Review: OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

Title: OCD Love Story
Author: Corey Ann Haydu
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: July 23rd 2013
Pages: 352
Genre: Young Adult contemporary
Source: Bought
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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 ton 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 rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was not expecting to love this book. The frankness of the title and the cutesy colors made me worry that this would be an unrealistic, simplified portrayal of mental illness. The only reason I bought it, really, is that Books of Wonder had a signed copy and I can just never resist signed books. It had been sitting on my TBR pile for almost a year until I finally got to it, but I'm so glad I did because I ended up loving it!

My worries about this being a stereotypical and simplified portrayal of OCD were completely unwarranted. I guess I can't really judge if the portrayal is authentic, but it felt that way to me. I appreciated that Bea does not have the stereotypical super-clean OCD or anything like that; she has obsessions and compulsions that are a lot more unusual than that. I really liked that we got to see so many different variations of OCD through all the different members of Bea's therapy group. At times, the descriptions were so raw that this story was hard to read; it was scary to see how bad Bea's condition had gotten, and all throughout the book, I was terrified of the moment it would all come crashing down. 

Although the book is called OCD Love Story, the focus is a lot more on the OCD than on the love story, which I personally really appreciated. I really liked having Bea as the main focus and her romance with Beck as only a secondary storyline. Bea is a great protagonist: she doesn't just personify her disorder but has a real personality, and I absolutely loved her. I also really enjoyed her friendship with Lisha - she's in an interesting character, and the decisions she has to make are moral dilemmas that are fascinating to think through for yourself. The romance with Beck is great, too: I loved seeing these two go back and forth between enabling and helping each other. I wish we had gotten some more insight into both of their pasts though: I wanted to know more about Beck's sister and about the stuff that happened between Bea and Jeff, how these things triggered their OCD. I also wish Bea's parents had played a more important role in the novel; they were absent throughout most of Bea's struggles.

Despite these little things that could have been elaborated on more, I absolutely loved OCD Love Story. It's a great balance of educating readers about mental disorders through its nuanced portrayal of a character with OCD and of simply telling a great story. I definitely recommend it!

My New Treasures #32: BEA Book Haul!

My New Treasures is a semi-regular feature here at Paperback Treasures to showcase all the books I received over the previous week (or however long it's been since I've last done one of these). It was inspired by Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han *signed*

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy *signed*

Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy *signed*

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord *signed*

The Summer I Wasn't Me by Jessica Verdi *signed*

Five Summers by Una LaMarche *signed*

The Edge of Falling by Rebecca Serle

The Merciless by Danielle Vega (ARC)

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfield (ARC)

Rooms by Lauren Oliver (ARC) *signed*

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid (ARC) *signed*

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (ARC) *signed*

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by AS King (ARC) *signed*

The Things You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor (ARC) *signed*

Famous In Love by Rebecca Serle (ARC)

Falling into Place by Amy Zhang (ARC)

Tape by Steven Camden (ARC)

Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes (ARC)

Landline by Rainbow Rowell (ARC)

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (ARC) *signed*

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson *signed*

How We Fall by Kate Brauning (ARC) *signed*

Tease by Amanda Maciel *signed*

YOLO (Internet Girls #4) by Lauren Myracle 

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart *signed*

Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally (ARC) *signed*

The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris (ARC) *signed*

Clean by Amy Reed

The Jewel by Amy Ewing (ARC)

Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu *signed*

What books did you get this week? And which of these should I read first?

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor & Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release date: February 26th 2013
Pages: 328
Genre: Young Adult historical romance
Source: Bought
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Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.
Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I know I'm pretty much the last person in the YA blogosphere to read Eleanor & Park, so saying this is probably pointless, but if you haven't read it, you need to - it really is as amazing as everyone has said. It's so many things that I don't even know how to describe it: it's weird and awkward and beautiful and just perfect.

The description focuses a lot on the romance, but what I loved the most were Eleanor and Park as individual characters. Eleanor's story had me hooked right away: what she's been through and is still going through is so horrible, both with her family and with the bullying at school. The way that Eleanor describes what happens at her house is so subtle and honest, making it very realistic and even scarier. I wish we'd gotten to know more about the family's past, especially about Eleanor's relationship with her mother before she started dating Richie, and about Eleanor's father. But in a way I appreciated that this is just a snapshot from Eleanor's life. At first I didn't know if I would be able to relate to Eleanor, but I grew to care for her so much over the course of the novel: her vulnerability is so honest and so sad and I just wanted to get her out of this world and make everything right for her.

Park is a great character, too. His issues aren't as glaring and as in-your-face horrible as Eleanor's, but they're fascinating nonetheless. His family dynamics are really interesting: I loved reading about his issues with his dad, but also seeing how his parents step up and do the right thing when it matters most. Park is kind of an ass at first, but I still understood him, and I loved seeing his character growth over the course of the novel.

Then, of course, there's the romance. The way that their relationship develops is very subtle and unconventional. At first, I didn't know how to feel about it: in a way, it's cute, but it still bothered me that their fascination with each other begins way before they ever have a real conversation. Even once they're already together, they're relationship is based more on Park comforting Eleanor by means of distraction, rather than them actually talking about what is going on. This is something that would have ruined most fictional relationships for me, but somehow, it works in Eleanor & Park. Their connection seems real despite this lack of communication, and it makes it even better when Eleanor finally admits to Park what has been going on. I don't even want to call this a romance because Eleanor and Park's connection goes so much deeper than that. Their relationship is unlike any I've read about, and it's just so good.

I could see how some people might be disappointed by the ending, but I for one loved it. Yes, it's sad, but it fits the story. I love melancholy endings like this one, sad but also kin of hopeful, and I always appreciate when stories end in a realistic way rather than unnaturally happily. 

The only issue I have with this book is the cover. The idea is cute, but it really bothers me that Eleanor doesn't fit her description in the story. Cover-Eleanor is way too skinny and her hair is not crazy enough to be book-Eleanor, and I wish they hadn't mainstream-ized her like that. If this is what the cover designers did to her, I'm kind of scared to see what Hollywood will do to her in the movie version...

Like basically everyone else, I just loved this story so much. It's unique and depressing and hopeful and perfect. After this and Fangirl, I'm definitely a Rainbow Rowell fan, and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

Review: Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

Title: Being Sloane Jacobs
Author: Lauren Morrill
Publisher: Delacorte
Release date: January 7th 2014
Pages: 352
Genre: Young Adult contemporary
Source: Bought

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Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure-skater from Washington, D.C., who choked during junior nationals and isn’t sure she’s ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she’d give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.
Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player from Philly who’s been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she’s playing the worst she’s ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.
When the two Sloanes meet by chance in Montreal and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she’s the lucky one: no strangers to judge or laugh at Sloane Emily, no scouts expecting Sloane Devon to be a hero. But it didn’t occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie—and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It’s not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you’re someone else might be more difficult than being yourself.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I was really excited for this one - Being Sloane Jacobs sounded like such a cute read! And it did end up being cute. But... cute is about all Being Sloane Jacobs has going for it. The story is really cheesy, and the characters are not developed enough, so Being Sloane Jacobs turned out only okay for me.

The whole set-up is a stretch of reality. The two girls with the same name randomly run into each other on their way to their respective skating camps, which is fine. But they also have the same color hair and eyes and wear the same size clothes and shoes, which is where I think it just got too convenient. The fact that no one has seen them before at their camps - even though they're supposedly such great stars in what they're doing - didn't seem too realistic, either. I also don't get why they wanted to switch places at all - I understand their reasons, but they're not emphasized enough to justify doing something so risky.

I tried to ignore the unrealistic and cliched parts, though, and to just enjoy the story. Both stories have really good set-ups: they're unique and interesting. Despite all my other problems with the novel, you can't deny that it's fun. Being Sloane Jacobs reads really quickly and is entertaining throughout.

But despite enjoying it on this very basic level, I had issues with the characters and their development. Honestly, part of it is that I just couldn't tell the two Sloanes apart. With the same name, the voices would have had to be very distinct in order for me to differentiate, and sadly, they're not, and I had to keep reminding myself which one I was reading about. Most of the secondary characters are pretty unremarkable: they're very much the stereotypical types, with the cute guy, the enemy, and the friend roles that don't go much deeper than that.

Being Sloane Jacobs is a quick, cute, entertaining read, but it's lacking the depth and the dynamic character development that would have made me really love it. If you're just looking for a quick, fun read, give Being Sloane Jacobs a try - just don't expect anything more than that.

New Releases June 2014

New releases:

Vivian Divine Is Dead by Lauren Sabel: June 3rd 2014

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu: June 3rd 2014

Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern: June 3rd 2014

Wicked Games by Sean Olin: June 10th 2014

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters: June 10th 2014

My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal: June 10th 2014

Inland by Kat Rosenfield: June 12th 2014

The Merciless by Danielle Vega: June 12th 2014

Fan Art by Sarah Tregay: June 17th 2014

 #scandal by Sarah Ockler: June 17th 2014

17 First Kisses by Rachael Allen: June 17th 2014

The Things You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor: June 24th 2014

Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn: June 24th 2014

New in paperback:

Blind Spot by Laura Ellen: June 10th 2014

Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt: June 10th 2014

How (Not) To Find a Boyfriend by Allyson Valentine: June 12th 2014

The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die by April Henry: June 17th 2014

Which June releases are you most excited about?