In this fall season, it is the perfect time of year to grab a book, curl up in a blanket, and read. With the leaves changing, the weather growing colder, and the holidays just around the corner, autumn is a time for relaxation. What better way to do this than to check out Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone.

The novel follows Samantha McAllister, a junior in high school who seemingly has it all. She’s got the grades, the looks; even the friends nicknamed the ‘Crazy Eights’. Her life on the outside looks perfect. However, this is far from the truth. Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD, a disorder that takes her thoughts and turns them violent or delusional. Her mind is overwhelmed with upsetting thoughts she can’t seem to shake and worries that follow her everywhere. This of course makes Sam feel like she is living a lie. Her family members are the only ones who know her secret.

Just when Sam feels like life cannot get any worse, she finds a silver lining in the form of a new friend. Caroline Madsen is a girl who doesn’t care about anyone else’s opinions and lives her life with no regrets. Caroline introduces Sam to a new world of Poet’s Corner, a place for outcasts to voice their feelings through writing. With this new outlet, Sam starts to feel more human than alien. But with the Crazy Eights pressuring her to be perfect and her newfound love of poetry threatening to expose her, will Sam ever figure out who she really is? Will she finally get to be that normal girl that she has always wanted to be?

This is on my list of top favorite books. I believe that Every Last Word is written with so much truth and the novel itself has no problem showing its reader how scary the mind can be sometimes.

As almost all teens occasionally struggle through life, sometimes agonizing over decisions and past actions, it’s relatable, even for kids who don’t even have OCD. The author does an amazing job of making you feel like you aren’t alone.Yes, some critics might say that it is ‘just another teen novel’, but this book is far from romance and clichés. Real life problems are being examined and after reading, my eyes were definitely opened as to what people with mental disorders go through on a daily basis; more importantly, how they refuse to let it define them. Sam, for example is obsessed with doing daily things in threes. She can’t get out of her car

without the odometer being on the number three or she has to scratch the back of her neck three times when she gets anxious. She has to constantly tell herself that she isn’t a freak just because her mind works a little differently than most. These thoughts and actions of hers keep Sam from living the life she wants. In my opinion, the best part about this book is how Sam chooses to deal with her demons along with the fact that the journey to a better life isn’t actually all that pretty.

Another factor that makes this book worthwhile would be the vast difference in characters. Sam has two sets of friends in the novel. She has the ‘Crazy Eights’ who are superficial and rude to those they find unworthy and she also has her Poet’s Corner friends, who care about more than what meets the eye; the people that make Sam feel like she’s found a home for herself and her disability.

It is interesting to see the author bounce back and forth between the two completely different groups. It forces us as readers to recognize what is right and what is easy. Sam battles with this many times throughout the novel.

The one character that stands out the most, who helps Sam truly understand that doing what is right will always outweigh the easy is Andrew ‘AJ’ Olsen. AJ plays Sam’s love interest/friend that she meets in Poet’s Corner, AJ has had some tough times as well, but those things never stopped him from living the life he deserved. This strikes a nerve in Sam because she tries to emulate that.

AJ is kind, artistic, loyal to his friends and family, he speaks his mind, he has a great judge of character, and he has many other qualities that make him so loveable. No wonder why the characters in the book are so drawn to him. Most of all, he’s one of many who shows Sam her way to becoming someone she wouldn’t mind being.

Every Last Word is a novel full of laughs, plot twists, tears, and more. It’s a novel that makes you think twice about people and the secrets they may be embarrassed to share with others. Every Last Word puts this fact up on display and sends the message that we should help when it’s needed. If you identify with Sam’s friends in Poet’s Corner, take away the message that anybody, no matter how put together they seem could always use a home. If you identify with Sam, be sure to take away the message that your life is strictly your own and you are free to live it however you choose, regardless of others around you.