MAD LOVE by Suzanne Selfors
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (January 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 080278450X
ISBN-13: 978-0802784506
Source: Publisher
Author Website: HERE
Rating: YY out of 5
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.
Review
I am a fan of quirky love stories and when I was presented with an opportunity to read something a little different I jumped at the chance. This new prospect was MAD LOVE by Suzanne Selfors. This story had a mix of mental illness, Cupid and clam juice…yes, you read it correctly, clam juice.
I don’t know where to begin with this story so I will try my best not to seem confusing but that is precisely how I felt at the end of reading MAD LOVE. Here you have this story about a girl, Alice Amorous whose mother was a famous romance writer and now resides in a mental institute due to her Biopolar illness going unchecked for years. I experience Alice’s ordeal through flashbacks and current situational distress and although I want to feel for her plight I find that I cannot. This is especially true when she finds out some very distressing news that leaves her desperate for monetary fundage, yet when the opportunity is so painfully obvious she still does not seem to make the connection straight away. arrrrrrrrrrg!! In fact, it has to be yelled out to her by Errol a strange boy that brings on a different brand of mental to Alices’ already troubled life.
This brings me to the subject of Cupid, yes the god of love. He is convinced that Alice is the one that must write his true tragic love story and he is relentless in his pursuit. You would think that he would be charming, sexy and smooth but 
instead he appears EMO, haggard and sickly (which I understand later but by that point I am not sure I care) and when he uses his powers to assuade Alice, his only remedy is clam juice. YUCK ! I am not making this stuff up.
What I did like about MAD LOVE is the remaining cast of quirky characters that give this book a bit of lightness, heart and laughter that was needed due to the heavy subject matter. Unfortunately it was not enough for me to appreciate this story and not even a bottle of clam juice could make me change my mind.