REVIEW: OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

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ghostpixie
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REVIEW: OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

Post by ghostpixie »

Let me preface this review by saying that if you want a fluffy, cutesy, maybe-a-little-bit-quirky romance, you need to look elsewhere. Seriously.

OCD Love Story, the debut novel of YA author Corey Ann Haydu, is not fluffy. It is not cutesy. And it’s not in the least bit quirky. It’s downright terrifying, if I’m being honest- but I’ll get to why in a moment.

Bea has OCD. Okay, so maybe she doesn’t know it at first- or at least, she doesn’t have a name for it yet. She pinches her thigh to keep the anxiety at bay. She has a serious fear of driving, because she’s convinced she’ll hurt someone, even if she goes only twenty-five miles per hour. And then there’s the note-taking.

Bea takes notes on everything. The backseat of her car is littered with notebooks, filled with clippings of conversations she’s overheard and articles about gruesome acts (car accidents, stabbings, the like), among other things. She doesn’t see much of a problem with this.

Bea also has a bit of a history with what can only truthfully be described as stalking. She’s not proud of it, of course- hell, the cover to OCD Love Story features the sentence “I will not stalk that boy” written over. And over. And over. But that’s not the easiest mantra to keep in mind, for Bea.

While this book is touted as a love story, I don’t feel that it’s so much of a love story as it is a fascinating look into the mind of someone who is, yes, severely mentally ill. There are “love story” components to the book, sure. Bea meets Beck. Girl meets boy. Yada yada yada. I didn’t much enjoy Bea’s relationship with Beck, though, truth be told. I felt it to be a bit forced. I was much more interested in Bea’s inner dialogue for the duration of this novel.

As someone who deals with her own anxiety and occasional mental turmoil, this book was a painfully honest glimpse into that sort of world, into that way of thinking. I wouldn’t recommend this book for the faint of heart, so to speak. As I said, if you want a fluffy, cutesy, quirky YA romance, you seriously need to look elsewhere. But if you’re willing to take the harrowing journey through the bowels of an OCD brain, then OCD Love Story is the book for you.

Rating: 4/5
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