Book Review: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

**I received an e-copy of Every Last Word from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Summary by 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:

There hasn't been a book in a long time that I have started and finished in one sitting.  Every Last Word was beautifully written and as I moved through Sam's story I couldn't stop until I reached the end.  

I chose this ARC because I am always on the lookout for new books to add to our high school library collection that fall under the themes taught in Health class.  The Health teachers have volunteered to complete an independent reading project with their freshman students and I want to make sure we have a variety of books available to them.  Every Last Word is one of them that I will beg our librarian to purchase this summer and plan to book talk it that first week of school.  

There are so many themes that students can pick out in this story:  the desire to feel "normal," true friendships, relationships, honesty, depression/suicide, mental illness, forgiveness, and much more. I have not read any books where the main character struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and seeks help. Throughout the book I could see that the author did her research on OCD and struggles people face on a daily basis.  She not only shares Sam's struggles but also ways that Sam's mom and psychiatrist help her cope with this disorder.

This one was well worth the few hours of lost sleep and I can't wait to hear what others think as well!