Absolutely fantastic! Could not put the book down. Going to recommend to everyone to check out this book!

I was really interested in this book based on the title and subject. But for some reason I could not focus on the story & eventually just gave up on it. I tried pushing on but I just was not hooked enough. Sorry ;-(

Bill Cosgrave tells of his adventures travelling as a young man from Canada to LA in the early 1960's to meet up with his friend Mary, girlfriend at the time to Jim Morrison. Pre-The Doors, Jim and Mary are portrayed as soulmates, both highly intellectual and basically nice people.

Having been a fan of The Doors since I was a teen, I really enjoyed this insightful and very interesting look at Jim Morrison's early life from someone who was there.

Long a Doors fan, I basically devoured this book. The story of Mary and Jim Morrison written by a good friend tells of their romance, and ultimate separation, in a poignant way. A good read!

It was the mid 1960's when Billy Cosgrave made his way from Toronto Canada to California after his friend Mary invited him to visit her. Billy had met Mary while he was attending a high school in Florida. Mary was a beautiful young "dream girl" with aspirations of being a dancer. She was living in L.A. with her boyfriend Jim Morrison. Billy made his way to California by hitchhiking and took up a free living lifestyle. He clicked with young, shy Jim who spent a lot of time scribbling poetry in his notebook. There are tales of alcohol, drugs, love, and friendship.

This is a look behind the scenes of the life of The Door's Jim Morrison just a couple of years before he became famous. Cosgrave paints a picture of a young Morrison who was smart, quiet, and deep. The book is full of crazy escapades and gives a fair share of attention to each of Mary, Billy and Jim. Cosgrove is clearly fond of his time spent with Mary and Jim hanging out on the beaches and under the pier. Some of the stories are wild and Cosgrave was clearly a bold young man who did things like sneak into the Academy Awards or smooth talk his way onto TV sets. By contrast Mary and Jim are painted as much more pensive people. It is sad to know how Morrison's life ends just a few short years after his time with Mary and Billy.

I recommend this for anyone who is a fan of rock or is curious about Jim Morrison.

A well written, informative and engrossing book about Jim Morrison's early life.
It's perfect for any Doors fan and I learned something new.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Amazing insights into Jim Morrison's life before The Doors! I've been a fan of the Doors since my teenage years and I was so happy to receive an ARC of this book. It didn't disappoint and had me reading until the early hours.

3.5 rounded up to 4 Stars

I am a big fan of rock biographies, a child of the sixties, and my big brother's band used to rock out to several of The Doors hits back in the late seventies. I never bought a single Doors record, but this twist on Jim Morrison's story prompted me to read this.

Billy Cosgrove was a teenager with a huge and enduring crush on Mary Frances Werbelow, an older girl in high school. Billy was Canadian, but he finagled his way into his parents allowing him to finish up high school in Florida. Mary noticed Billy and they became good friends. One day Mary told Billy she was dating a nice guy named Jim who was planning to transfer to UCLA to study film. She was going to follow Jim to LA, where they hoped to eventually marry. Billy briefly returned to Canada after Mary left, but ultimately decided to take Mary up on the offer to visit. Billy was a hitchhiker and at the point of crossing the US border was questioned and not allowed to enter. However, another sympathetic trucker hid Billy in his cargo and he successfully made it into California.

Mary had her own apartment and allowed Billy to camp out on her sofa whenever he wanted. One day he met Mary's boyfriend Jim, and they too became fast friends. He was nothing like the famous version people think of when they remember The Doors. Jim was a very kind, gentle, soft-spoken and extremely intelligent young man. His passion was writing poetry. His favorite thing to do was to go to Venice beach and sit under the Santa Monica pier, watching the waves and the passerby, getting inspiration to write in his trusty notebook. On many occasions Billy would join him, and they would even sleep under the pier when the financial situation dictated such natural lodgings.

Billy was one of those personalities who would be able to befriend people in high places. He could talk his way into letting a doorman allow him into the back of a theatre to watch celebrities rehearse shows. On a bet, he even crashed The Academy Awards for awhile before getting thrown out. It was obvious that Mary and Jim were made for each other, so Billy was shocked one day when he found out that Mary kicked Jim out, saying that he needed to get serious with his life before perhaps one day they would get back together. They never stopped loving each other. Everyone (including myself) only seemed to know about the red-headed girlfriend Pam who Jim was with when he died. But he never stopped loving Mary or keeping in touch with her. Billy never stopped loving her from afar either. In the last days that Billy shared with Jim as carefree vagabonds living on the beach, Billy saw Jim hook up with a friend named Ray who had also graduated from UCLA. Ray was living with his wife (who was supporting him financially) while he concentrated on getting a band together. Jim never had any intention of his poetic writings lending themselves to be transformed into famous songs, and certainly had no inclination towards singing, but there you have it- he and Ray Manzarek formed the core of what would become The Doors.

At this point Billy felt like he had to get some serious direction in his life, and decided to go back to Canada. He tearfully and lovingly said goodbye to his best friends Jim and Mary, who saw Billy off. Just a couple of years later Billy was thriving in Canada in a new job involving the travel industry, with a great apartment and serious girlfriend. Imagine his utter shock when one day he saw his friend Jim Morrison's face on the cover of a rock magazine!

Billy would ultimately get in touch with both Jim, and much later Mary, whom Jim had lost track of. Of course we know that Jim died at the age of 27 from a heart attack in a Paris hotel bathroom, but what happened to Mary? I found this story intriguing because I never knew Jim Morrison pre-fame, nor about his first serious girlfriend Mary Werbelow who stayed under the radar all these years. This was definitely a slice of history that Billy shared, of idyllic days in beautiful, sunny California with a future rock icon. A very interesting, touching and nostalgic read.

Love Her Madly is (a) a famous Doors’ song, (b) the title of a new book about The Doors’ front man Jim Morrison, (c) the feeling of the book’s author towards Jim’s girlfriend Mary, or (d) all of the above. The answer is, of course, d.

While Wikipedia may not quite agree with the author’s reminiscences, it is a fun look back into 1960s Los Angeles’ music and hippie culture. It also shows the underlying nice and intelligent Jim before drugs and alcohol changed him for the worse. Fans of The Doors are sure to enjoy Love Her Madly. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars!

Thanks to Dundurn Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

A look at Jim Morrison's life before he became famous, the real Jim. A nonfiction look at his personality and the close friendship of Bill with Jim and Mary. Short fast read

Thank you to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for giving me the chance to read and review, "Love Her Madly"
by Bill Cosgrave. This nonfiction about Bill Cosgrave and being friends with Mary and Jim Morrison is really neat. I am a fan of The Doors so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this book. While Cosgrave lead a very interesting life, it kind of felt like it ended sadly for everyone involved. Reading about the relationship between Mary and Jim felt really special. While this work of nonfiction was not exactly what I was expecting, it was enjoyable and I was entranced by the writing style.

Not only did the author have insight to the real Jim Morrison but he had a front row seat to an exciting period of history. His love and loss for Jim and Mary was touching.

A fresh look at the man and the myth Jim Morrison in the days before rocketing to superstardom and beyond through the eyes of a close friend in his youth.

I really enjoyed this memoir and read it in one sitting. It’s like a hidden portal back to that time of youth again, with a pre-celebrity tossed in for good measure. What could be better than that, unless we were in it too? (Yeah, we wish!) This awesome book was just waiting to be written. What a great life Billy made for himself with his sense of adventure. We’ve all had a few crazy moments in our lives, but this reads like a movie script. Ok, so who should play Morrison? Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Bill Cosgrave, and publisher Dundurn Press.

Any Jim Morrison fan will probably say they felt like they knew him, even if they weren’t born when he was performing with The Doors! Why is that? I think it’s because he gave everything of himself especially through his words and the way he looked into the crowd and into the camera as if he saw YOU. I think this memoir confirms the fact that Jim treated people with respect and was generous in sharing himself in relationships. Reading Live Her Madly felt like listening to a friend tell stories of a mutual friend. Thank you for sharing the stories Bill Cosgrave 💛#LoveHerMadly #jimmorrison #netgalley #memoir #thedoors #theend #lovestreet #breakonthrough #lightmyfire #lawoman #tellallthepeople #wildchild #thedoorsfans #cronulla #cronullawriter

According to this author he was friends, via a girl he pines for, before during and after Jim Morrison found everlasting fame. The events recorded in this hippie era drama are really quite amazing, if true. I'm not a detective so let's assume all is true. So as I say the goings on are remarkable but the writing isn't great.
It's not terrible either. The author lays it all out but doesn't have that certain something gift, that rare and necessary style that ushers a reader into the moment. You don't feel as though Jim Morrison just walked into the room. But there are writers who can make you get that feeling. The problem is it isn't here.

I have mixed feelings about this book. First, it is entertaining to read stories of a pre-Doors Jim Morrison. On the other hand, the author doesn’t give any particular insight into the minds of either Jim or Mary and I’m not sure that anyone other than a fan of Jim and The Doors would find the book compelling. I was also bothered that the author wrote about Mary knowing how much she values her privacy. He writes that she refused opportunities to profit from her relationship with Jim even though she was desperately poor, yet here he is, a successful man by his own account, offering up her life with Jim to the general public.

As the book unfolded, I began to wonder how much, if any, of the author’s story is true. There are remarkably few verifiable accounts in the book and parts of it are preposterous. The author claims not only a close friendship with Mary and then Jim, but also that he talked a Secret Service agent into giving him close proximity to JFK at a rally, was smuggled across the Canadian border by a friendly driver, snuck into the Academy Awards, was in Watts during the riots, and had experiences with several celebrities. While it isn’t impossible that these things all happened, the anecdotes in the book have the feel of tall tales told late at night at the bar. His description of the Mary he found in her later years almost convinced me that his story was legit - until I found a 2005 Tampa Bay Times article that contains those same details about her. I hope I’m wrong and that the book was thoroughly fact checked. In the end, the mediocre writing and the book’s overall lack of substance don’t make up for the mild entertainment it provides.

In the early 1960’s, Bill Cosgrove was a high school student, and although he was Canadian, the school he was attending was in Florida, which is where he meets Mary Werbelow. Instantly smitten, he doesn’t act on it, but a friendship forms, and she will remain in his thoughts for years to come.

After returning to Toronto for the summer and then back in Florida, he learns about her new boyfriend, a guy named Jim. Morrison. And then she decides to leave and move across the state to where Jim lives. And then later on, she tells him that she is in love with Jim, they have plans to marry, and Jim’s plans also include a transfer to UCLA film school. Unsurprisingly, once there, Mary invites Bill, Billy, to join them. By this time, he’s back in Canada, and once more decides to return to the US, this time to the Los Angeles area. Only this time it isn’t quite as easy, as he is stopped at the border, and refused entry. He finally manages to cross when a friendly trucker hides him under loads of hay bales in the back of the truck. Ah, the things we do for love.

Through Bill Cosgrave’s eyes, his memories we get to know the Jim Morrison as he was before The Doors. His softer, poetic side, a man who ’wrote about everything he felt and observed. Constantly taking notes on the world. His ever-present notepad for his thoughts/ poems…a stunning girl on the beach to musing about the universe; bringing up philosopher’s names like Nietzsche…Jim had read all his books…I had no idea that those poems would become world-famous hits. All that time spent together, I never heard him hum a single note.’

He has his own adventures, as well, some of which are extremely interesting, amusing, and audacious.

He never forgets about Mary, or Jim, although he does return to Canada when things seem to become a little wilder than he feels comfortable with. He leaves the partying lifestyle behind, and focuses on living a more respectable life, perhaps. But the memories never leave him, and speaks to Jim once after he sees his photo on a magazine cover, goes to see him in concert when The Doors come to a semi-local venue - closer than California. It is a distressing forewarning of the direction Morrison is heading in, although we already know how it ends.

Even then, his search for Mary continues, periodically, and although he is happily married, and not even contemplating changing that, I suppose it’s true what they say about there being a special place in your heart for your first love. When he finally does think he’s found her, it’s heartbreaking and heartwarming and confusing for him, but after reading this, I doubt there are many regrets.



Pub Date: 03 Nov 2020


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Dundurn Press
#LoveHerMadly #NetGalley

A big thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an advanced digital copy of this book. This is a vivid, nostalgic portrait of the 1960s, and an affectionate memoir of the author's friendship with the young Jim Morrison before his fame as the lead singer of the Doors.

There is a much-quoted saying to the effect that if one remembers the 60s they never truly experienced them. Bill Cosgrave definitely lived that experience and gives the reader the feeling of what those mad hippy days of drugs, free love, drop-out, never trust anyone over 30, flower power, Viet Nam protests, race riots and rock and roll were really like.

I admit that I am old enough to have experienced the Doors' hit albums from their beginning and loved pictures of their young, rebellious, beautiful lead singer, Jim Morrison. Living too far away to be part of or entrenched in the 60s counter-culture, I was absorbed in it through TV and its music

Books on Morrison usually centre on his life and career with the Doors after drugs, alcohol and erratic behaviours were ravaging his gorgeous appearance and his life on and off stage. I liked how this book focused on Bill Cosgrove's friendship with Jim Morrison. The author presents him as a shy, gentle, well-read, highly intelligent, quiet young man who was always writing poetry, discussing philosophy, books, avant-garde cinema.

Cosgrove, a Canadian, attended High School in Florida, where he met the beautiful, entrancing older Mary and they became friends. He secretly loved her. He dropped out of University in Montreal. It was 1965 and he was delighted to accept an invitation from Mary to come to LA and stay at her apartment.
After a series of bus rides, but mostly by hitchhiking, he was refused entry into the USA. He was finally smuggled across the border in a truck hidden in the back under loads of hay. After a long trip by thumbing his way to California, at last, he arrived at Mary's apartment. He met her fiance, Jim Morrison, and the three of them formed a tight bond of friendship. Mary eventually broke off her engagement with Jim, concerned that he was too idle and insisted he get a real job and make something of himself.

Bill Cosgrave spent many pleasant days hanging out on the beach with Jim. The shy, quiet young man wrote poetry on the beach by day and slept on the beach or on rooftops at night. Cosgrave was couch-surfing at the time. Bill seemed more adventurous and brazen than his friend. He describes his experiences sneaking into the Oscar ceremony, the Palace Theatre to experience rehearsals and finally a Sinatra concert, and he attended a Kennedy rally a short time before he was assassinated. One of his most interesting experiences was being stranded in Watts during the riots, and being the only white man at a wild celebratory party hosted by looters. Bill and Jim were still in contact with the beautiful, radiant Mary who had now dropped-out and was performing as a dancer in a Night Club.

In time, Cosgrave decided it was time for him to return to Canada, get a job, and lead a more traditional lifestyle as part of adult society. Mary and Jim gave him a tearful send-off and the three promised to keep in touch. Bill Cosgrave founded a travel company in BC, Fun Seekers (remember travel?)
Two years back in Canada he was astonished and dumbfounded to see his old friend's photo on the cover of a magazine. He was surprised that Jim had founded the Doors with Ray Manzarek, a man he had met on the beach, and they were now a highly successful group selling millions in records and in-demand to perform everywhere. Neither Mary nor Bill had never heard Jim sing a note, but now some of his poems were the basis for his popular songs. Bill called Jim and although Jim seemed happy to hear from him he seemed addled on alcohol and could barely communicate Later he invited Bill to join the band as his road manager. Bill was tempted by the offer but refused as he was now running a successful business and leading a normal lifestyle. Jim mentioned he thought Mary had gone on a spiritual retreat in India. Four years later Jim Morrison was dead at age 27.

Bill tried for years to find Mary. It wasn't until 2008, that he found her when in LA to attend his daughter's engagement party. What he learned when he finally connected with Mary was heartbreaking. This was a well-written trip back to the 1960s, and a beautiful memoir about friendship and of being young at the time and its dangers.

This was a great biography about Jim Morrison before the band The Doors was formed. A family friend named Mary who introduced him to her shy boyfriend, Jim Morrison. The trio would party and Jim would write poetry but no sing and then him and Mary split. Fast forward when he is at UCLA and meets Ray Manzarek and the Doors is formed. Bill cant seem to forget his friend and goes back to find Mary only to find that Jim had died. Bill had been shuffling between Canada and the U.S most of his life.

This is a must read for any fan of the Doors, Jim Morrison and anyone who likes a good biography from someone who had a first hand account. One of the better biographies I have read not written by the actual subject because he was part of it. I loved learning about Jim Morrison's before the Doors. I have always been a fan, so when I saw this, I had to read it.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bill Cosgrave and Dundum Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 11/3/20