I received this ARC from Publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone Published by Disney Hyperion on June 16th 2015
Pages: 368
Source: ARC from Publisher
Amazon-Indiebound
Goodreads
If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.
Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off.
Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.
Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.
My Thoughts:
This was a really intense, really excellent read. My heart just went out to the main character, Sam. She has Purely-Obsessional OCD and seeing what she went through on a daily basis… wow. What a strong and incredible young woman! As a teacher I’ve worked with students dealing with obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. Reading Every Last Word helped me to have a better understanding of what they might be going through. It’s one thing to hear a clinical diagnosis, completely another thing to see what it means day to day.
In addition to living withPurely-Obsessional OCD, Sam is dealing with the every day challenges of high school. She’s one of the popular crowd but feels like she cannot be herself around her friends. She hides her obsessional thoughts and keeps much of her life a secret from her “friends.” When Sam finally starts to be more herself, things get rocky with her friends. I really appreciated the way the author handled this. Sam has been close to these girls for years, but people change. Friendships evolve and some become more distant. I think it’s important for teens to see this reflected in YA literature. Every Last Word does an excellent job of looking at friendships.
Of course, I have to mention Poet’s Corner. It’s a huge part of this story and Sam’s life. I loved the idea of a place where teens could get together and share their thoughts without worrying about what everyone else thinks. It’s exactly what Sam needed. And of course there’s AJ… I really enjoyed seeing the ways he and Sam interacted. And Caroline! What an intriguing character!!
Every Last Word brings to the forefront issues of mental health and the need to stop attaching stigma to addressing and getting help for such issues. It does this through excellent and honest storytelling. This is a book I hope to see in many school libraries!
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