Book:  Mad Love
Author:  Suzanne Selfors
Release date:  January 4, 2011
Publisher:  Walker BFYR
Pages:  336
Source:  Publisher

When you’re the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can’t write it. Alice needs a story for her mother—and she needs one fast.

That’s when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol’s voice in her head and see things she can’t explain, she must face the truth—that she’s either inherited her mother’s madness, or Errol is for real.

Mad Love is not your typical teenage romance story.  I was pleasantly surprised with Suzanne Selfor’s newest novel and I can’t wait to read more from her.  From what I have read so far she is one amazing author.

Alice Amorous is the daughter of the bestselling Queen Of Romance.  You would think that would make her life easy but no.  In fact Alice’s life is incredibly crazy and is slowly unraveling.  When her mom was diagnosed with bipolar disorder she thought things would get better.  Knowing what causes the mood swings should help to make them go away.  Instead things just continue to get worse and now Alice fears she is going crazy when she meets a guy who tells her he is Cupid and she begins to believe him.  Could Errol really be Cupid or is he just a crazy guy with the answer to Alice’s problem?

I loved the characters in Mad Love.  They were not at all what I expected and they were fabulous.  Best of all, they were real.  Any one of the characters seemed like someone that I would run into on the street or befriend in class.  They weren’t fake at all.  Alice had real problems, not just issues with boys and friends like regular teens.  The best part about her was that she didn’t just give up.  She was a great heroine and I felt like I connected to her.

The plot dragged a little bit in the beginning but it wasn’t enough to make me stop reading.  I wanted to know what would happen with Alice, Errol, Tony, and her mom.  The bipolar disorder really added a layer to the story that kept me interested.  There was a little bit of romance, of course, but not nearly as much as you would expect based on the title.  I liked that the romance was not the whole focus and just fit in with the story.

Overall, Mad Love is a great book that is just in time for Valentine’s Day.  I am definitely going to check out Suzanne Selfor’s other books and hope they are just as good as this one.

First line:  “Behold,” the Queen of Romance declared as she gazed upon her baby girl’s face for the very first time.

Rating:  A-

Cover:  B-