Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Date of Reading : 31/05/2012

Author : Sophie Kinsella

Title : Shopaholic Ties the Knot

           The usual case is romance stories end with the joining together of hero and heroine. Its all "happily ever after" that follows. As our matrimonial sites show (only applicable to arranged marriage system countries), the main expense/trouble is to find the bride or groom. But could the wedding itself be problematic - after all the hardships of reaching the altar? That is what this third novel in the shopaholic series is about. As someone has once said, "marriages are enjoyable,... if they are someone else's".

           Becky and Luke are living together for a year now and he proposes on the day of Suze and Tarquin's wedding. Wedding date is June 21st and her mother is running wild with preparations. Meanwhile Luke's mother Elinor has other plans for a huge Plaza wedding; on seeing the amazing Plaza hotel Becky herself is confused, 'which one should she choose?'. Neither Mum nor Elinor could be stopped.

            She goes home to Oxshott to call off that wedding, but there. . . Plaza's artificial beauty dims. She leaves a message to Robyn, the wedding planner, announcing her withdrawal from the New York marriage. During this Suze had her child - boy Ernie; and Becky is the godmother.  

            When she comes to New York at last . . . there Luke is having a midlife crisis at the age of 34. From his mother's apartment he has got his Dad's letters, begging her to meet the boy Luke and realisation at last dawns that mother has never cared. To impress her, that was all he wanted and now it is like ' what to live for?'

            Becky is also in trouble; her message hasn't reached Robyn and even so she cannot withdraw as a financial penalty of hundred thousand dollars are attached. All she can hope for is a miracle.

            It does happen when Luke announces his plan to withdraw as he does not want to cross paths with his mother ever again. Elinor is angered with humiliation and Luke, Becky realises, is not the same anymore. So she makes a secret pact - Elinor must confess her love for her son (she even gives her a note on the things to say) and in exchange she will be wed in Plaza.

           Everything goes splendidly. She has a fake wedding at Plaza (no one suspects) and flies to Oxshott that night itself and marries for real on next day amidst parents and friends. She has cashed in their wedding gifts and buys two first class tickets for a world tour - their honeymoon to last a year.

           Too much Kinsella makes me dizzy as though I am stuffed with chocolates; better to read them in intervals or after a serious reading. The last three books can wait I think.