ISBN? - 9780755342624Genre? - Chic Lit / RomanceCharacters? - Maxim de Sedona / Polly / Florrie / Lady Annabel / Queen Astrid of Sedona / King Engelbert of Sedona / Giancomo de Sedona / Alexa Macdonald / Barney van HoosierSetting? - England & SedonaSeries? - N/ATitle? - This book is about making advantageous marriages, particularly to royals.Character Analysis? - Of the characters themselves I really loved Max and Polly because they just seemed to fit. I didn't really feel like Florrie and Giancomo were real people as it seemed like they were playing at their roles rather than taking them seriously.General Analysis? - I preferred the story about Polly and Max and felt that the high society world of Florrie, Beatrice and Alexa could have been portrayed better. A bit of a let down but enjoyable nonetheless.Recommended? - Maybe. What a painful book. I like a good chic-lit and this one had an interesting enough blurb on the back to make me pick it up. To be honest the blurb made it sound like a completely different book than it actually was.It starts off interesting enough, Archaeologist Polly is excavating a roman bathroom when she meets the handsome, mysterious veterinarian Max, and after a rough start begin a whirlwind romance. Then it switched to following a gold digger named Alexa as she tries, and fails, over and over to wiggle and scheme her way into a royal marriage.In this book nobody's interesting or likeable (Polly and Max had the potential to be likeable but the book barely focused on them at all after the first chapter), the plot drags, the wealthy and the royals are all portrayed as so stupid I am surprised they can tie on their shoes, let alone run countries and big businesses, plot twists could be seen from about two miles aways, and the jokes, oh my gosh the jokes, so bad and painful and subtle as a hammer to the head.I kept reading because this book did have a very strong start, but with each chapter it just became more of a grind. I finished, though the last quarter was more flipped through than actually read, and no the ending brought no surprises.Avoid, avoid. I hear that this author's prior books are much better, but I have no desire to pick them up and find out.
What do You think about Marrying Up (2011)?
Waste of time. Such a long novel for too simple a plot.
—Lily
