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. 

Bridget Jones would call Molly a “smug married”. So why doesn’t she feel it?

Is it because everyone seems to be having a better time of it than her? Or is it that Max has started showing more interest in ‘business trips’ and less interest in their sex life? 

Molly begins to despair. And then an old school friend starts flirting with her through Facebook …

The Diary of an Unsmug Married by Polly James was published by Avon on 13 February 2014

Readers of a certain age will recognised the term 'smug married'; invented by the one and only Bridget Jones in her own famous diary.

Molly Bennett is far from smug, she is most definitely unsmug.  Molly's diary details her everyday life and focusses mainly on her family and work.  Family is husband Max who seems to be a little preoccupied with working out and catching the eye of their new (attractive) neighbour.  Molly also has to share her home with two teenagers who can't really stand each other, and their antics are where most of the laughs come from.

Molly works for her local MP, in his constituency office, he's a bit of an idiot and Molly really hates her job.

Molly has just celebrated a 'landmark' birthday, and to be honest she feels like life is just coming apart, and then she receives some messages on Facebook, and then she starts to consider ..

The Diary of an Unsmug Married is a fairly quick and very easy read, despite it's length.  Molly is one of those women who make the rest of us feel OK, or smug about ourselves!   I enjoyed reading about her home and family, especially some of the children's antics, but really couldn't connect with the stories about life at the office. Molly works for a politician, so it's natural that the book centres heavily on political issues, and although there is a lightness to this aspect of the diary, I began to lose interest very quickly in those parts and much preferred the time spent with the family.

Without the politics, I would have loved this book, but the details of Molly's work and 'The Boss' just annoyed me after a while, so although I do think this is a light-hearted, genuinely funny book, I can't say that I loved it.

I do like the diary style that it's written in though.  Short and to the point and keeps the story moving along nicely, well apart from when The Boss rears his head, but that's what Molly thinks too!

On the whole, The Diary of an Unsmug Married is an honest look at the life of a stressed out, middle-aged woman.  It's funny in parts, it's very realistic, but for me, it did have it's downside - and that was the politics.

My thanks go to Olivia from LightBrigade PR who sent my review copy on behalf of the publisher.

Polly James was born in Wales, but now lives in East Anglia, which she finds unnervingly flat, and chock-full of writers.

She works as an editor, but has had a variety of different jobs, ranging from teaching dance, and designing clothes, to being an advisor for the CAB and a caseworker for two different Members of Parliament. She has found something to laugh about in all of them.

Polly is married, with two children, and a large extended family, none of whom find her half as funny as she thinks she is.

Find out more about Molly at The Mid-Wife Crisis Blog