Bridget Jones 'Mad about The Boy' by Helen Fielding | Review

At university, I study English Literature and Creative Writing, which basically means I have to do a lot of reading (whether I do it all or not is a different matter)! So when I was perusing the book shelf in our holiday villa, I made the decision to read something that I genuinely really wanted to, and that's how I came to pick up Helen Fielding's new Bridget Jones novel.

We all know, and LOVE, Bridget Jones. There's something about her that just makes every woman feel happier, because she gets the struggle that is just being a girl! I am a tad late to the party on this, the third 'diary', as I was worried it would ruin her for me. How could Mark Darcy, the love of Bridget's life, the man who gave hope to millions of women worldwide that there was someone who would "like you very much. Just the way you are." not be in the book? Wait, no, not just 'not in the book', but not in Bridget's life anymore? *Sobbing*. HOW COULD IT POSSIBLY WORK WITHOUT HIM? These were all my emotions when I read an interview with Fielding about the release of 'Mad about The Boy'.

But then I read the book, and it is wonderful. Perfect, even. Bridget is back and at her absolute finest! Jones/Darcy is now 35 (51) and struggling to cope with technology, being a single mother, being a woman, dating, work, grief, and power mothers at school, creating a novel that is soul-crushingly sad, rib-splitingly hilarious and above all genuinely moving and heartwarming. Even though I had an inkling it would end the way I thought it would, this is no way lessened my enjoyment of the book and it was still a far better ending than I had imagined anyway! I feel like I could read it again and still laugh (out loud) as much as I did the first time, and I finished it sixteen hours ago!

The beauty of the book, and Bridget, is that Fielding has this power of expressing every crazy, ridiculous part of being a woman in the modern day in a way that is so hilariously true, that you can't help but fall in love with it. I really heart Bridget.

Also, anytime I read a Bridget Jones novel, I end up thinking in her diary-esque way of writing. Does anyone else do that? Or am I just going crazy..?

Star Rating /5: 4.5 stars (I'm still a teensy weensy bit emotionally crushed that Mark wasn't in it.)

Have any of you guys read any new books that you've loved/not loved so much recently? I'm off to find myself a new one, hopefully it will be as good as this one!