Love Sick by Jake Coburn

Ted had it all in high school. He had the popularity and a full-ride scholarship to college for playing basketball.

That was before he drove drunk and smashed his knee.

He is a recovering alcoholic. Instead of going to college now, he is living with his parents, working a crappy job, and going to AA meetings to resist drinking again, because it already messed up his life once.

But then Ted gets a random opportunity...

Erica is going to college. She wants to get away from her dad and stepmother. And she wants to have more ways to binge.

She's bulimic - she deliberately goes out, buys sweet food, like donuts, eats as many as she can in a limited time, then makes herself throw up.

Her dad knows about this after she collapsed at a 4th of July outing.

So now, Erica's dad is giving Ted the chance to go to school, all expenses paid for, if he will just keep an eye on Erica.

Ted's not sure what to say. He doesn't want to pass up the opportunity to go to school for free, so he says yes.

And he meets Erica. They don't talk too much at first, but then secrets start leaking out and they get to know each other better.

But Ted has this horrible secret looming around them. He can't face Erica knowing that he's keeping the biggest omission of all. Will he confess to Erica? Will he leave when the secret too much? Because one thing's for sure: he didn't mean to fall in love with the girl he was supposed to be spying on. Read Love Sick by Jake Coburn to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a random book that I picked up from the used book store, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

These two topics are not easy to talk about. They are real life situations that people go through everyday, and I think Coburn portrayed the process very well.

Also, at the beginning, Coburn stated that he talked to Erica and Ted about writing this novel, so it's a true story. Sure, the names and schools, etc. are different, but this really occurred in the past and I think that hits home just as much as the topics presented in this book.

The format of this book was interesting. It was split into months, no chapters, and we got both Ted and Erica's point of view, along with reading the emails sent between Ted and his "bosses" about Erica, while also reading Erica's conversations with her shrink through online chess games.

I think this could be a good book for older teens, or any teen going through a horrible time with their health. It is very descriptive on how Erica binges, so I'm not sure if it's suitable for all readers, but I think it could be worth reading for those finding them in situations where they know they need help.

Again, a surprise from a random purchase. I love it when that happens!