Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) adores Christmas. It's always the same – Mum and Dad hosting, carols playing, Mum pretending she made the Christmas pudding, and the next-door neighbours coming round for sherry in their terrible festive jumpers.
And now it's even easier with online bargain-shopping sites – if you spend enough you even get free delivery. Sorted!
But this year looks set to be different. Unable to resist the draw of craft beer and smashed avocado, Becky's parents are moving to ultra-trendy Shoreditch and have asked Becky if she'll host Christmas this year. What could possibly go wrong?
With sister Jess demanding a vegan turkey, husband Luke determined that he just wants aftershave again, and little Minnie insisting on a very specific picnic hamper – surely Becky can manage all this, as well as the surprise appearance of an old boyfriend and his pushy new girlfriend, whose motives are far from clear . . .
Will chaos ensue, or will Becky manage to bring comfort and joy to Christmas?
Review: Oh it was wonderful to be back in Becky Bloomwood's world again. I re-read the entire series leading up to publication day of this one and so I left right off of Shopaholic to the Rescue to read this one. It was so good spending time with Becky at Christmas again and it was every bit as magical, and hectic as you might imagine.
I really do feel like Becky has grown as a character over the course of this series. Hosting Christmas is the ultimate adult responsibility and I feel like that is a symbol of where she is in the Shopaholic world and where this author has decided for her to go next. It was great seeing her with Mini and Luke, with her family and her friends and I feel like the author was really true to the character in terms of the choices Becky makes in this novel and the ways she behaves. The only character missing from this book was Danny, but then adding him into the mix I think would have cause a catastrophe at Christmas so long live the new characters we did get to meet.
I love the fact that we have your traditional 'Don't Panic, do not panic' moments from the rest of the shopaholic series, but now they are Christmas themed. We know that things tend to get hectic and all go wrong at Christmas and we know that things tend to get a bit hectic and often go wrong for Becky, put these two together and you have the perfect mix. Plus we all have our own little traditions at Christmas and so do Jess and Tom, Janice and Martin and Becky's mum and dad and they all want it done their way-what's a girl to do?
There are some really heart-warming moments for Becky and Mini with their new school friends and there are some lovely moments between Becky and Luke, I have loved watching their marriage over the years. There were a couple of moments that took me aback too however. I felt that Suze was a little judgemental in this book whereas in the beginning when Becky's spending was REALLY bad, I never felt like Suze was judgey in any way, perhaps she has changed for the worse or perhaps this was just necessary for the plot but I do feel like she took it a little too far. And another choice that shocked me was that a character in the book who is adopted was written to be wearing a shirt that says the word recycled on it. Again I might be reading a little too much into it but I did really gasp at that point because I was shocked that this author would choose to use that particular word in that instance.
Overall though, I really enjoyed this book. Becky at Christmas with all the shopping to be had and now with all the online ordering to be done-it really is superb reading and I feel like even if you haven't read the rest of the series, you're going to enjoy this one as a standalone novel about what happens when you host Christmas for the first time.
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