A teenage girl realizes that her obsessive-compulsive disorder is limiting her dating potential in this absorbing, offbeat debut.
Bea knows she has some odd tendencies. When it comes to the people she loves, she can't help herself from constantly checking in on them, making lists about their lives and avoiding sharp objects so she doesn't accidentally hurt them. But that doesn't mean she has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, does it? After being accused of stalking her ex-boyfriend, Bea starts seeing Dr. Pat and reluctantly attending group therapy. At first, Bea is convinced that she "should be in a group of nice girls with tiny problems and pretty hair," instead of this motley group of self-mutilating kids. But Bea's tics grow as she becomes romantically involved with Beck, a kind, compulsive hand washer, and tries to hide her latest obsession with a married couple. Can Bea tame her OCD and find true love? Or will her anxieties always prevent her from realizing that "tiny pocket of possibility that there could be a day when I could do things the way other people do them."
Bea is an engaging and empathetic character with a vibrant, first-person voice. Her litany of repetitive thoughts and difficulty in managing them provide readers with a strong sense of what it must feel like to be trapped by compulsions. This unexpected, yet utterly realistic twist on traditional teen courtship will be appealing to those burned out on paranormal romance. --Jennifer Hubert Swan, middle school librarian and Library Department chair at Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School