What I'm Reading Wednesday: A book that made me feel better about my CRAZY

You guys, I'm having one of those weeks.  ALREADY.  I feel like there about a billion and one things happening at school during the day that are preventing me from doing my best job teaching in the classroom.  You ever get that feeling?  Wishing you could just *teach* for a couple hours?  Gah.  Anyways, between school and the marathon coming up in, oh, just FOUR DAYS, I'm a little on edge!  To preserve some shred of sanity, I'm trying to make time to read every day for at least a little bit.  It's amazing how much it helps.  I am pretty excited to tell you about the book I read last week!

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu
Goodreads Summary: When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.

But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic... and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a lot about him. She spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she’s obsessed.

Bea tells herself she’s got it all under control. But this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is, she’s breaking down...and she might end up breaking her own heart.

My Thoughts:  I loved this book.  I was immediately drawn to it by its bright cover, it's short and sweet title, and the 5-star rating my bibliophile friend gave it on goodreads.  I was so not disappointed!  It was absolutely fascinating to read about two teens whose OCD manifests itself in such different ways.  While obviously this is a work of fiction, I have to believe that the author did her homework.  I know when I think of OCD I tend to picture handwashing and repeatedly closing doors, things like that, but after reading Bea's story, I realized that compulsions can take so many other forms.  Just really fascinating.

Bea is one of those characters who you kind of love and kind of hate at the same time.  Throughout the whole book I was cringing, wanting to yell at her, "What are you thinking?!  DO NOT DO THAT!"  But instead of yelling, I just kept reading.  The fact that it's narrated in the first person was awesome too--as Bea tries to reassure herself that some of her behaviors and compulsions are totally normal, you *almost* believe her too...until you don't.  Love an unreliable narrator. :)

The last thing I will saw about this book is that the writing rocks.  I love books where it's clear that some big, significant events took place in the character's past, and instead of just coming out and telling you, the writer drops hints for a hundred pages until you have finally pieced the situation together.  Love this part of OCD Love Story.

In short, this book was a fast read, a sweet love story, and an entrancing look at OCD.  Oh, and it made me feel a billion times better about my little bouts of quirky-crazy. ;)  Come on, you know you have them too...

5/5 stars

What have you been reading this week?