‘Shopaholic’ creator Sophie Kinsella confesses sometimes she’s ready to chuck it all

Madeleine Sophie Townley is known as Mrs. Wickham at her home in England, where she lives with her husband and their three sons. But to fans worldwide, she is known as Sophie Kinsella, author of the best-selling “Shopaholic” books. “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is the best known of that series, thanks in part to the recent film adaptation of the same name.

“The Almost Archer Sisters” by Lisa Gabriele

Lisa Gabriele’s The Almost Archer Sisters (Simon & Schuster, 272 pages, $14) is being promoted as chick lit. But if readers can get past the heaving book jacket and the heroine’s cutesy name (Peachy), they will be treated to a novel that’s as easy to read as your average chick-lit pick, but with much more substance and heart.

“Lipstick Jungle”

Based on the Candace Bushnell novel of the same name, Lipstick Jungle is what the ladies on Sex and the City might have been like, had they been married characters rather than New York singletons. Brooke Shields stars as Wendy Healy, a high-powered movie mogul who can’t get through a day without talking to (or lunching with) her best friends Nico Reilly (Kim Raver, 24) and Victory Ford (Lindsay Price, Beverly Hills, 90210).