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Shopaholic #1

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

sophie kinsella

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Becky has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season's must-haves. The only trouble is that she can't actually afford it–not any of it.

Her job writing at Successful Savings not only bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased by dismal letters from the bank –letters with large red sums she can't bear to read–and they're getting ever harder to ignore.

She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Becky's only consolation is to buy herself something ... just a little something....

Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life–and the lives of those around her–forever.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2000
Series
Shopaholic
Places
oxshott surrey england, london england, 

This edition

Format
320 pages, Paperback
Published
September 14, 2000 by Transworld Publishers
ISBN
9780552998871
ASIN
0552998877
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for sophie kinsella

sophie kinsella

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Sophie Kinsella has sold over 40 million copies of her books in more than 60 countries, and she has been translated into over 40 languages.

Sophie Kinsella first hit the UK bestseller lists in September 2000 with her first novel in the Shopaholic series – The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (also published as Confessions of a Shopaholic). The book's heroine, Becky Bloomwood – a fun and feisty financial journalist who loves shopping but is hopeless with money – captured the hearts of readers worldwide. Becky has since featured in seven further bestselling books, Shopaholic Abroad (also published as Shopaholic Takes Manhattan), Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic & Sister, Shopaholic & Baby, Mini Shopaholic, Shopaholic to the Stars and Shopaholic to the Rescue. Becky Bloomwood came to the big screen in 2009 with the hit Disney movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy.

Sophie has also written seven standalone novels which have all been bestsellers in the UK, USA and other countries around the world: Can You Keep A Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Twenties Girl, I've Got Your Number, Wedding Night, and My Not So Perfect Life, which was a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist for Best Fiction in 2017.

In 2014 she published a Young Adult novel Finding Audrey about a teenage girl with social anxiety and her madcap family, and in January 2018, Sophie published her first illustrated book for young readers about the charming adventures of a mother-daughter fairy duo, Mummy Fairy and Me (also published as Fairy Mom and Me).

Sophie's latest novel, Surprise Me, published in February 2018, presents a humorous yet moving portrait of a marriage—its intricacies, comforts, and complications. Surprise Me reveals that hidden layers in a close relationship are often yet to be discovered.

Sophie wrote her first novel under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, at the tender age of 24, whilst she was working as a financial journalist. The Tennis Party was immediately hailed as a success by critics and the public alike and became a top ten bestseller. She went on to publish six more novels as Madeleine Wickham: A Desirable Residence, Swimming Pool Sunday, The Gatecrasher, The Wedding Girl, Cocktails for Three and Sleeping Arrangements.

Sophie was born in London. She studied music at New College, Oxford, but after a year switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She now lives in London, UK, with her husband and family.


Visit Sophie's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SophieKinsell...

Series:
* Shopaholic

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
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99 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Mouser888
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Yoga Story Magic Flow based off of this book here: https://youtu.be/eYTp1JsjmfA

This is one of those oldies but goodies
I love how Sophie Kinsella describes the body language of Becky Bloomwood when she gets excited about a potential new purchase - it def brings my body back to a time when I felt I needed certain things to be happy!
I was so excited about the book I included it in one of my yoga story magic flows : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb...

Hope you love it too
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ayitsanisa
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is one of the most amusing books I have ever read. People who are not personally keen on shopping would also love this.

The entire novel is a rollcoaster of emotions. There is not even a second when one gets bored. There is some or the other interesting thing happening one after the other.

The plot seems original. The events could be real and so do the actions and thoughts of the characters. No one is perfect in this book and everyone seems real. The protagonist is the best part of this though. She could easily have been disliked by the reader because of her antics but the author has done an incredible job in making her likable.

It was a very fun read. From the start till the end, the book keeps one entertained. One would even want to read it again.
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BruhFunny69
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I wanted a truly light read, and I decided to start this. I love Sophie Kinsella. I've read several of her other books, but I put this one off mostly because of the movie. Which was horrible. As far as cheesy chick-flicks go it was the worst. I couldn't even finish it, and it was because Rebecca was just a plain idiot. I know that was kind of the point. She has no self control and yada yada, but still. She was just too annoying.


Anyway, I have heard from several other movie haters that the book is far better so I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. Kinsella gave me exactly what I expected once I erased the movie from my mind. Her humor is spot on, as always....I giggled...A LOT. :)


The character of Rebecca Bloomwood worked so much better in the book. You felt bad for her instead of annoyed, because you could actually see her thought process before she did each stupid thing. I enjoyed reading on to see which next awkward twish she would be thrown into. There were many. The fact that there were so many made it less predictable, and more enjoyable


Next time I'm in the mood for a light read I will probably continue this series, and follow Bex through more hilarious adventures!
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zerimas1
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I do re-read this book every couple of years. Probably because it was my first glimpse of Becky Bloomwood and I liked her a lot. I remember being in my 20s and spending with my credit card like I wasn't going to have to pay the bill. And I remember the juggling I did to pay down bills and the stress I would feel when I had to choose between eating something that was not soup or paying my JC Penney card down (starting off in government I had to buy new clothes...seriously people, instead of a wedding trousseau, we need to fund young men/women clothes when they go out into the workforce) so I wouldn't get a screeching call about being sent to collections.

What makes "Confessions" so fun for me is that Becky is a mess. She's working at a job she hates (writer at Successful Saving) while trying to pay down her bills due to how much she loves shopping. And it's not just Becky loves shopping for clothes and accessories. It's pretty much any old thing. This of course is when Becky loses me cause I loathe shopping at the mall and every Christmas I promise myself I am just going to buy online and ship to my family. And every year I wait to late to do that (delivery fees are criminal) so I have to brave the crowds and try my best to not hip check people into kiosks.

While Becky doesn't love the job she is in, she does love she gets to go to presentations dealing with banks and investment firms. Due to Becky not really paying attention at her job, she realizes a tip she gives a family friend could end up harming them and starts to get her life back on track.

We do get a whole case of characters in this one who we will continue to read about throughout the series.

We have Becky talking about Luke Brandon who I would say is an earlier prototype of Christian Grey without the BDSM.

Becky lives with her best friend and flatmate Suze who manages to have her life somewhat together more than Becky.

And we also have Becky's parents who are just as messy as Becky. Becky's neighbor's son who everyone thinks that Becky is into.

I will admit there is very little development of the characters besides Becky and Suze and Becky's parents in this one. Luke is very one dimensional and stayed that way for me throughout most of the books. Besides being rich and tall, I don't get what was so interesting about him.

The writing is okay. Nothing spectacular, but honestly, sometimes I want to read a fluffy book that makes me root for a character. Do I think this is going to go down as some classic over the years? Doubtful? But it is an enjoyable book.
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Shadake
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is my second time I have read The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, the first time was when it first was published, and then as I loved it so much I asked for it for Mothers Day, which I have only just recently read it again. The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic is the first book, where it all began from here for Sophie Kinsella having more books published all about Rebecca Bloomwood .

I found this book is a very laugh out loud! I loved the letters so much the bank sends Rebecca, with all her funny excuses in why she can’t pay her bank overdraft.

I honestly recommend any of Sophie Kinsella.’s books.

MY FAVOURITE LETTERS SENT TO REBECCA BLOOMWOOD BY ENDWICH BANK.

Endwich Bank

FULHAM BRANCH

3 Fulham Road

London SW6 9JH

Ms Rebecca Bloomwood

Flat 2

4 Burney Road

London SW6 8FD

Dear Ms Bloomwood

I am sorry to hear that you have glandular fever.

When you have recovered, perhaps you would be kind enough to ring my assistant Erica Parnell and arrange a meeting to discuss your situation.

Yours sincerely

Derek Smeath

Manager

ENDWICH – BECAUSE WE CARE

*******************************************************************************

LETTER TWO ( that I laughed out loud! )

Endwich Bank

FULHAM BRANCH

3 Fulham Road

London SW6 9JH

Ms Rebecca Bloomwood

Flat 2

4 Burney Road

London SW6 8FD

Dear Ms Bloomwood

I am sorry to hear that you have broken your leg.

When you have recovered, perhaps you would be kind enough to ring my assistant Eric Parnell and arrange a meeting to discuss your ongoing overdraft needs.

Yours sincerely

Derek Smeath

Manger

ENDWICH – BECAUSE WE CARE
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Galath
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I've been wanting to read this series for forever but was waiting for my library to finally add it. They did, then there was a crazy wait list for it... yes, in 2018 lol. I guess I wasn't the only one waiting to read it.

My impressions: Not at all like the movie, but I read somewhere that the movie was actually a mashup of books 1-3 so I guess I'll have to read some more. I found Becky to be funny and extremely likable, but with a very sad and cringe-worthy problem. Like the title suggests, she's a shopaholic. But she's the real deal. Deep spirals of debt don't touch her very real compulsion because of the avoidance and rationalizations that come so easily to her. I was so excited for her when she found her intellectual and profitable calling in the media, and I thought it was a great way to end the book, only it wasn't the end and I was sad for her again. Addiction isn't solved that easily.

Overall, Confessions of a Shopaholic is a surprisingly deep book under the guise of funny chick-lit. Well-done, Sophie Kinsella.

My favorite quote:
“We all fail to appreciate each day just how much we already possess. Light, air, freedom, the companionship of friends.”
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Noobmixups
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I must admit that I got a little bit edgy as I started to read this book. Past due bills, maxed-out credit cards - who wants to be reminded?? But then the story took over and I fell for Becky Bloomwood - our heroine and financial journalist. She's fashionably fabulous and just like her, who can resist a good sale? I loved the "Brit-speak" and found myself calculating the currency exchange between pounds and dollars - just another little thrill to go along with this funny story.

I enjoyed myself right along with her as she goes about discovering the best deals and felt my own heart skip when she receives the bills and the overdue notices. It was nice not having to read anything like that with MY name on it - and that's part of the fun too - you can escape the bad stuff and really enjoy the good. It's a lot of fun reading along and wondering if she'll ever learn her lesson. Along with the shopping mania, Becky finds love - in the handsome and smart public relations company owner - Luke Brandon. Right away, you wonder if he's a possible love interest - she doesn't seem that interested at first, but they meet and meet again and you ride right along with the possibility that they just might get together.

You get to know her parents, their neighbors, childhood friends, her roommate and a whole cast of characters that build up the story and keep it very interesting. This book is full of relationships that don't get too heavy, but add just the right snap. This book "goes down nice & easy" and I enjoyed it very much. It's nice when you first discover an author for yourself and are immediately drawn into the characters. I'm halfway through the next installment in the "Shopaholic" series and can't wait for more. I definitely give this book BOTH "thumbs up"!
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MisaTange
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book pleasantly surprised me! I went into this book expecting it to be just like the movie (which, by the way I love), but it might as well have been a completely different story. The only things it has in common with the movie are the character names, the obsessive shopper and in debt main character, and the title. I adjusted my expectations and thought it would be one of those rare instances where the movie is better than the book, but I loved them equally but in different ways! The book was far less cutesy than the movie as it made Rebecca (the main character) a dislikable character at first. Like really, I hated her. However, she really grows up in 300 pages and even though she still has her flaws, I really began to respect her and want to continue on with the series. As for Sophie Kinsella's writing style, I enjoyed it! She writes everything humorously but with a ring of insight and relatability. I can't wait to read more of her books and she is making me more excited about reading out of the Young Adult genre!
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