Synopsis:

New mum Emily wants revenge on the stick-thin assistants who laugh at her post-baby tummy and post-baby budget. But frumpiness has its advantages when you’re wielding a secret camera – and sending the damning footage straight to head office. Store manager Sandie has a lifelong love of the world of retail – the glitz, the glamour, the stockroom. Then she’s fitted up by an ambitious assistant and secret shopping is the only way to keep her one passion alive. Glamorous widow Grazia can’t leave behind the high life, despite her chronically low bank balance. The more she’s buying – and spying – the less time she has to mourn her husband or her fair-weather friends who’ve dumped her. They’re Charlie’s Shopping Angels, controlled by a mysterious figure who sends them assignments. But when they’re sent to stitch up a doomed shop owned by Will, the angels begin to feel divided loyalties . . .

What a great idea for a book! As someone who has worked in shops, I know all about secret shoppers, so to read a book following three of them was wonderful! The story follows Emily, with her gorgeous baby boy Freddie, who has been left by her husband Duncan, but who still tries to control and manipulate her; Sandie, who loved her job in retail until Marsha set out to destroy everything for her – including the loss of her job, her replacement job and flat; and Grazia, a widow with an artist husband who left no will but a mountain of debt. She faces the choice – how will she survive, sell the house or the paintings? All three embark on secret shopping, as Charlie’s Shopping Angels, where they meet the lovely Will…

Well I really enjoyed this book. All the angels were great, I liked all three of them and wanted the best for all of them. Of course, my favourite character was baby Freddie, he just seemed adorable, especially when he started walking and talking. I loved how friendships were formed and how plans were plotted to help each other. And I loved the ending. Predictible but fantastic I even loathed some of the horrid characters, including Duncan and Marsha. I wanted karma to come and get them. For me, a sign of a good book is when I get involved with the characters and develop feelings for them – whether positive or negative, and that happened in this book.

I felt the idea of “Charlie and his Angels” – including how he chose to communicate with them – in disguise through a web-cam was a little cheesy, but that was my only complaint.

We see endless amounts of shopping, strength of character, friendships develop, secrets revealed, revenge taken and people falling into love. An all round great book – especially if you like shopping!

9/10

This is also called:
“The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic”

Synopsis from Amazon:

Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time …shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can’t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something – just a little something…Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card? “The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic”…the perfect pick me up for when it’s all hanging in the (bank) balance.

Well I loved this book! I was gripped from the word go. This is pure chick-lit – with a cheesy storyline, which was quite unbelievable and predictable, but did that effect the book? Nope. I was excited about reading it – I didn’t want to stop, I didn’t want the book to finish. We follow Becky through many spending sprees, many disasters and thoughtlessness and pain, and well, I loved it.

Yes, Becky was shallow, and manipulative, but I felt sorry for her and really wanted to know what was going to happen to her. I guess I secretly liked her character.The characters are all well written, and although I didn’t like some of them (the mean ones!) I liked how they were written; I could believe in them.

I laughed a lot through this book and was just thoroughly entertained. I think some people will dismiss this book as utter rubbish as it is a bit unbelievable and predictible, but I can’t help but give it the top rating because I felt so excited by the book, I didn’t want to stop reading, I was hooked, and actually I wasn’t disappointed at all.

10/10