Then Luke proposes! Bridal registries dance in Becky's head. Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding: Becky's overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum's frilly old gown. While Luke's high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza. Both weddings for the same day. And Becky can't seem to turn down either one. Can everyone's favorite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unravels?
©2003 Sophie Kinsella; (P)2003 Recorded Books
"Chock-full of the charming antics and asides that made the first two installments hilarious best sellers." (Booklist)
"Third time's the charm." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Page Turner"
I call this a page turner even though it is not a mystery because I never wanted to turn off my MP3 player. I absolutely loved this book !!!! I loved Becky, her accent, her neighbor Danny, her job and her family. I identify with her in many ways, like day dreaming about what "might" happen instead of accepting what "will" happen. I spent alot of time thinking about how Becky could "fix things" but the way things did turn out was even better than anythin I could dream up. As funny as this may sound, I almost think of Becky as a friend now.
"Shopaholic recurrence"
absolutely amazaing how all 3 books that tell the story of Becky Bloomwood never fails in their entertainment; if you have read the 1st, you will definitely enjoy the 2nd & 3rd
"Too Long"
I LOVE the Shopaholic series! Once I get started, I can't put them down! However, I found this particular one to drag on a little too long. I still enjoyed it, but would have enjoyed it more had it been shorter.
"Lots of fun..."
You don't get this book for the mental stimulation or spiritual growth, but it is a fun read with a nice ending. If you like the others, you'll probably like this one, too.
"Near-perfect audiobook"
I've been a fan of the Shopaholic series for about six months now. I thoroughly enjoyed both Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, but I didn't want to wait another six months for the pocket book edition of Shopaholic Ties the Knot.
Therefore, I decided to opt for the audiobook version. The book itself is great, as good as the first 2 titles in the series. Emily Grey does a great job as a narrator and in playing the role of Becky. My only qualm is that the audiobook's publisher should have hired a man to play the male characters. Emily Grey's reading of characters like Luke is laughable at best.
Nevertheless, I recommend this audiobook for fans of the series.
"Predictable story saved by good narration"
The narrator's ability to give a stale story some life
I think I can't recall the most interesting part. But the least interesting part may be the wedding in NY at the end. I expected more ingenuity in getting herself out of the "two-wedding" trouble. But I shouldn't have had my hopes high for this book in the first place.
Most of Sophie K's books follow more or less similar story lines, I think.
Yes, I have. It was another of Sophie K's shopaholic books. It was equally good.
This story is not led by memorable characters. It just goes on until the anti-climactic end.
Unless you have some credits or cash to spare for some mindless entertainment, save your money and spend it somewhere else. There are many more worthy audiobooks out there!
But once more, I emphasize that the narration is good. It was story that I didn't like. I don't know what I was thinking buying two shopaholics.
"Definitely worth it, but not as good as the first"
It's a great audio performance, well done.
Becky Bloomwood is charming and lovable. The story is somewhat predictable but entertaining.
Tons of them!
Becky, of course!
"Finally a wedding"
I love that Becky finally gets married and has someone who loves her
The other shopaholic series, we just get more of Beckys life
Suz's wedding. It was so funny I was laughing out loud
Not really just a nice reading
Listens while running
"Becky is getting tiring here"
Emily Gray's narration is wonderful, and the conclusion to this book--for me--paid off. The exploration of the Elinor/Luke relationship was pretty interesting.
Shopaholic Ties the Knot is in line with the previous shopaholic books, but Becky is slightly less sympathetic here for me. It's the first time I've really had a hard time suspending disbelief on her. (Though I will point out she's better in the next book.)
Emily Gray just gets Becky Bloomwood. I'm listening to Mini Shopaholic now, and Rosalyn Landor, while talented, simply doesn't compare. I read Shopaholic and Sister on my own, and I could hear Gray over every line. Her character interpretation is superb.
voice actress/singer
"I miss the first Shopaholic."
I am so sorry to say that I found this book intensely disappointing. While Emily Gray gave us another superb performance with her fantastically versatile voice and manner the story just did not hold up. This was not a good investment of my time and while I may very well listen to the first shopaholic again (which would make 3 times now), I definitely do not plan to listen to this installment again.In this installment of the Shopaholic we return to find our Becca living with the love of her life in New York.. We don't journey with her, it just happened. We don't get to experience any of her discovery of life in a new country we just read that it happened. She gets what seems to be the most cookie cutter version of the gay neighbor yet (like someone stolen right out of Will and Grace, only not nearly as appealing) and their relationship seems odd to say the least. The Becca that we left behind in volume one was learning how to stand for herself and face her problems and bad habits and making a true success of herself in England. That lady is left behind in this book for a woman who just follows her man, leaves her hard won work success completely, and has done a complete reversal with her bad habits. She is exactly back where she began in book one, she lies and sneaks about to accomplish her obsession. Only this time she is actually a worse shopaholic since she is also using Luke's money to do it. There is a long, extremely convoluted bit of nonsense that centers around her wedding. It is foolish and completely unbelievable. Furthermore, the whole yarn (or is it yawn) spun about the location of the wedding, where and when to have it and so forth is completely unneccessary. Not only does it not help the story, it drags the whole story down. Painfully. There is also a new element to the story, foul language. For some reason, Becca begins dropping the F bomb more and more towards the end of the story. Why? I have no idea.
The story of the Shopaholic was a fantastic Yeah, Girl power kind of story. Becca wasn't some malicious, gold digging harpie. She was just a sweet girl who got carried away and completely overwhelmed. The first book was really about her personal journey of self discovery. Through it all we knew that this girl yearned to get it right. She may not have learned her lessons easily but once learned she took them to heart. Becca had a sense of compassion that really shined through and helped her to become a better person. She also had a strong, if somewhat misguided, sense of self. Even when she was at her lowest Becca did not allow the Lukes of this world to mistreat her.All of that is gone with book two. That strong girl has vanished and been replaced with someone who is so easily swayed that she allows her neighbor and just about anybody else to tell her what to do and how and when. She even allows her future mother in law to abuse and disrespect her beloved parents, something that the Becca from book one would never have allowed. The sense of inner strength that the first Becca radiated so strongly is completely gone and the lessons learned right along with it.
I am sorry to say I don't have a favorite scene from this volume. The story was so absurd and unbelievable it quickly became uninviting as well. I finished it because I paid for it, not because I enjoyed it.
Unfortunately I do not consider my time spent listening to the story well spent, as truth be told, by the time the story ended I didn't even like any of the main characters. But I must say that Emily Gray gave a fantastic performance, despite her difficulty with male character voices, she draws you in and makes each character full and believable.
I loved Sophie Kinsella's first Shopaholic so much I don't know, maybe I will try another of her books later on down the road. But I definitely will be on the lookout for more performances by Ms. Gray. In fact I would love to hear her voice on books by MC Beaton, she would be an interesting change of pace for the Agatha Raisin books for example and be absolutely perfect for her Edwardian series. She would also be a fun choice for ED Baker's books, Once Upon a Curse for instance.