Review: Diary of an Unsmug Married by Polly James

What happens to love when life gets in the way?

A funny and perceptive read about real relationships. Perfect for fans of Dawn French, Sue Townsend and Bridget Jones’ Diary.

Meet Molly Bennett. Married to Max and mother to two warring teenagers, she’s just ‘celebrated’ a significant birthday. According to Bridget Jones Molly is a “smug married”. So why doesn’t she feel smug?

Is it because everyone seems to be having a better time of it than her? Or is it that Max has started taking more of an interest in ‘business trips’ and less of an interest in their sex life? Molly is beginning to despair until an old school friend starts flirting with her through Facebook …

Review: I was very excited about reading this book, I love a good diary structure-Bridget Jones being one of my favourite all time books! I got into this book straight away, I liked the chatty diary voice and I found the character of Molly fairly likeable, initially. As the book went on, however, I found her more and more confusing-you never knew what she was going to do next and so I found myself wanting to read about her less as I got to know more about her. There are two parallel storylines going on in this novel, Molly's work life and Molly's home life and I have to say I liked reading about her home life a lot more than I liked reading about her work life. I found the fact that she worked in politics a little boring. That's just my personal taste and I'm sure many other readers wouldn't be out off by this, but there was a lot of talk about party conferences and petty issues within the community the the MP she worked for had to deal with that just really didn't interest me. 

The other characters in this novel really were the gems for me. Her husband Max is just an ordinary middle-aged man trying to decipher what women (or specifically his wife) wants. They have two teenage children and these guys provide some real funny moments in the story-as you can well imagine. There is also a crazy neighbour, some slightly eccentric siblings and of course-the mother. You can see why I warmed so much more to Molly's home life than I did her work life. She does make some decisions in her home life that I really didn't like, however, and I found myself rather uncomfortable in parts. Again this is just my personal reading taste and I'm sure these things won't bother other readers (no spoilers of course)!

The is a fairly long book and I do think that some things in the book could've been left out, or told in a slightly shorter way than they were. I admit, there were some political scenes that I skimmed slightly because I just wasn't that into that storyline-don't judge me! I enjoyed having so much meat to the story about her personal life and I was really really happy with the ending. The ending was actually so good that I hope there is going to be a sequel! Overall, this was a good chick-lit novel and definitely a different idea for a storyline. It's in the long side so if that's the kind of thing that puts you off, then it's not for you. But if you're looking for something that will last you through that trip away then this is perfect! There were some really clever and witty moments of writing in this book their sure everyone will love, but it is slightly heavy on the political references for my taste.