In EVERY LAST WORD by Tamara Ireland Stone, Sam is a young woman with Purely-Obsessional OCD. She is fixated on the number three and often must do things in threes, like scratch her neck three times. Sam has been able to keep her OCD hidden from her best friends, a popular group of girls called the “crazy eights,” through medication and weekly therapy sessions.  She is nervous about what might happen if her perfect friends discover that she is not perfect.

However, Sam’s life begins to change when she is lead to the Poet’s Corner, a secret small group of people who gather in a hidden room under the theater stage twice a week at lunch to share their poetry and songs. Sam begins to feel more like herself in this space than she does with the “crazy eights,” and she begins writing and sharing her poetry.

"EVERY LAST WORD isn’t about OCD. Rather, it is about a main character who happens to have OCD."

One of the strengths of EVERY LAST WORD is Sam’s multidimensionality. She is involved in a lot of activities, including competitive swimming. Each is important to her, but she doesn’t focus on any one thing too much. The same can be said for her OCD --- it’s a part of her, but just one part out of many. Stone also does a great job of slipping in a realistic, but not overwhelming, romance. Not only does it not solve all of Sam’s problems, but it actually causes some new ones --- Sam has to decide whether or not to tell the “crazy eights” about AJ, who they wouldn’t ordinarily accept.

EVERY LAST WORD has an interesting twist to it towards the end. I didn’t see it coming and it made the story more interesting, but I wonder if it is consistent with Sam’s Purely-Obsessional OCD.

EVERY LAST WORD isn’t about OCD. Rather, it is about a main character who happens to have OCD, which, in my opinion, is just how it should be.