Review: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

23341894 Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group
Publication Date: June 16th 2015
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 12+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Poetry Contemporary, Swoon Romance, Mental Illness, Friendship

BLURB:

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.

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Great. Thank you, book. Knowing what I now know, I’ll have to read you all over again. Bet you’re real happy right now, aren’t ya?

Mind-blowing, unexpected turn of events.

I fell head over heels for this EVERY LAST WORD heart-warming creature.

It’s a lyrical, theme-filled and romantic story about OCD-sufferer Samantha McAllister. She’s obsessed about the number 3, among other things. But no one can know about that, especially not her popular bitchy friends, the Eights.

With the help of Caroline, Sam discovers a secret poets club. Her first chapter to becoming a braver, more assertive and accepting person starts right there. And who knows, maybe it’ll even bring her love?

Despite the stereotyped Eights who bring a contained amount of shallowness and ‘‘clichédness’’ to the story, it’s a deep, meaningful book. And hey, even the Eights situation has a realistic quality.

Many of us understand what it feels like to have to end a relationship that’s been going for a long time, because of the natural phenomena that are called ‘‘growing up’’ and ‘‘finding our true self.’’ YET, it never is easy.

I loved the flirting. It didn’t last long, but god did it captivate me. I was so close to the paper I thought I might, by some magical luck, step into the book to join the flirty conversation. Because why not? The more, the merrier.

Beautiful, beautiful book. Seriously recommend. You don’t even have to be a fan of mental illness books to love this. You really don’t and that’s the beauty of it. It can appeal to a large group of people.
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