Book Review: The Continued Times of Isabella M. Smugge by Ruth Leigh

Hello, Bookaholics, it's a lovely day for a book review. Well, it's always a good day for a book review and today I bring you one which is absolutely fabulous, darlings. 

If you haven't read the first two books in the series, then you really should do now, as these books need to be read in order to get the full effect of Issy and her development as a character. I mean, seriously, rush and get them as they are superb. So, what of this one.

Blurb

Now in her third year of living the rural dream, starry Instamum Issy Smugge is up against it. A single parent of four with an award-winning brand, a gin-swigging mother convalescing upstairs and a distraught relative craving a shoulder to cry on, her diary and listed Regency home are bursting at the seams!
Of course, she can count on lively support from the colourful playground mums – and then there’s always Tom, the startlingly good-looking vicar, and his angelic wife, Claire.
But as pressure begins to mount, long-buried memories surface and difficult decisions need to be made. How will our heroine cope with painful emotions? (Clue: no filter!) And when the influencer needs influencing, who will show her the way? 

Review

Yes, everyone's favourite mumfluencer is back in The Continued Times of Isabella M. Smugge, the third book in the Issy Smugge (rhymes with Brugge of course) series. She is now the parent of four, one a brand new baby, and doing it alone apart from help from a housekeeper, a part-time nursery nurse, a gardener and a manicurist. To add insult to injury her insufferable mother has had a stroke and is installed in one of the spare rooms whilst she recovers. Issy, in her own inimitable style, is nursing her, meaning she is paying for the round the clock, wall-to-wall nursing staff who are doing all the heavy lifting. Literally. And don't forget the fact Issy still has her image as a mumfluencer to maintain - her adoring fans expect, actually demand, it of her. How is one woman expected to cope. This is the question she asks herself and yet cope she does - in her own fabulous way. Issy's character grows throughout the books; she is definitely becoming more likeable and, dare I say, human. Not that she isn't in the first two books but she is definitely mellowing and growing as a person as the series proceeds.

Where the book, and all the others in the series, stands out is in characterisation. All the characters are expertly drawn and, love them or hate them, they are real. Each has their own foibles and I love finding out more about them as the books progress. On opening the pages of this book I felt I was meeting with family and friends once more. This is the sign of a well written series, one which I love. I loved this book just as much, possibly even more, than the others. Leigh has a way with words which she uses to great effect to entertain and delight. 

This is Christian fiction but the Christianity is weaved in in a way which does not overwhelm and is extremely natural. At times Issy feels like she is living in a parallel universe with the 'church speak' but this is handled well and explained. Whilst Christians would enjoy this book I believe non-Christians would enjoy it just as much.

Another triumph from the pen of Ruth Leigh and I hope there will be many more Issy books to come. 

Signed copies complete with merchandise can be ordered via Ruth's website (www.ruthleighwrites.co.uk) and from good bookshops, Eden, Waterstones and Amazon from 22nd October. In Suffolk, Issy Smugge is stocked by Woodbridge Books, Dial Lane Books in Ipswich and The Halesworth Bookshop.


I was given an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. At no point was I asked to provide a positive review and this is based on my reading and enjoyment of the book.