The story was pretty much a failure. The heroine reminded me of Bridget Jones, but only in the way that a wax statue reminds you of a real celebrity.

What I did like about the book is that there is some reality to the psychology of the character’s thoughts. Anyone who has ever experienced an addiction to something will identify with the spiraling behavior of the heroine. However, her turning point is lame and late, coming AFTER a major success rather than at her lowest point; her revelation is weak and uninspired and false. Instead of punishment for her ever increasing lies and the way she abuses everyone around her, she is unjustly rewarded without repentance or even once realizing all of the harm that she’s done to other people because of her obsession with shopping, money, and appearance. Her realization is a purely pragmatic one regarding her own habits regarding bills. Call me nitpicky, but I’d like a little bit more character growth than that!

I tried to feel good about myself in comparison to Rebecca’s vices and flaws (which isn’t a hard thing with this character! too many characters are too GOOD, you know?), but even that is a hollow victory: someone who is SO out of it, SO self-absorbed, SO superficial, SO bumbling, SO incompetent, and SO cruel to other people still gets the predictable fame, fortune, and rich-good-looking-guy in the end, while the rest of us are cheated out of a fraction of her happy ending.