Every Last Word - Tamara Ireland Stone

Goodreads summary:

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. 

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.


My review:

5/5

I really, really, really liked this novel. It completely sucked me in. Wow.

I didn't know much about OCD before reading this book. Sure, my dad and me have a coupel of OCD-like habits, but it's not like we're ever going to need medication about it, because it's not OCD, it's just quirks. When I started reading about Sam, I found it really hard to imagine living like her and having such a mind. I think it's the first thing that really drew me to the story, because I wanted to know more about how she deals with everything. With her talks with her mom and her psychiatrist, I felt like I could see her evolve and understand her better. I think the author did a really good job with that. 

I really liked how Sam distanced herself from her friends, because she realized she would be better without them, but then she realized she didn't have to stop being their friend altogether. Even thought their friendship is evidently not the way it used to be, they can still be good together and I feel like it would've been too much if their friendship had been completely ruined by it. I think realizing that about her friends made Sam grow a lot as a person and with her OCD. 

I absolutely loved Poet's Corner. I thought it was so intimate, relaxing and interesting that I immediately wished there had been such a place at my school. I liked how no one judges in there, how you can read something if you feel like it, but you're never pressured and how everyone seemed to be comfortable with each other. I read the poems and songs out loud, just like they do, and it brought them to life, making me feel like I was in Poet's Corner, too. 

Andrew is such a sweet character. I enjoyed seeing the differences he made in Sam's character, even though he's clearly not the only reason why she evolved. Their relationship is adorable and I loved seeing them interact with each other. I'm glad it was done realistically, especially since he didn't magically "cure" her, like relationships do in unrealistic novels. It was clear to me that everything, from going to the pool to making new friends, helped Sam with her OCD.

I really wasn't expecting what happened at the end. I was confused, hurt and I even felt betrayed, because it was such a big plot twist. I really liked it, though. I think it turned this novel into a much different one, deeper than what it looked like at first, but I like being surprised. I found it hard to read about such a thing, though, especially since I had found no warning sign. 

I absolutely loved this novel and I would recommend it to every living person. In fact, I've already talked about it to so many people that it's hard to believe it's only been a couple of days since I read it. Seriously, go read it.

A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin

Goodreads summary:

Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.  


My review:

5/5

This book is huge, but I absolutely loved it. It's totally worth the hours I spent reading it.

From the beginning, I fell in love with the world of this series. It's so complicated, with different houses and particular weather for all parts of the country. I was intrigued by the customs, the religions and the way they rule the country, even though it took me a while to understand everything. Some things about this world made me really want to live in it, while others made me happy I wasn't actually living in it. The author is crazy to have thought of all about this world, and I'm so glad he did.

I really liked the different chapters about someone in particular. The complexity of each family made me want to know more about them, even when it's not positive. I found it hard to believe that Daenerys lived in the same world as the other characters, since her part of the world is so incredibly different from the others, but I really liked seeing other people's opinion of her, no matter how bad it is. It made everything more natural and realistic, which I really liked.

I have to admit it, there are characters I don't remember the names of. Most of them aren't important characters, so it didn't make my reading experience too hard, but you need an impressive memory to remember all the characters in this book, because there are a lot of them. However, I loved the main characters (except for the horrible ones). The Stark are amazing, especially Arya and Jon (yes, I consider him a Stark), some of my favorite characters. I loved their wildness, which was refreshing compared to everyone else's politeness. I might be a nerd, but I also loved seeing how everything was ruled, mostly by the Starks, because I feel like they're the ones who we get to see rule the most. I found the discussions really interesting and the battles stressful, which made me want to read even more of this book. Weird enough, the character I identify to the most is Daenerys, because there are many things in this book that I would've done exactly like her. I do wish I could be Stark, though. I love them (although Sansa was annoying for the biggest part of this book). Tyrion cracked me up many times, which I loved when I was stressed about the events.

I really liked seeing a different kind of drama, because I really a lot of YA books where drama is all about boys and bad friendships. The drama in this book is about war, murder and bastards (the latter isn't much different to YA though, but I liked it much better), which is refreshing and very complicated, too. I found myself dreading some events, but impatient for others to come, which made me keep on reading for as long as I could whenever I picked this book up.

Seriously, I loved everything about this book, except maybe how long it took me to finish it. I'm incredibly excited to watch the TV show now, which I'll start as soon as possible. I really recommend this book!