Rebecca Jane "Becky" Brandon (née Bloomwood) is a fictional character and the main protagonist from the Shopaholic series of novels by British author Sophie Kinsella. She has been described by Bustle as "fiction's most famous fashionista".
Personal life Becky grew up in Oxshott, Surrey with her parents. After attending Bristol University, she moved to London. She first lived with her best friend Susan "Suze" Cleath-Stuart in Fulham before she eventually moved to New York City. Prior to moving to New York, she worked as a personal finance expert on a finance magazine called 'Successful Saving' and on the TV show Morning Coffee.
Becky met her husband, Luke Brandon, CEO of Brandon Communications (a public relations firm), during a press conference while she was working as a financial journalist for 'Successful Saving' magazine. She attracted his attention after she published an article about one of his clients. They appeared on television together and then began dating. They faced many obstacles which takes place in Manhattan. Then, Luke and Becky were married in America on June 22, 2002, and also in England at Becky's parents' house on June 23, 2002. After just over a year of marriage, Becky and Luke have a daughter named Minnie Brandon, who was born on December 3, 2003.
In literature
Confessions of a Shopaholic In The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (also known as Confessions of a Shopaholic in the US), Becky works as a financial journalist. Although she has significant debts, such as an overdraft and credit card debt, nothing stops her from purchasing new clothes, shoes, and other things, which she purchases impulsively. As a result, her flatmate and best friend, Susan Cleath-Stuart (commonly referred to as Suze), has to keep an eye on her spending. On the other hand, Suze knows that Becky does not have enough money to pay her share of the council tax and even tears up a cheque written by Becky. Becky meets PR mogul Luke Brandon of Brandon Communications.
While hiding away in Surrey, Becky discovers her kindly neighbors, Martin and Janice, are facing financial trouble due to an absentminded advice she gave them involving Flagstaff Life's takeover. Her boss, Phillip, Alicia, and even everyone talked about it, but she had hardly been paying attention and was more focused on doing her nails. Feeling guilty for her culpability in making Martin and Janice miss out on thousands of pounds in a windfall resulting from a bank takeover, Becky sets out to make things right. She writes an article for The Daily World that exposes Flagstaff Life's duplicity in defrauding their customers. The article is a success, and leads to Becky appearing on a daytime television show, The Morning Coffee. Unfortunately, Becky did not know that the bank was a client of Luke Brandon's PR firm. Luke is angry with her, believing she wrote the article just to get back at him for treating her poorly at Harrods. Becky and Luke square off during her appearance on The Morning Coffee. After successfully convincing Luke about Flagstaff Life's defrauding their customers, he concedes that she was right. He announces that Brandon Communications will no longer be representing that bank.
At the end of the first book, Becky is offered a regular spot on a hit morning TV show as a financial advice guru, and she helps a caller with her financial problems. Becky finally faces Derek Smeath and asks him to help her with her financial problems. She also begins dating Luke, and they spend the night at the Ritz Hotel.
Becky Bloomwood frequently faces financial trouble because of her shopping habits. While she struggles with debt, the plot usually involves her finding ways to resolve those problems, often helping her friends and family at the same time. When she is focused on shopping, the stories emphasize her loyalty to her family and friends. This combination of traits has made her a popular character with readers of the Shopaholic series.
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan
In Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (also known as Shopaholic Abroad in the UK) Becky goes to New York City with her then-boyfriend Luke, leaving Alicia in charge of Brandon Communications in London, to Becky's dismay. She shows up in Manhattan to loads of wonderful TV offers...but before she left for the States, she'd visited Brandon Communications and had a sneaking suspicion she left something behind. Overwhelmed by Barney's, Fifth Avenue, and the discovery of sample sales, she goes overboard, even for her. Meanwhile, Luke is dismayed to find out that some of his investors are a little shaky and he's spending all of his time reassuring them. But when they find out that Alicia has not only tried to take over the company, but stolen Becky's bills and sent them to the Daily World, outing her as a Shopaholic to the fans of Morning Coffee, to whom she gives financial advice. She loses her gig on the TV show and all American TV prospects, and Luke's investors back away entirely. After a huge row in Manhattan, during which Becky refers to his beloved birth mother Elinor as a "cow of a mother", it seems they've lost each other. However, Becky has one trick up her sleeve...and manages not only to save her reputation, but also Luke's when she exposes Alicia and Ben's plans to Michael Ellis (that leads to not only Alicia and her co-conspirators being fired, but they and Ben face embezzlement charges). She also secured a job in New York as a personal shopper at Barneys...even as Luke begs her to take a job with Brandon Communications London.
Shopaholic Ties the Knot In Shopaholic Ties the Knot Becky agrees to let her neighbor Danny Kovitz, a fashion designer who currently lives with (read: sponges off) his brother and who has blown every opportunity that's come his way so far, design her bridesmaid dress for Suze's wedding to Tarquin. Worrying that Luke will take this as pressure to marry, she blithely tells him that she will not be prepared to marry for ten years. Danny, after stalling and asking such questions as, "Do you need the dress TODAY today?" whips together a gorgeous dress and secures a promise from Becky that should she marry, he'll design the dress. Luke isn't fooled for a moment by her "ten-years" plan and puts an engagement ring inside the bouquet that she catches at Suze's wedding; she is only too happy to accept. Meanwhile, Luke is still determined to win the love of his birth mother, Elinor, and is over the moon about her offer to throw them a wedding at the plaza...despite the fact that Becky's mother had thrown herself and all her friends into wedding preparations immediately after their engagement. Becky spends a good portion of the book trying to tell one or the other that her wedding will be in NYC at the Plaza or in Oxshott at her parents’ home, much to Suze's dismay, Becky can't quite seem to make up her mind: do it at the Plaza and please Luke, and also have the wedding of her dreams, or do it in Oxshott with the family she adores. At the same time, Luke is spending too much time with Elinor's charity—he's assigned a member of his staff to work with Elinor full-time on her charity, insisting it will be good PR for Brandon Communications, despite his partner Michael's severe reservations. Becky insists he's being taken advantage of, and that Luke is so desperate to impress Elinor, he won't let himself see it. When Becky finds press of Elinor, claiming total credit for all the work her charity has done, she reluctantly shares the information with Luke. She later confronts his mother for her behavior in the way she mistreated Luke all of his life and will not stand by anymore to let him take it. Elinor is offended and calls Becky out for insulting her, believing her to be unworthy of her son's love. She warns Becky if she turns down the wedding at the Plaza, she will have to pay the fine. Becky refuses to back down and bargains with Elinor in exchange that she writes an apology letter to Luke and confess to her wrongdoing.
Suze, in the meantime, is insisting Becky pick a location for her wedding...and gets so upset with Becky's indecision—she tells Michael and Suze lamely that "it'll work itself out"—and Suze is so fed up and anxious she goes into premature labor. Throwing her entire life to the wind, Becky stays with Suze for the first two weeks of her godson Ernie's life plans her dream wedding to Luke Brandon- one in Oxshott, planned by her own parents, and the other in Manhattan, planned by Luke's cold mother, Elinor. After Luke and his mother have a final confrontation, it seems like Becky's miracle has happened.
Meanwhile, Becky must assist Laurel, a longtime client of hers who suspects her ex-husband, Bill, has been stealing her family's antique jewelry collection (including an Emerald pendant her grandmother gave her) and been giving it to his much younger girlfriend, Amy Forrester. She goes undercover and confirms this to Laurel. Becky is able to help her get her jewelry back and force both Bill and Amy to apologize for their wrongdoing. Grateful, she offers Becky anything she wants and she comes up with an idea. Coming up with an exquisite plan that only Becky Bloomwood could come up with, she saves the day for everyone. She and Luke pretend to marry at the Plaza hotel and then flies off in Laurel's private jet to Oxshott to marry at home. In the process, she sets up Michael with a woman he can truly love, and sets off Danny Kovitz's astronomical career as well. Becky also surprises Luke with a ten-month honeymoon trip around the world after cashing in her New York wedding gifts.
Shopaholic on Honeymoon Becky and Luke are in Venice. Luke is furious when he discovers that Becky had bought 12 expensive Murano wine glasses and attempted to remind her that they already have 12 expensive glass dishes they bought the other day that they had sent home. She tries to convince him that she just wanted it to match the wine glasses just in case they host a party. Luke reminds Becky that they need to be careful in their spending while on their honeymoon and of which she promises to do from now on. They head over to an art museum, which Becky is more than pleased to visit due to it not being like the Guggenheim museum in New York.
Shopaholic & Sister