Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella (2002, Paperback, Reprint)

Sophie Kinsella's sequel novel, "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan," is a stark reminder that if a pop culture formula works once- Helen Fielding's triumph on both sides of the Atlantic with "Bridget Jones's Diary,"- the knock-offs will keep coming until nary a book, movie, or TV show can be sold.

In Kinsella's sequel to her bestselling "Confessions of a Shopaholic," Becky Bloomwood, a personal finance "expert" with her own TV show, is more of a financial mess than ever. She's assigned her roommate, Suze, to monitor her spending, but to no avail. The cute rationalizations- "Foreign money doesn't count, so you can spend as much as you like"- come more frequently than Becky's credit card bills. Her work-obsessed boyfriend, Luke, who runs a financial PR agency, wants to open an office in New York City and brings Becky along. Upon her arrival in the Big Apple, she euphorically discovers Barney's, Saks, Sephora, et al and sample sales. When an enemy of Luke's decides to leak Becky's bad habits to the British press, she becomes persona non grata, but, predictably, Becky manages to save the day, with plenty of comic moments along the way.

"Shopaholic Takes Manhattan" is tongue-in-cheek and all in good fun, but the excessive shopping hijinks will wear thin for anyone who has read "Confessions of a Shopaholic." Kinsella creates some winning characters- recycling most from the original book, but- with the exception of an interesting vocational twist for Becky toward the end- the credit card and shopping bag action is becoming threadbare.