Young Adult Review: OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu
Hardcover, 352 pages
Expected Publication: July 23rd, 2013 by Simon Pulse
Source: ALAMW

Bea, 16, kisses Beck in the dark after easing his first panic attack. "Muscles. Shaved head .. The bluest eyes I've ever seen". Then Dr Pat puts her in group therapy with Beck. He makes her feel almost normal. But she stalks musical couple Austin and Sylvia. She fills scrapbooks with detailed notes of them, of accidents, of dangerous "quiet" people.

Bea is one of the best characters I have read about this year.  She far surpasses most of the characters I've read about and I found myself absolutely adoring her.  Yes, she's very, very weird and strange and pretty much as awkward as you can get.  She spurts things out of her mouth because she has to, the pressure builds and she must say this particular thing, so things just come out that are just plain wrong.  She thinks absurd things, but she does it humorously, which led to lots, and lots of laughter from me.  Yes, she has OCD and it's serious, it really is, but the way she thinks, the way she words things and does things is just so, so funny.  Some examples of her crazy: She drives at 20 miles an hour along a highway with her hazards on absolutely terrified she's going to hurt someone. To run them over or something. And then stopping to check, just to check she didn't hit anyone.  Or when she's driving and sees a child and she just knows she going to hit her and she just creeps along so slowly the girl is actually getting ahead of her but then the girl turns, but did she turn? So Bea must drive around until she finds her to make sure she didn't run her over.  This is just one of Bea's compulsions.  Maybe even the most normal one.  At least the one that gets her in the least trouble.  Another is that she's terrified she's going to kill someone.  She doesn't want any knives or sharp objects near her because she just knows she will kill someone. Bea's other compulsion is stalking a couple and it's this one that had me cringing the most.  It was so, so hard reading about it because I wanted to help her!  I wanted to help her get over this.  I don't know if I fully understand how someone can be like that, to actively do something that they know is wrong, that could ruin their life even, but not be able to stop.  Now, I could really go on and on about her, I really enjoyed getting to know her in this book and it was a pleasure being by her side even though it had me cringing for her and the situations she got herself into.

Now Beck is a mess as well and in some ways they are perfect for each other.  At least they can understand the others compulsions.  Maybe not the particular compulsions, but the act of having to do something, they understand that.  Beck was a bit harder for me to connect with.  I had a hard time picturing a guy named Beck as bulked up.  I kept picturing a nerdy guy. I never really got over that.  But personality wise he was pretty good.  Not a wow, but he was sweet.  He was pretty present in the book but yet I feel like I barely know him, so I guess for me he was kind of a weak point.  But not a major negative.

I really enjoyed this book a lot.  It's very different and I actually felt like I learned something while being entertained.  OCD is not something new to me, I have struggled with my own compulsions and my 4 year old is borderline OCD.  He's not too bad yet, but he's showing the signs.  So I think this book was an eye opener for me.  To make sure I keep up on things and not let them get out of hand.  Being a germaphobe is one thing, but washing constantly is not quit necessary.

Disclosure: I received this book at ALAMW free of charge.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.