Read July 5, 2020 – Never
Christmas in July continues! This was my second Christmas book choice – I figured since I love Christmas shopping and am kind of systematic about it, starting fairly early, that this might be a great book for me. Sophie Kinsella has an entire Shopaholic series and this is the 9th book but many reviews state that you don’t need to have read the others to be able to pick this one up. You’ll notice by my reading dates that I didn’t finish it and I’m happy to tell you why…
What is it about?
As the title of the book indicates, this book is about a shopaholic. It completely fetishized shopping to the extent that you’re reading page after page of purchases without much story beyond that. The main character, Becky, is married with children and has been put in charge of hosting Christmas this year. It’s her first time hosting and it brings up a ton of stress – What do I cook? How do I decorate? My sister is vegan so what do I make for her? Etc, etc…
I found myself immediately hating Becky, which made this book very hard to read. Becky’s sister is into caring for the environment and a lot of the narrative surrounding her seems to be harshly mocking her – this just felt really forced and closed-minded, making the story even more challenging for me to connect with.
What does it have?
- Shopping Obsession
- Christmas Hosting Drama
- Parent Identity Crisis – trying to fit in with the hipsters
- Marriage
I very rarely put down a book without finishing it and have tried to commit to continuing even when I absolutely can’t stand the story – there’s always hope it’ll get better. After reading over 200 pages of this book, I decided I can’t possibly waste another moment of my time on the novel. Harsh? No. The shallowness of the main character and complete lack of complexity made it impossible to move forward. This may have had Christmas as the focus but the magic was stolen by the story itself.
Is it worth reading?
Gosh no! Unless you’re a fan of the Shopaholic series, which would indicate you already know the type of writing and storyline you’re signing up for, I would say HARD PASS on this Christmas pick.
Are there any Christmas books releasing this Fall that you’re looking forward to?
Nicolena Reads 