Personal Shopper - Carmen Reid

I actually swapped this book because I had read a review on this site about how fantastic this book was. So I eagerly tried to get hold of it and was really pleased when I did, so much so it went straight to the top of my "To be read" pile. I finally got around to starting it last weekend, and let's just say I am more than a little disappointed with it now I have got to the end. The Personal Shopper tells us the story of a woman named Annie Valentine, who works as a personal shopper (surprise, suprise) in a fictional London department shop called The Store. Annie has a massive client base, from Russian millionairesses to mothers at her daughters ...  Read the complete review

And to think, I very nearly passed this book by! Why? Well, the saying that you should never judge a book by its cover has never been so true. Pretty though the cover is - Barbie pink with the image of a glitzy high-heeled shoe and sumptuous shopping bags - I did assume that this was a definite chic lit offering. Some chic lit I have liked, but I really do think it's run its course and so very few authors can write it well (I do enjoy Sophie Kinsella - although I didn't much rate the one-and-only Shopaholic book I read - and Lisa Jewell) but most chic lit is written in a formulaic way and doesn't grab my attention at all. As an older woman, I try not to turn ...  Read the complete review

For some reason I have never come across Carmen Reid before, I don't know why. I suppose I read the authors I liked and didn't stray far from them. Now I have read all my favourites offerings and have been looking around for other authors. I was spending a voucher on Amazon and the pink cover caught my eye. I found that Carmen Reid has written quite a few books and she looked right up my street so I bought this book and its sequel 'Late Night Shopping' hoping that I liked the first! ~Carmen Reid~ Carmen Reid has written nine novels two of which are aimed at teenagers and the others for grown ups (urgh I suppose thats me then!) She has a lovely website ...  Read the complete review

Annie Valentine is stylish, savvy, mulit-tasker extraordinaire and she is the central character in Carmen Reid's 'The Personal Shopper'. I've never read anything by Reid before and I nearly didn't read this after I noticed the appallingly cheesy tagline on the back of the book - 'A fabulous read. A sexy read. A Carmen Reid'. But I decided to overlook this minor 'flaw' and give it a go - after all, you should NEVER judge a book by its cover! Annie Valentine is the single mother of a stroppy teenage girl and painfully shy eleven year old boy. She is a super-busy personal shopper in a super-swanky department store. She spends her days mentoring and re-inventing ...  Read the complete review