Gypsy Reviews

I received an eARC from Simon Pulse via Edelweiss. Thank you!OCD Love Story took me by surprise, it’s not your typical contemporary romance, far from it. Many times during the story I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed for what Bea was doing and I did feel quite uncomfortable but it managed to work out. OCD Love Story is all about looking over our odd parts and loving people for who they are inside despite all those quirks. It’s about the challenging times of having to deal with mental illness and maintaining a friendship or relationship with someone who has one. OCD Love Story is unafraid of showing the complexities of dealing with mental illness and coming to terms about it.Bea has OCD but never knew it, she’s in therapy for an incident with her ex-boyfriend and the story starts out in a dance where there’s a blackout and Bea meets this guy called Beck who is having a panic attack in the midst of the blackout. Little does she know, when she starts attending group therapy, Beck is there too. Beck has OCD and needs to workout numerous times a day and wash his hands and himself constantly. He does everything in eights but he’s a sweet and endearing guy underneath it all.Bea however has started to listen in on one of her therapist’s clients who is a rock star and his wife. She starts recording down their appointments and what they say, following them back home and it starts to get a little creepy. Bea also can’t drive too fast, she’s constantly afraid that she’ll bump into someone and cause an accident. She doesn’t know that all these compulsions lead up to her therapist’s diagnosis that she has OCD.I liked Bea, her personality was one that struck me as unafraid and confident of herself and embracing what kind of person she is. I did feel that Bea was a little lonely at times but she had her best friend, Lisha which was great for her but as we progress through the book we see the strain Bea’s illness has on their friendship and how much weight Lisha carries on her back. Bea was pretty likable, I mentioned earlier I felt secondhand embarrassment for her throughout the book because all that stalking and awkward things she said sometimes was just yikes. I wasn’t however a big fan of her saying she liked it when Beck was having his compulsions and acting like he had OCD because she preferred this side of him. It seemed rather selfish of her to like that part of himself just so she could feel better about herself.Beck was really sweet, Bea and Beck’s relationship gave me warm and fuzzies and I enjoyed reading about them together. It seems just so adorable that two teenagers with OCD could get together and work through it together as a couple. I really liked how Beck was trying for Bea, he wanted to get better so they could have a normal healthy relationship and they helped to make each other better. They’re both not perfect but willing to look over these imperfections and love the person that they are underneath.I didn’t really like Lisha actually, the way she was quite temperamental at times and how Bea described Lisha made Lisha seem extremely lonely and had nothing to do except when Bea comes along. Slowly I seemed to understand that it is hard on Lisha too because she has very little in her life she can count on and she’s so afraid of losing Bea because Bea is her only friend. Being friends with Bea definitely put some strain on their relationship and I could see why Lisha had to do the things she did because sometimes it was all about Bea.OCD Love Story is incredibly raw and down-to-earth, it lets you see from another perspective and despite the awkwardness and the touchy subject, it reflects how simply a love story can be and the aftereffects of OCD not on the person affected but also everyone around them. I do recommend OCD Love Story because I really enjoyed it but do be prepared for the embarrassment you’re going to feel for Bea because it gets awkward… hahaVerdict: Check it out if you’re looking for something sweet and romantic!----------------------Very cute romance, definitely one of the more unique contemporary stories out there. Can be quite uncomfortable with what Bea's doing, constantly was feeling secondhand embarrassment for her. -- Full review to come