Shopaholic & Baby

By: Sophie Kinsella

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is pregnant! She couldn't be more overjoyed, especially since discovering that shopping cures morning sickness. Everything has got to be perfect for her baby, from the designer nursery, to the latest, coolest pram, to the celebrity, must-have obstetrician.

But when the celebrity obstetrician turns out to be her husband Luke's glamorous, intellectual ex-girlfriend, Becky's perfect world starts to crumble. She's shopping for two, but are there three in her marriage?

Shop therapy: don't miss more in the Shopaholic series.

©2007 Sophie Kinsella (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic Reviews

"Through it all, Becky never loses her spark, making this fifth entry in the Shopaholic series every bit as delightful and hilarious as its predecessors." (Booklist)

JUST LOVED IT!

This book is one of Sophie Kinsella's finest....I was a bit worried after the 4th book, Shopaholic and Sister, but this book came through...I didn't want it to end! I hope she keeps right on going with this series...

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

Chaos, Muddles and a Baby

Rosalyn Landor is a gold star narrator. Maybe, I am just a softy for lovely low British accents. Rebecca Brandon nee Bloomwood is a woman who loves being a woman. She thinks fate dealt her a splendid hand. It would not occur to her to envy or resent the opposite sex for anything. She loves the man she married and the life she leads. Now she finds herself pregnant. Some women crave pickles and ice cream, for Rebecca it is shopping for designer baby things. Oh yes, all men love going shopping especially for baby things. Not! Poor Luke, I rolled my eyes with him. I love her entanglements and especially her disentanglements. The scene at the delivery room is priceless! Rebecca doesn't lie but occasionally, she fails to give complete answers or provide relevant information in a timely manner. She always knows when she is not playing straight and is usually filled with self recriminations. These less admirable instances occur usually when she is trapped, ashamed or acts to prevent pain to a loved one. i.e. One wouldn't tell the girlfriend the outfit she has spent the day buying and is now modeling is hideous even if it is. My answer is pat: It is lovely dear, it brings out the color of your beautiful eyes. Further, when we go somewhere to show off her new things, I only see the woman and smile. Why bother with facts if they would cause pain? Besides Luke Brandon is no dummy. He knows Rebecca and when she is hiding something. If this is the way they wish to conduct their married life then who am I to stick in my oar? Besides, many of the humorous situations wouldn't come about if Rebecca was always a Girl's Scout. We men are very forgiving of the foibles of a beautiful and adorable woman. I offer Mr. George Knightley and Miss Emma Woodhouse as star witnesses. At the end of the day, Rebecca always does the right thing and is not a selfish being, only impulsive. I like her. I think her baby will too.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Must Read! Hillarious!

I loved this one! I was in tears of laughter during the first 20 minutes! Referred it to my friends (especially the pregnant ones) who've read the other books in the series. Even though the narrator has changed, you focus on Becky and her antics. Can't wait to see where Becky goes next.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Typical Becky Bloomwood

If you like the Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) character, you'll like this book too. I will say that I've listened to ALL of the Shopaholic books over the last few months and I'd recommend spreading them out over a longer period of time. I loved the first few but by the time this one finished I'd have enough of Becky. All in all though the whole series is entertaining in a mindless sort of "pass the time" way and has Becky worming her way out of some pretty funny and often ridiculous antics. I did getquite a few laughs out of it.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Nit picking, but...

I love the story line. Great for my 2hr commute everyday.

However, I hate that the narrator keeps changing. Why would an author or publishing house allow that. It's cring-worthy when you're binge listening to have the voice change of your favorite characters.

AND this narrator keeps calmly Suz "Suzy" - argh!! Super annoying. Luke sounds like some old stuffy British guy. Disappointing.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Good book, bad narration

I agree with the above review -- Emily Grey is Becky. I don't like the new narrator. "Suzie" throws me off too, and this narrator sounds much too formal. Emily Grey had Becky's flightiness down perfectly. The different pronounciation of Arcodus (Arc-a-dus in the previous book, Ar-code-us in this one) riles me too. Didn't this reviewer listen to previous books? Please go back to Emily Grey!

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Loved the entire series!

Would you listen to Shopaholic & Baby again? Why?

I normally don't listen to books a second time.

What does Rosalyn Landor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

When you read a book it's difficult to hear or feel what the character it trying to communicate. I loved that Rosalyn read the entire series. I don't like when they change narrator mid series.l

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Does Becky Never TRULY Learn?

As this series progresses, I become more and more disenchanted with Becky. As a teacher, I get incredibly frustrated in my life when one of my students makes the same mistakes over and over again, especially when they've had some sort of epiphany that helps them understand why these types of things keep happening to them. Becky is the fictional adult version of the most frustrating people in my life. At the end of every book she has a realization, somehow wiggles out of her problems (finds someone to save her), and swears never to make the same mistakes again. But guess what...she does. I guess I keep listening to these books hoping that she'll grow and change for real, and got suckered into this one hoping with a baby on the way things would be different. I guess that's a lot to ask for chick lit, though :).

In this book, Becky and Luke are expecting their first baby, as per usual Becky gets into spending trouble, there's panic of infidelity on Luke's part (and Becky never manages to articulate an effective conversation to convey her issues), and there are a couple of villianous people who have no depth. It's pretty much the same deal as the the previous books in the series. It was definitely a mindless listen, though at this point in the series I'm really getting tired of Becky making the same mistakes regarding spending, communication with her friends and husband, and her general tendency to lie to get something she wants. In the first book or two it was funny and quirky, these tendencies seemed more like an offshoot of her insecurity rather than a way to manipulate the people around her. At this point, as she has no money issues and her life is really going well, it just really shows that she's a selfish, spoiled woman who is unlikely to change. I'm not sure I will continue listening to this series.

As for the narrator for this one, I really miss Emily Gray from the first couple of books. She did a great job capturing the voice of each character and I was never conscious of the fact that the reader was putting on voices like disguises. The narrator for "Shopaholic and Sister" was pretty good too. In this particular listen, however, I couldn't get away from the fact that the narrator had some pretty goofy takes on the voice of the characters...especially the men!

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Always a good laugh.

I love the character in this book even when she is driving me to distraction with her quirky antics. Makes you laugh no matter how you look at it because she always see's more to the picture than could ever be possibly there.
Good book Sophie did it again.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fab book with a talented but ill-fitting narrator

The book was delightful (as are all Kinsella's titles--extremely workout-worthy!!), but the narrator, though I LOVE her in other British books I have heard, is way too old to play the voice of Becky B. She made her sound very middle-aged and masculine, and ALL the men sound the same- LuKe and all the rich guys sound identical, while the dudes from the poor side of London all had the exact same voice, too, so in one scene where they all end up in a room together, I couldn't tell any of them apart, lol. The worst was poor Becky, though--I kept picturing her as a 45 year-old, thanks to this narrator's deep, husky voice. I sure hope that subsequent titles go back to using the narrators with brighter, younger-sounding voices that fit Becky's personality!!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful