NicoleeK

Goodreads Synopsis: 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

Review: 

I went into this book thinking it would be about a girl with your typical OCD problems of everything having to be in the right place etc but what I got was something much more! Samantha grew so much throughout this book from a girl too afraid to step a toe out of place in fear her friends would ridicule her, to a girl brave enough to step outside her comfort zone and let people get to know the real her.

This was such a beautiful story about not just OCD but about how growing apart from your friends is a part of life and it’s okay to find new friends. This story has also brought awareness to the issue of OCD and how most people nowadays throw around that term because they like things done a certain way, but there are those out there dealing with OCD on a much bigger scale who are afraid to talk about it for fear of being labelled weird.

I’m not a fan of poetry but I looked forward to her time in poets corner and hearing their poems as it showed poetry can be something fun to do outside of the classroom, and can be used in a therapeutic and positive way. I loved AJ and how although Samantha hurt him in the past he was able to look past that and forgive her. The relationship aspect also didn’t take away from the overall story and was done very well.

This story has touched my heart. Tamara Ireland Stone did an excellent job of creating an honest story filled with so much emotion. Although this book dealt with some serious issues it wasn’t a heavy read. It was in no way dramatic because it didn’t need to be, you kept reading because of the journey Samantha was going on. She grew so much throughout this book and learned to accept herself for who she is. I also loved the update on “C” who inspired the story, it made it even more real.

I cannot recommend this book enough I loved loved loved it! It was very well written and was an easy, fast read, 5 big stars from me!