Mad Love

Author: Suzanne Selfors

Pages: 325

Published: Walker & Company, 2011

Genre: Contemporary fiction/Fantasy/Romance

Cover Score: C-

Overall Grade: A

As the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life for sixteen-year-old Alice Amorous should be pretty sweet. But ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness, Alice has been forced to maintain a brave front--living alone; lying to her new crush Tony; forging her mother's signature; answering fan letters; telling the publisher that all is well and the Queen's next book is on its way. Now time is running out, and so is their money. The next book is overdue and the Queen can't write it. Alice needs to deliver a new novel for her mother--and she needs to come up with one fast. That's when she meets Errol, a strange guy claiming to be Cupid, who insists that Alice must write about his tragic romance with Psyche--the greatest love story of all time. Alice needs the story, but can she trust Errol? After all, she doesn't believe in Cupid...

My thoughts: I'm a huge fan of Suzanne Selfors, so I was thrilled to read her latest book. Luckily, I loved it just as much as her previous books--if not more. The thing that made Mad Love such a winner to me was its amazing, hilarious, diverse cast of characters.

I loved all of the characters, from Alice herself to the crazy neighbors that share her Seattle apartment complex: Ms. Selfors clearly spent time crafting each unique personality to perfection. The characters created a fresh, 3 dimensional sort of family unit in the novel, and I felt like the characters were the type of people I'd encounter in real life: lovable, quirky, realistic, funny, and often frustrating.

As well, I appreciated all of the smaller subplots woven into the main storyline, creating depth: Alice's crush on Tony, Alice and Errol's story, Alice's family drama, Alice's neighborhood life. I also appreciated Ms. Selfor's research skills. The facts she included on Alice's mother's bipolar disorder helped build the plot and made me sympathize towards Alice--Ms. Selfors has an ability to evoke emotion in her readers. The plot moved quickly and fluidly, making for an easy read whose pages I couldn't stop turning. In Mad Love, I experienced the mark of a truly good book: while reading, I felt like I was submerged in the plot itself, like I was Alice, experiencing the events firsthand.

A funny, light, bittersweet novel that is fresh and unique, Mad Love gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling after you've finished reading--I'm totally in love with this book!

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