Review: OCD Love Story

OCD Love Story

Author: Corey Ann Haydu
Pages: 352
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: July 23, 2013
Read: July 14-20, 2013
Source: ARC for review from YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
In this raw and relatable romance, Bea learns that some things just can’t be controlled.

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.

First Sentence: "Lucky for me, I don't get panicky in small dark spaces or anything."

Review:

OCD Love Story is one of those books that I think I'm going to love in retrospect. It's a painful read, one that actually sort of grated on my brain. The description calls it "raw," which is apt, and relatable, which it wasn't really for me. In the end, I'm really impressed with Haydu's debut, but largely undecided on just how I feel about it, and I already know I'll have to sit on it for a while and reread to really process my feelings about Haydu's debut.

There is no doubt in my mind that OCD Love Story is brilliantly done. Haydu approaches OCD with honesty, and I learned a lot about OCD from this novel. I always thought I might be a little bit OCD, but, wow, I was wrong. The compulsions that Bea and the rest of her group have are nothing like my desire to listen to music at volumes that are either multiples of two or five. OCD isn't pretty. Even though the goal of these behaviors is to give the person a feeling of safety or order, the end result is not that.

Unlike the cover says so many times, Bea is not stalking a boy in OCD Love Story, though she did have a history of that. She's stalking a man, Austin, and his wife, Sylvia, who have the session before her with Dr. Pat. She overheard snippets of their session, and started a notebook about them. From there, she began to worry about their safety, felt the need to check in on them or she would be overcome with anxiety. On top of that, she's terrified of sharp objects, afraid that she'll hurt someone with them, can't drive above 30 miles an hour, because she thinks she'll hit someone, and pinches her thigh to a blue/black mess. Bea's issues are believable, but they were really hard for me to personally relate to. At the same time, this frank portrayal was great, because it really opened up my mind to different ways of thinking and being, which is one of the things I love about literature.

The romance depicted in OCD Love Story is really touching, actually. For a moment, I was afraid it would go to creepy Juno-like places with the Austin stalking, but it didn't thankfully. Right at the beginning, Bea meets a guy in a blackout and makes out with him. She meets him again in OCD group therapy, and he's just her type (huge and muscular and difficult to hurt). Beck and Bea are both incredibly messed up teens and seriously in denial about that. What I love about their romance, though, is it shows that love isn't skin deep and isn't just about perfection. In YA, the heroine and hero are generally idealized and perfect. Beck and Bea are not that, but it doesn't mean they can't find someone to love them, which is such a great message. Plus, their relationship has problems, but they work on it and stay together. It's not magically perfect or that the world wants to keep them apart.

OCD Love Story made me want to go into the book so that I could sit Bea down and give her a talking to. Beck too. Their compulsions are so hard for me to really understand. However, I loved the way that Haydu brought it all together in the end, as you find out what happened to Beck and Bea in the past. Their compulsions come from logical places, but practical concerns are taken to a level that's beyond rationality.

Perhaps I'll change my mind on this later, but, for now, the reading experience was sort of unpleasant. Worth pushing through, certainly, but reading this book almost physically hurt. This is obviously a sign that Haydu has done her work and done it well. You're meant to be uncomfortable, because that's what it's like to be Bea.

Aside from that, the writing style didn't really appeal to me. It fits Bea very well, but I didn't much care for it. That's a very personal thing, of course, and Haydu did do a great job with the voice overall, but it's just not my favorite writing style.

Lovers of honest books about hard subjects will not want to miss OCD Love Story. This is a book that will make you think and make you feel awkwardness and pain for the characters.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "It's like, I'm scared and there're a lot of ugly things, but I'd rather be shipwrecked on this lovely island than safe in a sad, gray cell."