The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Despite the character being polar opposite to me - the only shopping I enjoy is for books - I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.  I love the film based on the book and although the plots diverge quite early on (no Girl In The Green Scarf here), for me this made the story all the more charming for this reader.

At some level we all know the horror of those brown envelopes dropping through the door.  The heart stopping pause as you bend to pick them up.  If you're unlucky you know the terror of the phone ringing, wondering if it is a collection agency trying to claw back money you don't have but you have spent.  Whichever category you fall into there is something about Rebecca Bloomwood's life that speak to a modern existence.  Conspicuous consumption, measuring your worth as a person against material goods, it rings all too shockingly true.

Told with a wit and humour that manages to breakthrough the relentlessness of Rebecca's precarious position.  Ms Kinsella manages to draw fun out of Rebecca's situation and the romantic element, whilst entirely predictable, is light and enjoyable.  The story is well balanced and has enough reality in it to make it relatable to most readers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse in to a world that I have no knowledge of.  City living, is almost as odd to me as country living.  Working as a journalist is something I have no clue on - although it sounds as much a drudge as any other job.  All I could relate to was trying to balance a budget and failing.

Fun and wittily told, I found myself rooting for Rebecca and wondering just how she was so blind to romance.