Tamara Ireland Stone’s 2015 novel, Every Last Word, is a young adult story about a teenage girl, Samantha McAllister, as she navigates her life with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Samantha hides her OCD as she is afraid her friends will think she is crazy. 

On her first day of school she meets a girl named Caroline who calls her Sam. Samantha doesn’t often feel comfortable around her friends, but she instantly clicks with Caroline. Caroline then invites her to a private poetry club which makes Samantha instantly feel safe and comfortable.

At this secret club she meets many new friends and a boy named AJ. AJ doesn’t seem to like Samantha and she is inclined to find out why and, through that, she learns that she wants to become a better person. Samantha begins to spend more time with her friends in the Poet Club as she spends lunch two days a week with them. After learning what she did to AJ, she soon becomes closer with him and finds herself crushing on him but is unsure how he feels due to their history.

I rated this book five out of five stars. I really enjoyed this book and felt like it gave a really good insight into the mind of someone with OCD. Throughout the book Samantha deals with her OCD in many ways that can be very relatable to many teens experiencing the same thing. Going into the book, I was nervous that it would not provide accurate representation into the mind of an individual with OCD, but I was surprised and found that the disorder was represented amazingly. I would recommend this book to anyone dealing with OCD as it will make them feel heard and would also recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about how mental illnesses affect teenagers.