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Every Last Word

Tamara Ireland Stone (Goodreads Author)

4.25 · Rating details · 40,169 ratings · 5,222 reviews

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.

S ...more

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Hardcover, 358 pages

Published June 16th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

2015 Contemporary YA

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Jun 17, 2015 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it did not like it

This book is a saccharine sweet fairy tale version of a very real mental illness, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), as well as the very serious issue of bullying, without true emotional depth. It's the equivalent of ordering a black coffee at Starbucks, taking a sip, only to find out that you've been given a caramel mocha instead. It is unrealistic, it is a Disney-fied version of real life, complete with a happy ending.

Real life doesn't work that way. Mental illnesses don't work that way. I k This book is a saccharine sweet fairy tale version of a very real mental illness, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), as well as the very serious issue of bullying, without true emotional depth. It's the equivalent of ordering a black coffee at Starbucks, taking a sip, only to find out that you've been given a caramel mocha instead. It is unrealistic, it is a Disney-fied version of real life, complete with a happy ending.

Real life doesn't work that way. Mental illnesses don't work that way. I know very well it doesn't work that way because I've got it.

I have OCPD (obsessive-compulsive personality disorder). It's a lesser form of OCD. I don't obsessively count things, I don't get massive panic attacks, I don't get major anxiety attacks, but I know what it feels like to have your own mind turn on you at times. My mind is constantly racing at hyperspeed. I can't relax. It takes me 2 hours to fall asleep every night because I can't be at rest. Like the main character in this book, I have survived on very little sleep for a very, very long time. I'm constantly tired.

When something falls out of pattern in my day. When I don't get a certain machine at the gym. When I can't do this or that at a certain time. I do not get major panic attacks over them, but at the same time, things just feel wrong. Certain things, minor to others, will ruin my day. "Why can't you just use another machine?" It doesn't work like that.

Most often, if people ask, I just laugh it off, because honestly, I don't care. I feel like my OCD does make me a better person, in some ways. I know I work more efficiently than most, I know that my boss loves that part of my mind because it ensures I'm THE BEST EMPLOYEE EVER because I will not let anything slip through the cracks. I know that this part of my personality drives me towards knowledge because that, too, is an obsession. I'm not ashamed, but I still know how the character in this book feels, knowing you're not entirely normal, and hiding it from most people you know so that you won't be judged, because most people can and will judge anyone with a mental disorder.

I know I'm not my mental illness. I think I'm an awesome person. I'm smart, I'm funny, I'm pretty good looking for my age. But at the same time, there's a part of me that just constantly whispers "You're not normal. You'll never be normal." It takes a lot of effort go to through my day sometimes.

I know what OCD is, and for me, this book does not accurately portray it. As I mentioned before, this is a book published by Disney, and it is more for the dreamy Perks of a Wallflower crowd than anyone who truly wants to understand the depths behind this mental illness. This book is far too sweet, far too improbably, far too unrealistic.

The main character, Samantha, has OCD. She is a repetitive thinker. This feeling of obsession does not persist throughout the book, her mental illness only resurfaces occasionally. There is no feeling that she is constantly under the weight of this mental illness the way a real mental illness should be.

When I finally pulled into the driveway that evening, the last digit was resting on a six, so I backed out again and drove around the block a few times until the odometer stopped where it belonged. And now I have to do that every time I park.

Everything in life is perfect, pretty much, understanding mom, fantastic psychiatrist (not all psychiatrists are that awesome, I assure you), and she is a part of the popular "Mean Girls" at school. She hates them, but she fits in perfectly well with them, and she is perfectly able to disguise her OCD despite having been diagnosed with a severe form of it by the age of 10. I assure you, this is not true in real life. Nobody who has OCD can conceal it that well, particularly not a child. It is almost impossible that Samantha can fit in and disguise herself as normal to the most conceited, most judgmental, most observant group of girls on campus, girls who have known her since childhood.

And then there's the artificially sweet and improbable artsy-fartsy little Poetry Corner with whom she falls in when she tries to make some true friends, people who understand her, people who express their emotions through words and poetry and song. A private little club that nobody knows about. Gag me, really. Real life doesn't have this shit.

As I scan the room, taking in the slips of paper scattered around me, I think I catch Caroline and pixie-cut girl look at each other. “What is this place?” I ask again, hearing the amazement in my own voice.
Pixie Cut answers me. “We call it Poet’s Corner.”

Real life doesn't have friends with whom you can constantly click, with whom you immediately reveal your inner self.

This book not only deals with OCD, but with the issue of bullying, and it deals with it in a manner that feels completely false. The main character may not be a bully herself, but she does so out of peer pressure. Her group, the Mean Girls, have constantly taunted and made fun of others whom they deem inferior.

“A-A-A-Andrew…” to the tune of the Chia Pet jingle, and then she starts cracking up.

“How can you not remember Andrew? That kid stuttered so badly he couldn’t even say his name. We used to follow him around singing that song.…You have to remember this!”

Oh, God. I do. It’s all starting to come back to me, and when she sings that horrible song again, I can see Kaitlyn and me in our skirts and ponytails, trailing behind him on the playground while he covered his ears, tears streaming down his face, trying to run away from us. We never let him get far.

Bullying is a very, very serious issue, and this book does not give weight to it. It glosses over the fact that the character was a bully. It never truly delves into the mental process and the depths behind such an act. The main character feels bad about it, she feels a lot of remorse, but there is never any feeling of true emotion or sincerity upon her reflection into it.

There have been a lot of bullying stories in the news. There's so much that goes on in the mind of a person who tortures someone so much. This book should have portrayed the feeling of self-hate, of insecurity, of the darkness in the mind of the person who does the bullying. In my opinion, this book completely failed at it.

Again, this is a Disney-fied book about mental illnesses and bullying. I understand that the author does not have OCD, and she is doing her best to portray a mental illness. One does not have to have a mental disease to write about it, but a book about such serious issues should feel realistic and relatable to the reader, and particularly, one who suffers from it. This book failed to do that, for me. ...more

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Jun 01, 2015 Jesse (JesseTheReader) rated it liked it

(3.5)

This was a really nice read and I think it dealt with mental illness in a respectful way, but I did find it to be a bit inconsistent at times. For the most part I enjoyed it and I loved the poetry aspect of the story.

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Feb 15, 2015 C.G. Drews rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, contemporary, mental-illness, read-2018

FINALLY! A mental health book with excellent rep. I'm so...I'm so freaking emotional right now?! This was incredible and you could feel the realism, the love, and the respect on every page. It also totally highlights how having a mental illness can be devastating, but noooo it doesn't have to ruin your life. Your brain being different isn't crazy or broken or wrong and I just...

thankkkkk you to this book for existing. I feel like I've read so many crappy reps of mental illness lately it's just e ...more

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Sep 06, 2017 jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites

this book is sooo me. i loved it when i first read it a few years ago, and i love it even more now. down to every last word.

as someone with a psychology background, i have to praise TIS for her very real portrayal of OCD. i cant even begin to tell you how often people are misinformed about the disorder or how debilitating common misconceptions of OCD can be. i really admire how the story was inspired by someone close to TIS who has the disorder, because it makes its representation so personal an ...more

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Aug 31, 2014 Kassidy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-release, arcs, for-review

A very beautiful and touching story.

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Nov 09, 2014 Sophia rated it really liked it

i cried for nearly the entire last fifty pages and i can't even tell you why. it's not even sad?? this book is just really beautiful and very well done and so important. i need to go wipe my nose. ...more

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May 19, 2015 Jessica rated it it was amazing

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

What a beautiful book. . Definitely one of the best contemporary books I've read this year. Sam's story was so moving and my heart was honestly pounding towards the end. This book touches on some really serious topics like depression, anxiety, and mental disorders, but I thought that Tamara Ireland Stone did it beautifully. One of my favorite parts (which was a huge part) was the poetry in this book. This is the type of bo ...more

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Nov 16, 2019 Warda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Warda by: Nadhira Satria

Shelves: mental-health, i-fell-in-love

Books on mental health hit me in a way no other story does. It’s personal and intimate and I’m seen and understood in a way I want to be seen and understood.
It’s even better when these stories include therapy sessions and showcase the positive impact they can have. A good therapist can do that.

It’s made me want to read more books on mental health and become more of an advocate for it.

This particular story deals with OCD alongside anxiety. I didn’t know much about this book going into it and I ...more

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Aug 12, 2015 Laura Lovely rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-3

Oh my god. I actually have no words.

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Aug 02, 2019 demi. ♡ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-favorites, owned-physical

❥ 5 / 5 stars

These walls heard
me when no
one else could.

They gave my
words a home,
keep them safe.

Cheered, cried, listened.
Changed my life
for the better.

It wasn’t enough.
But they heard
every last word.

I’ll definitely recommend this book to my friends.

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Nov 15, 2014 April (Aprilius Maximus) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015, anxiety

Special thanks to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for this review copy!
This book was phenomenal. It was one of the best young adult contemporaries that I've read that deals with mental illness. The main character, Sam, has OCD which is an anxiety disorder. I suffer from an anxiety disorder too, so I really wanted to read this and see how I could connect with it and how well Tamara Ireland Stone portrayed it. I have to say, she did this fantastically. You really get a feel for what it's like to go ...more

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Jun 02, 2015 Emma Giordano rated it it was amazing

Here is my full, spoiler free review for this book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlekVG... it was absolutely amazing and I hope everyone gives this beautiful story a chance x

I received a free copy of this book from Disney Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. ...more

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Oct 07, 2013 Wendy Darling rated it liked it

Shelves: june, unreliable-narrator, read-2015, hyperion, young-adult, own-dtb-tbr, 2015-publication, realistic-fiction

Hm. Really interesting look at a teen with OCD. I'm not entirely sure everything the book tried to tackle actually worked--there's a lot going on here--but there is an interesting twist, and the story kept my interest overall.

More thinking required on this one.
...more

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Feb 20, 2016 Beverly rated it it was amazing

O.M.G. this book, I loved it, like legit loved it. It starts out odd, but I think that’s just because I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into, but once I got into it I fell in love!

“Everyone’s got something. Some people are just better actors than others.”

Samantha McAlister is one of the most popular girls in school, from the outside looking in her life is perfect. She is pretty, intelligent, and friends with the right people. No one knows she suffers from OCD, which is real a ...more

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Jan 02, 2019 Nadhira Satria rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, contemporary, trash-for-this, neurodivergent

Re read!!! Buddy read with Warda who I’ll tag soon when I’m on my laptop

OH WOW OH WOW THIS WAS AMAZING
YALL MY MENTAL ILLNESS IS BEING REPRESENTED BY THIS BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL BOOK. I have never relate so much to a book and I honestly just want to cry.
This book honestly has the best pure o rep I’ve ever read and I feel so represented like it’s such an amazing pure ocd rep. I can relate to Sam so much with her struggles with her pure O. The best part of this book is the fact that her ocd wasn’t c ...more

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Mar 10, 2015 Chelsea ❤Peril Please❤ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-favorite-covers, favorites, arc-netgalley, could-read-over-and-over-again, unforgettable-male-leads

FINALLLYYYYY on sale!!! Go buy it!!! NOOOW! Click HERE to purchase

If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Sometimes a book just calls to you. Sometimes it consumes your every waking thought until you can finally pick it up. Sometimes.....when you get an opportunity to read a book before anyone else you realize just how lucky you are, because you just knew from the moment you saw it that it was going to be special, perfect, just what you've been dying to read. That's exactly how I ...more

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Jan 28, 2016 Christy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-audios, 2016-ya-challenge

4 stars!

photo 023cd4b8-a0aa-40c8-badd-495d15cfbd95_zpstds94l30.jpg

4 stars for my 4th YA book of the year!

Every Last Word is a story about a teenage girl who is dealing with OCD. Samantha McAllister appears to be perfect on the outside, but inside she's a mess. She constantly worries about her friends finding out about her condition and the fact that she sees a psychiatrist. When Sam meets Caroline and gets introduced to the kids in Poet's Corner, everything changes for her. She finds herself coming out of her shell and embracing who she is.

Saman ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Sarah Elizabeth rated it liked it

Shelves: mental-health-problem, netgalley-edelweiss, r2r-read, read-2015, romance, contemporary, young-adult

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Disney Book Group and NetGalley.)

“My friends can’t know about my OCD or the debilitating, uncontrollable thoughts, because my friends are normal. And perfect. They pride themselves on normalcy and perfection, and they can’t ever find out how far I am from those two things.”

This was a YA story about a girl with OCD.

I felt quite sorry for Sam in this story, her friends obviously made her feel quite aw ...more

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Mar 01, 2016 Rachel Reads Ravenously rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-checkout, hardcover, ya-contemporary-romance, ghosts, young-adult

4 stars!

“If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.”

Every Last Word is the story of Sam, a teenage girl with a debilitating case of OCD. Not the kind like you and I think, where it's like people keeping things nice and neat, but one that messes with her sense of reality. One of the popular girls at school, she is forever in fear of her group of friends finding out her secret and ridiculing her for it.

One day she discovers a new group of people at school she never really noticed be ...more

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Mar 29, 2015 ✦❋Arianna✦❋ rated it liked it

3.5 Stars!!

I don’t know what I expected reading this book, but I expected something a little different. It wasn’t the best book I’ve read with this premise, but it wasn’t the worst either. Honestly I expected something more emotional and/or more moving. Needless to say the author failed (a little) to keep me truly invested in the story. It was a good story, like my rating says, but it could have been much better if it would have been longer.

“Every Last Word” is the story of Samantha ‘Sam’, a gi 3.5 Stars!!

I don’t know what I expected reading this book, but I expected something a little different. It wasn’t the best book I’ve read with this premise, but it wasn’t the worst either. Honestly I expected something more emotional and/or more moving. Needless to say the author failed (a little) to keep me truly invested in the story. It was a good story, like my rating says, but it could have been much better if it would have been longer.

“Every Last Word” is the story of Samantha ‘Sam’, a girl who’s a junior in high school. While she looks and apparently acts like all the other popular girls in her junior class, Samantha is nothing like them. She’s ‘different’, she knows it and all her life tried to hide it, to hide‘the truth’ about herself. Samantha has Purely-Obsessional OCD and all her life lied by omission to anyone who came across. She can’t turn off her thoughts and she can’t sleep without being drugged into it. She also sees a therapist. Her mind never stops working and what scares her the most is the fact that sometimes her thoughts are dark and disturbing. Samantha wants to belong, to be accepted, to be needed and wanted, she wants to be ‘normal’. She struggles every day to appear ‘normal’ in front of ‘the Eights’, her ‘friends’ and in front of everyone else.

Samantha becomes Sam when she meets a girl, Caroline, girl who will change her life forever. She finds out what Poet’s Corner is, she meets a boy who will make her a better human being and she will find who she truly is and what she truly wants to do with her life.

I don’t think I’ve read any book about a character with this mental illness –OCD, so I can’t say much about this aspect of the story, if it’s done well or not, compared with other books. But what I can say is that it was done in a respectful way. However, I expected to be more emotional invested since it’s about a mental illness. Maybe because I felt some aspects of the story were a little rushed and also because the story felt too short.

Samantha was a likeable character and I have to say I felt for her and her struggles felt real for the most part. I’m sure some readers will relate with her, even if she suffers from OCD, because let’s face it, many of us, if not all of us want to belong, to be ‘normal’ or ‘perfect’ or to be accepted. Even if she struggles with her mental illness, she is a strong heroine, determined to have a future like a ‘normal’ person, to win a scholarship, to go to college, to have something meaningful with a boy. Her character growth is well done and I liked very much the new Samantha, – Sam.

The cast of supporting character are fantastic, engaging and endearing. (I’m talking about Sam’s new friends) I loved Caroline. A lot! She was such a great friend. She’s sweet and funny, supportive, considerate and I loved how good she was for Sam. I loved their interactions and how much Sam learns from her new friend. And AJ...*swoon*. That’s right...he made me swoon. He was amazing. There was a moment when I wondered if he truly is as amazing as he seemed from the beginning. I’m glad he turn out to be what I hoped. He was sweet, considerate and so thoughtful. He was perfect for Sam and he was what she really needed. As for Sam’s friends ‘the Eights'...what can I say?! They were horrible.

There’s a very interesting twist in the story I never see it coming. Wow! Needless to say from that moment I had to know more.

An important aspect in this story is bullying. This aspect is not very developed, because this book it’s not about that, but the author reminds us how this kind of behavior can change someone.

Overall – an engaging read, with a likeable heroine, interesting storyline and great writing.
...more

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Feb 07, 2018 Aj the Ravenous Reader rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, physically-owned-books, somebody-s-sick, five-stars, mystery, unexpectedly-good, mental-health, emotionally-intense, young-adult

4.5 stars

Such an unexpected powerful and moving read. I’m still forcing these foreign lumps in my throat back in as I’m writing this review. I have read countless books on mental illness but I find this book very exceptional because of the constructive and encouraging way the author portrayed a teenage girl with OCD. I appreciate so much the relationship between Sam and her psychiatrist, even involving Sam’s mom in actually contributing with her therapy at home. I love that their talk therapy s 4.5 stars

Such an unexpected powerful and moving read. I’m still forcing these foreign lumps in my throat back in as I’m writing this review. I have read countless books on mental illness but I find this book very exceptional because of the constructive and encouraging way the author portrayed a teenage girl with OCD. I appreciate so much the relationship between Sam and her psychiatrist, even involving Sam’s mom in actually contributing with her therapy at home. I love that their talk therapy seems genuinely comforting and therapeutic.

“I’m not making you do anything. Whether or not you tell him is entirely up to you. I’m merely reminding you to embrace who you are and surround yourself with people who do the same.”

The story becomes even more interesting when Sam finds a great avenue to refocus her overactive brain and imagination and her anxiety over her relationship with her popular friends through Poetry Corner where she meets these awesome people and adorably, her love interest, AJ. (Love the choice of name). *winks*

I was enjoying the story so much at this point but then the turning point suddenly strikes out of nowhere leaving me completely stunned because I so, totally, completely did not see that coming. Goosebumps were everywhere as I started reconciling the earlier events of the story to the shocking revelation near the end. It was heartbreaking and groundbreaking at the same time and I love how Sue the therapist connects the dots to make the most logical explanation as to what Sam was experiencing.

I understand that somewhere along the way, the plot became a bit too unrealistic and failed quite a bit to address certain serious issues in the novel, but the important positive messages, wonderful, relatable, witty writing, its unexpected plot twists and surprises and the little beautiful pieces of poetry scattered throughout the novel made up of for the book's few shortcomings. Let me share one of my favorite poems:

“These walls heard
me when no
one else could.

They gave my
words a home,
kept them safe.

Cheered, cried, listened
Changed my life
for the better.

It wasn’t enough,
But they heard
every last word.” ...more

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Jul 01, 2015 grace rated it really liked it

4.5!! This was incredible and so unexpected. Go read this!!

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Jun 22, 2015 Charley Cook rated it really liked it

I think everyone who thinks it's okay to throw about the term 'OCD' when they talk about how they like a clean bedroom should read this book. YA fiction based around the reality of mental illness at its finest.
See my full video review here: https://youtu.be/36YPI1tqKGU ...more

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Jul 17, 2015 Andie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult, favorites

Just wow!! I love this book to pieces! Added to my top reads of 2015. I found so much of myself in Sam and I was sad when her story ended too soon. Everyone needs to grab a copy of this book! You'll be glad you did :) ...more

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Jan 05, 2015 Melanie rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, omg-the-cover-people, romance, books-i-own, contemporary, e-arc, not-bad-at-all, i-cried

See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads

3.5 stars

Every Last Word is one of those books that had me wanting to smash it into a pulp from page 1, but had me sniffling a bit during the last few chapters.

This story follows Sam, a girl dealing who was diagnosed with Purely Obsessional OCD (aka Pure-O) at the age of 11. While she may look perfectly fine on the outside, each day she is battling with the uncontrollable thoughts that consume her.

I wasn't quite sure I picked up the same book as everyone else See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads

3.5 stars

Every Last Word is one of those books that had me wanting to smash it into a pulp from page 1, but had me sniffling a bit during the last few chapters.

This story follows Sam, a girl dealing who was diagnosed with Purely Obsessional OCD (aka Pure-O) at the age of 11. While she may look perfectly fine on the outside, each day she is battling with the uncontrollable thoughts that consume her.

I wasn't quite sure I picked up the same book as everyone else when I was a few chapters into the novel. Why? Because most of my friends gave this book 4 or 5 stars and there was I, reading along thinking that this was one of the worst books I've ever read on mental illnesses. And the main reason of that was because I HATE Sam (the main character)'s so called friends. They're the 'popular' and 'I-think-I'm-prettier-than-all-of-you' girls at school and every girl hates them and every guy loves them. Yeah, that kinda group. Hellooo, high school social hierarchy. Anyway, Sam's friends pissed me off. Majorly. So much that I was ready to just give up on the book altogether. Within their little posse, the 'main girl', Alexis (of course that's her name <.<), has basically created her own social ladder amongst the 4 other girls she calls her best friends.

"Not Hailey. You." [Alexis] pokes my collarbone. And now I know precisely where I reside on her social ladder: Second rung from the bottom. Hailey occupies the last one, and as soon as she learns I'm invited to Alexis's birthday and she's not, she'll know it too.

I actually find it comical how stupidly shallow their friendship is. It's so fake and well, childish.

"You have no idea how sad I've been, Samantha. I felt horrible not asking you. Even though our moms weren't friends in preschool, you and I were best friends in kindergarten!"

In short, Alexis had to choose 2 of her 4 friends to go to the spa with because her mom only got 3 reservations, so Alexis decides to choose the two girls she was best friends with first. And, since all of them met each other at the same time, Alexis chooses the two girls whose mums were friends with first instead. WHAT. THE. FUCK. If I only got three reservations to the spa and had more than that many close friends, I'd ditch the spa and go someplace else because friends > going to some fancy pants spa.

Surprisingly enough, this book did a 180 spin soon later and progressively got better. Sure, Sam still had these hella annoying and fake friends, but I started to get over that because we see less of them the more involved Sam becomes with her new friends. I particularly love Caroline, who is just such a supportive friend and funky girl that wears the best t-shirts. She also suffers from depression, though I personally would have liked to look into that a little more (but I totally get why the author did not). (view spoiler)

In terms of the romance, I am really torn about it. AJ is really weary about Sam during the first half of this book because back in 4th grade, she and her 'friends' bullied AJ so bad that he feared his own name and had speech problems. If you know me, you know I love, love, LOVE the hate to love romance trope when executed correctly and well, this one just didn't give me the feels I was told I was gonna get. While I can see how AJ and Sam's relationship works, I just don't ship it hard.

I think Every Last Word is a very important novel to read. Sure, it's not too promising starting off, but by the end of the book, I can definitely say I knew a lot more about OCD than I started off with. It opened my eyes to see the whole spectrum of OCD - there isn't just one type and there are subcategories. I definitely recommend to read the acknowledgements for this book. I got a little teary just from that, and I love how much effort and dedication Stone took to make this story as genuine as possible. And she did a pretty damn good job, in the end.

~Thank you Disney Hyperion for the review copy!~

...more

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Oct 08, 2017 Maureen rated it really liked it

3.5/5 Stars

This was a really great book! I can’t totally speak for the mental illness representation (and I looked for a few reviews but didn’t find much), but it seemed very respectful and well done to me. It didn’t trivialize the issue, the main character had a very supportive family, and had a great therapist she visited regularly. All of those things are usual seen in a negative light so it was great to see them positively here.
The story was entertaining except for one *spoilery* aspect that ...more

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Jul 30, 2014 Sue (Hollywood News Source) rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult, high-school, diverse-books, alert-the-authorities-i-ship-it, netgallery-arc

These walls heard
me when no
one else could.

They gave my
words a home,
kept them safe.

Cheered, cried, listened.
Changed my life
for the better.

It wasn’t enough.
But they heard
Every last word.

This is a very surprising book. Look at the glowing reviews because the hype is real.

A lot of us frequently use “OCD” figuratively. Nowadays, “OCD” is synonymous to the word perfectionist, a person who likes things in order, or a person who is neat. We throw this word very lightly, but do we honestly know what it ...more

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Jun 28, 2017 Sara (sarawithoutanH) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

I really enjoyed this book. I don't normally enjoy contemporaries that take place in a high school setting but this felt different. I will admit that The writing style is fairly simplistic and the narrator often over explains things. But the main character is very endearing and I enjoyed her journey immensely. There was just something sweet about this book and I feel like it would be very helpful for teens struggling with mental health. It reinforces the message that everyone is different and th ...more

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Mar 26, 2015 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, own

www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com

I thought this was a damn good book. The ending really took me by surprise, I never saw that one coming, although I knew something seemed a bit weird.

Samantha has OCD since she was a child and is on medication for anxiety. Sam has hidden this fact from her so called friends all of her life. These girls that she grew up with were mean and she was always afraid to pull away from them.

Then one day she meets a really nice girl named Caroline. She takes Sam into www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com

I thought this was a damn good book. The ending really took me by surprise, I never saw that one coming, although I knew something seemed a bit weird.

Samantha has OCD since she was a child and is on medication for anxiety. Sam has hidden this fact from her so called friends all of her life. These girls that she grew up with were mean and she was always afraid to pull away from them.

Then one day she meets a really nice girl named Caroline. She takes Sam into a different world where the so called "misfits" of the school hang out. They are down in the basement of the school and have the coolest room set up in there. They tell poetry and just have really good times together. The walls of the room are covered in poetry where you glue it up when you are done reading it.

Sam meets a boy named Aj through this group, he doesn't want her there when she first shows up. It turns out she did some horrible things to Aj when he was young along with her jerk friends. But, she writes a beautiful poem telling about her sorrow for the things she did and how ashamed she feels for being that person. Aj starts to come around and they form a beautiful friendship.

Meeting these new people is helping Sam with her OCD, she feels more calm. This doesn't heal her, but it helps her cope. When your around relaxed, nice people you tend to feel that way yourself. And Sam is starting to pull away from the group she is in... yay!

Aj and Sam begin a slow romance together that blooms in about the middle of the book. I think it was wonderful how they bonded and felt serene around each other. Sam has to decide if she's going to share her secret with Sam. Will he leave her because of her OCD? What do you think? I think you should read the book :)

Kudos to the author for mentioning some things about OCD at the end of the book. It's hard for people to understand anyone with different kinds of mental disorders. And if you don't understand it, don't make fun of it, don't think they are weird, don't think you are better, in fact... keep your trap shut unless you have something nice to say!

Fin

...more

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Jul 30, 2016 Norah Una Sumner rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star-read, great-male-characters, loss, contemporary, psychology, young-adult, 2016, romance

Really loved reading this book. If you liked Made You Up, which is one of my favourite YA books, you're probably going to like this one as well. And vice-versa.

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I absolutely devoured this book. Poet's Corner, Sam's development as a human being, the hidden connection between her and AJ, Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist, Caroline... every aspect of this book was extremely interesting and it's just impossible not to be on the edge of your seat when that final revelation comes. It hit me out o ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Mental Health Boo...: January fiction- OCD: Every Last Word	7	73	Jan 31, 2020 08:32PM
Favorite character and why?	7	68	Jun 02, 2019 12:45PM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. A book about a high school girl with mental issues. Spoilers ahead. [s]	3	37	Mar 27, 2019 05:22PM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone - Restarting August 19th 2018	57	177	Aug 08, 2018 01:20AM

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About Tamara Ireland Stone

Tamara Ireland Stone

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TAMARA IRELAND STONE spent nearly two decades in the technology industry before she began writing middle grade and young adult fiction. She feels lucky to say she's had two careers she's loved.

Her New York Times bestseller, EVERY LAST WORD, won the Cybils Young Adult Fiction Award, the Georgia Peach Book Award, and was a YALSA Teens' Top Ten pick; LITTLE DO WE KNOW won the NCIBA Golden Poppy Award ...more