This is an insightful YA novel about a teen with the form of OCD that is less obvious, and therefor more easily disguised, where a person is obsessed with disturbing thoughts. Sam insulates herself with the group of friends she grew up with, but unbeknownst to her, this exacerbates her problem, as these friends have a toxic influence. ( )

Where do I even begin? The happiness I felt when Sam found a place to belong and the heartbreak I felt when I found out Caroline wasn't real. I could honest picture Poet's Corner and it makes me really wish it was a real place. I love the way Tamara Stone does an amazing job at describing OCD. For most if not all of the book I felt as though I was Sam. I highly recommend!! ( )

4.5 Stars

CW: Teenager living with OCD, suicide off page of teenage girl 10 years prior, suicide note read

This book felt really precious and quite important. The writing was so engaging and so authentic that I honestly felt like I knew Sam/Samantha. Her pain felt raw and real and I desperately wanted her to grow in confidence and find her voice. I truly hope that there is a 'Poet's Corner' out there for everyone who needs a place to be themselves. It's such a powerful thing to speak your truth.

E iti noa ana nā te aroha
A small thing given with love ( )

it's just not good :( but since it's a really popular book I feel okay saying that it's really good comedic content and it's fun to laugh at ( )

I feel like this book is THE stereotypical contemporary YA novel. It hits just about every trope for a high school romance/coming-of-age sort of story and they aren't done in a particularly interesting or emotionally compelling way either. It was hard for me to get invested in it when most of the plot and character beats are so played out already.

As for the mental health angle, Sam's OCD seemed increasingly like an afterthought as the book progressed. There's no inherent problem with having a mentally ill protagonist without making the mental illness the main focus, but that's not really how it's handled here. Her OCD is talked up a lot. It's said to be severe and it seems in the book's description and in the opening that it will be a major issue for her. But despite this, it never really feels like it affects Sam significantly. It's easy to hide even from her hyperjudgmental mean-girl friends and the symptoms she does show aren't given much weight. Then at the end (view spoiler) With these two issues together it feels to me that the issue of mental illness was treated with kiddy gloves with a side of inspiration porn.

Speaking of topics that were treated too lightly, bullying comes up as an issue in this book as well. The bullying itself is portrayed as really nasty, but luckily we get to gloss right over all that to get to the insta-love, falling for a hot emo boy with a guitar cliché. While bullying had a severe impact on the victim in the past, its effect is squarely in the past, and the romantic relationship between bully and bullied is in no way affected by it. That, along with the fact that Sam hadn't reflected on her behavior or felt any remorse for being a bully until she got the hots for a boy she'd bullied (conveniently now conventionally attractive and without the stutter that had got him bullied in the first place), left a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall, the issue with this book is that it lacks emotional depth. I found it to be a cliché, but serviceable, popcorn book with some slightly uncomfortable undertones. ( )