Reviews with content warning for Death - Every Last Word

I am a 21 year old adult with diagnosed OCD. I know that every case of OCD is different, but I have had a lot of experience.
I am reading this seven years after it was published, having a lot more knowledge about diversity and mental health issues than most people had in 2015.
I know this is a YA book.

I went into this expecting a story that was pretty emotional and real (at least in the realm of YA books). By the end, I was so frustrated at the lack of any depth for some of the characters.

Sydney, a "plus-size" girl, writes all of her poetry on fast-food wrappers (and guess what, almost all of it is about food). Beyond food, we know her for being nice.
Jessica, "the African American girl with long black braids," is the only character in the book described to be any race other than White. We know nothing about her other than she's really confident, has a "booming voice," and "waves her arms animatedly" while telling a story. This feels like a microaggression..
Pretty much every man in this story who isn't over the age of 21 (with the exception of one of the Poets) is described as "sexy." Literally the word "sexy." It was painful.
First half of book spoiler
AJ was relentlessly bullied by the Crazy Eights for having a stutter. Of course, his stutter fixed itself before Sam started thinking he was attractive...

Now, onto the OCD things.

This is a nitpick, but the odometer reading thing was so stupid. I looked it up, and 62% of students in California (where I'm assuming this takes place because of multiple buildings and outdoor lunches) live within TWO MILES of their school. And you're trying to tell me she drives around the school parking lot until the full trip took 10 miles??? What is that?
Obsessing over conversations and others' perception of you was pretty accurately portrayed here. Frequently seeking reassurance, thoughts snowballing until you can't stop them, all good.
I don't really understand the weird romantic zone-outs she has with her swim coach and then AJ. Is this supposed to be a part of her OCD? In some ways, it's written like it is, but also there's no frustration or other consequences that come from it.
End of book spoiler
While I'm happy for Sam and glad that getting good friends has helped relax her OCD, but it very much felt like her psychiatrist was like, "What if you stop obsessing over the number 3?" and then poof everything is fine.
The only time we see Sam's OCD have any directly negative effects on her is during the very first scene. The things she does out of her obsessive thoughts and treated more like inconveniences than sources of frustration and anger. Even when she stops taking her sleeping medication, nothing bad happens because of it. This made her disorder feel more like a character quirk than a debilitating mental illness.

Overall, yikes. Don't give this to any young, impressionable minds.

Content Warnings

sydneyluxford's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Never has a book EVER shocked me like this one just did. Lord, that plot twist I did not expect at all. I read it so many times because I thought my brain was playing tricks me with me.

Caroline 🙁🙁🙁🙁.

I felt like I was in this book as the story progressed; it felt so realistic. I can’t comment on the accuracy of how Tamara Ireland Stone portrayed OCD, but you can tell that lots of research went into it and she knew what she was writing.

Man, I want Poet’s Corner to be real SO BAD. My friends and I would literally never leave. It’s such a cute concept.

AJ has been added to my list of blond guys that I like (there’s only two). This man was so fine, I can’t even put it into words. When he taught Sam how to play the guitar 🥲🥲🥲. When is it my turn??????

The way I SOBBED at the end of the book ain’t right.

Content Warnings

tgndcy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

brookey8888's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The first half of this was slow. Also I didn’t know it was about poetry and I kind of didn’t like those parts. It did pick up towards the end. I really enjoyed learning more about OCD because I honestly don’t know much about it. I liked Sam as a character and how she grew. Now there’s this twist which I saw coming from a mile away(which I feel like we were supposed to idk). This was emotional towards the end, I teared up.

Content Warnings