plan.
From the very first scene – in a shop on Rodeo Drive, of course (!) – things go awry. She hopes to hang out with the A-listers at Minnie’s pre-school… but that doesn’t work out. Then she decides to become a celebrity stylist and sets her heart on the red carpet, but it’s harder than she thought. Best friend Suze comes out to give her moral support – but now there’s just double trouble! The two cause havoc wherever they go, from red carpet galas to movie sets.
But then Becky gets a real chance – and has to face some tough choices. Will she make the right ones?
In Shopaholic To The Stars, Becky goes through quite a journey – both personally and with Luke and Suze. I loved telling it and I hope you love reading it.
Shopaholic to the Rescue
I am so excited that Becky is back in the shops! In the past Becky has run home to her family when times have got tough but this time it is Becky to the rescue.
I had so much fun writing this latest adventure, taking Becky, Suze, Minnie and everyone on a great American roadtrip to save their loved ones – I hope you enjoy reading it too!
Love, Sophie xx
Shopaholic on Honeymoon
As readers of the Shopaholic series will know, I have never described Becky and Luke’s honeymoon, which happens after they get married in Shopaholic Ties the Knot. So as a free short story for Shopaholic fans, I have decided to share with you one of the adventures of the newly-wed Becky and Luke. I hope you enjoy it!
Love Sophie x
(CLICK ON THE EXTRACT TAB ABOVE TO READ THE STORY!)
Finding Audrey
I’m very excited to introduce my first YA novel, Finding Audrey
Audrey is a teenage girl suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder. She has experienced bullying, and as a result has become virtually a prisoner in her own home. This is the story of her journey to recovery, with the help of a boy named Linus. It’s sad in places, but funny and romantic too.
I hope that you will find the story of Audrey and her chaotic family a funny and uplifting one. Audrey is a brave, charming and resourceful girl and I hope she will inspire you as much as she has inspired me. I always fall in love with my heroines, but with Audrey I feel a special protective fondness, too.
Sophie x
Sleeping Arrangements
I think of all the books I’ve written, Sleeping Arrangements has my favourite setting. It’s set in a great big villa in the Spanish mountains with a pool and lemon trees and olive groves and it’s absolutely idyllic. The story is of two families who turn up on the same day, expecting to have a holiday there and not realising that the friend who owns the villa has double booked by mistake. (Or was it a mistake…?!) They are forced to stay in this villa for a week and of course there’s all kinds of backstory and love stories and baggage between the two families which comes out when they are drinking the sangria and sloshing on the suncream. I’d always wanted to write a holiday book, and it was almost like being on holiday writing this book, because it’s all blue sky and sun. I really had a good time and even put some Spanish guitar music on to get myself in the mood!
Sleeping Arrangements has also been adapted into a musical – find out more and listen to the music here!
Swimming Pool Sunday
I think of all the books I’ve ever written, Swimming Pool Sunday is the darkest, and is probably the least like my Sophie Kinsella books. In fact, it’s quite a serious drama with some big issues. It starts off in an idyllic way, in a country village by a swimming pool. All the families are splashing in the pool, it’s a lovely gorgeous sunny day and everyone is having a lot of fun. Then there’s an accident and a child gets hurt, which results in a lawsuit which splits the community in two, and it all gets quite painful and messy.
I wrote it several years ago when litigation was all quite new, but since then, it’s come further and further into our lives so it still feels like a very relevant issue.