Reflection's Edge

Book Review: Mad About the Boy, by Mathilde Madden

Reviewer: Sharon Dodge

Sophie Taylor has a pleasant life: a nice boyfriend who's always willing to play her more adventurous games, a job where no one expects too much, and good friends. But on her birthday, Sophie is reminded that perhaps she doesn't have it all - at least, fantasy-wise. That night she meets the very available, very interested male escort, Mark Valentine. After years of fantasizing about buying a man, she's suddenly faced with the opportunity to do so; but with fantasy a reality, the situation becomes much less clear-cut, and Sophie faces the choice between Mark and the kind of love that money can't buy.

Mad About the Boy is an unusual book; as a piece of erotica, Madden faces the challenge of leading us on the chase for 242 pages in a genre that's usually at its best under 2,000 words. Impressively, Madden manages it; the dialogue is snappy, the prose a cut above other pop novels (particularly the average romance), and the problem of chasing dreams versus settling is discussed with a surprising amount of depth. Sophie's blunt honesty and her determination is particularly refreshing; she's a heroine with a lot of faults, but one you can't help but like.

It's also a pleasant surprise to encounter a book, particularly when written "By Women For Women" (as advertised on its back), that has men as dimensional as in Mad About the Boy. For all that it's a fantasy filled with elaborate scenarios, the interactions feel sometimes painfully real. The description of Sophie's original meeting of her boyfriend, Rex, is particularly lush, and makes him a contestant for the reader's affections despite the natural tendency in an erotic novel to favor the bad boy escort. Unfortunately, this character depth makes her best friend Pete's actions, halfway through the book, seem particularly out of character - the reader has come to expect more from the men in general.

But Mad About the Boy doesn't neglect the erotica. Throughout, there's bondage, voyeurism, threesomes, and an intensely sexual final chapter which expands on the initial premise. But as Sophie is taking a traditionally masculine view towards sex, the sex is both titillating and challenging - and addressing sexuality in a way we don't often see in print.

The weaknesses in the book, in fact, are almost all related to the maintenance of tension; to keep it going, some highly improbable schemes occur (although as enthusiastically as they play out, you may have too much fun to notice, at least for a while). The subplot regarding Sophie's dead-end job also feels a bit rushed at the end, considering the length and thought devoted to the major plot. In fact, the book is so thoughtful, you may on occasion forget you're reading erotica: after painstaking discussion of the delicate nature of relationships, the genre-appropriate erotic ending may come as a surprise. It's like having dinner and dessert at the same time.

In the end, Mad About the Boy walks a nice line between erotica and genuine dissection of human relationships, and does it without preaching. With quirky prose reminiscent of Bridget Jones's Diary and a plot that rivals Boogie Nights, it will please a wide audience of erotica readers.

To buy a copy of Mad About the Boy:

Amazon UK link

Amazon USA link

If you liked this book, you may also enjoy:

Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding

Sex and the City - The Complete Third Season (TV series)

Sex and the City - Season Six, Part 2 (TV series)

The Story of O, by Pauline Reage



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