Review: "A Crowded Marriage" by Catherine Alliot

Artist Imogen Cameron is forced to move out of her beloved London townhouse with husband Alex and son Rufus when the economy goes for a dive and leaves them with not enough money to support themselves. As if it isn't bad enough leaving her best friend and neighbor Kate behind, Imogen, Alex, and Rufus move into Alex's ex-girlfriend's guest cottage in the country. Alex has quite a friendly relationship with Eleanor, his ex, and Imogen can't help but feel that suddenly her marriage has become quite crowded. Add in the prickly local vet and her frequent unpleasant run-ins with him and Imogen can't imagine how things could get any worse. Unfortunately for her, the worst is yet to come.

Given the fact that I am such a huge fan of intelligent, witty, interesting chick lit, I can't understand how I haven't read anything by Catherine Alliot before. I absolutely adored this book. The characters were interesting and unique, the plot entertaining, and I didn't guess the plot twist before it happened. I raced through to the ending because I just couldn't wait to find out what happened. These things combined made for a pleasurable reading experience.

I especially loved the conflict in A Crowded Marriage. I really felt for our sweet and sassy main character, Imogen. I can't imagine having to leave a home that I loved to move into my husband's ex-girlfriend's guest cottage. Here she is, relocated to the middle of nowhere, while doubts about the stability of her marriage surround her. I can't imagine that it would be a very comfortable situation. Imogen and the adjustments that she has to go through are part of what made this book so compulsively readable, but the surprise twist and the ending were fantastic as well.

A Crowded Marriage may be the first book by Catherine Alliot that I have read, but it certainly won't be the last. I was thrilled to see that I had another of her books in my TBR pile and I will be devouring that one, along with any other ones that I can get my hands on, through the summer. A must-read for fans of chick lit.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge