Review: Marrying Up by Wendy Holden

Title: Marrying Up
Author: Wendy Holden
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publish Date: August 1, 2012
Source: Publisher

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You like chick lit.
• You're looking for a fun book.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Beautiful but broke student Polly and scheming social climber Alexa may have grown up in the same place, but they couldn't be more different. Polly's just fallen for Max, a handsome country vet. But Alexa can't be bothered with love—any guy with a pedigree will do, mind you, as long as he comes with a title, a mansion, and a family tiara.

Alexa wiggles her way into friendship with Florrie, a clueless aristocrat who could support entire countries with her spare change. Suddenly the grandest doors swing open for Alexa, and a new life is so close she can taste it. Polly could care less about Max's money, but his mysterious habit of disappearing scares her. What's he hiding?"

My Two Cents:

For me, Summer is the time to read fun, frothy books like Marrying Up. It's too hot to focus on anything too heavy. Is this book life-changing? No, probably not (unless you've been thinking of hopping a plane to England and trying to jump into the wonderful world of English high society). One thing I can say is that you're going to certainly have a lot of fun diving in to the world of this book. Marrying Up is part comedy of manners, part comedy of classes, part desperation, and part social commentary.

While I would not be one to relish the sort of social climbing that Alexa and Florrie engage in the book, it was sort of fascinating to see. This story takes place in England where social climbing is just a little bit different from the United States. While America has its own brand of social wisteria, we don't really have titles here, although I guess people here get a little tied on to last names (your Rockefellers, Kennedys, etc.). On the other hand, England is rife with titles, which is exactly what Alexa and Florrie are after. The titles definitely made it a little more exotic to me.

Polly wins as my favorite character hands down, probably because she's the most normal and down to earth character (ok, so is Max but I felt that Polly was a lot more well rounded as a character). She's seems to be a rock of calm in a sea of crazy people in a lot of cases during the book.

One feature that I really liked about the book is the names of the people of the book. Holden comes up with some truly ridiculous names in the book. In a way, they reminded me a lot of some of the names that you find in Charles Dickens books. The names almost seem to describe the people in one way or another. It was an interesting feature. You can kind of tell that Holden is being very tongue in cheek about it.

There were a couple holes here and there but they really did not take away from what the book is, a fun read that definitely does not take itself too seriously. This is the best kind of chick-lit (talk about a loaded term). It's a fun book for summer when you're looking for a book to keep you company and give you a giggle or two.