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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Mad Love in Books

Jul 5, 2018

Mad Love

Nick Spalding | 2016 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

8.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

Funny and pretty realistic

I'm not really one for romantic novels, even funny, modern ones like this - mainly because they're ridiculously predictable. Mad Love does fall into this category, but it gets away with it because it's so realistic and funny to go along with it.

The two main characters Adam and Jess are endearing and flawed, they're not perfect. Reading about their impromptu marriage from both side is both humorous and very true. Anyone who's had an argument or gotten in a huff with a loved one will surely recognise a lot of this book. It's full of pop culture too and very modern, with its take on dating websites and reality stars. Of course this has already been done on a tv show, but its still an interesting read.

The one thing it's lacking is a little bit of sentimentality and heart warming emotions. It gets there towards the end, but its a long time coming and I could feel myself getting very frustrated at how situations turned out.

But still, it's a very fun, quick and entertaining read.

Kudos

David McK (3663 KP) rated Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2) in Books

Jan 30, 2019

"When you were young, and your heart was an open book,
You used to say live and let live
(you know you did you know you die you know you did)
But in this ever changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry ...
Live and let die ..."

(cue guitar riff)

With that out of the way - Paul McCartney and Wings, later covered by Guns 'N Roses - Live and Let Die is the second James Bond book by Ian Fleming, but the eighth film in the series, and the first to star Roger Moore in the lead role.

And reading it with contemporary eyes, boy has it aged. Quite different than the movie - although the key elements (vodoo, Baron Samedi, Solitaire, American southwest setting) are intact, it can also be quite uncomfortable reading this with modern sensibilities, particularly in how Flemings (and Bond) treats the female characters, and in how the Harlem culture and denizens are portrayed.

Allowances must be made, I suppose, for the time period in which it was written ...