Item: Unlikely Hero of Room 13b
Rating: 5.00
Author: elvinagb

by Teresa Toten

Two-time Governor General's Award nominee Teresa Toten is back with a compulsively readable new book for teens!

When Adam meets Robyn at a support group for kids coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he is drawn to her almost before he can take a breath. He's determined to protect and defend her--to play Batman to her Robyn--whatever the cost. But when you're fourteen and the everyday problems of dealing with divorced parents and step-siblings are supplemented by the challenges of OCD, it's hard to imagine yourself falling in love. How can you have a "normal" relationship when your life is so fraught with problems? And that's not even to mention the small matter of those threatening letters Adam's mother has started to receive . . .

Teresa Toten sets some tough and topical issues against the backdrop of a traditional whodunit in this engaging new novel that readers will find hard to put down.

Adam is not only dealing with being 14, his divorced parents and his very needy younger half brother Sweetie, he is also trying to cope with his OCD. He sees a therapist and attends a weekly group sessions with other teen OCD sufferers.
But it all changes when a new group member, Robyn, steals his heart and sets his OCD off on some new levels and the lies mount up. And his not so well mother is now hoarding to dangerous levels and is getting some very threatening hate mail.
This book really helped get into the mind of a person living and trying to cope with his OCD (the counting, the rituals to deal with everyday life) and just how out of control things can get and what therapy and drugs in balance can do to help. I love that Adam has friends and family that love him so unconditionally even when he thinks he's alone and that he eventually realizes that he doesn't have to be afraid to ask for help.

Unlikely Hero of Room 13b

by Teresa Toten

Reviewed by elvinagb on Sep 2, 2013

Reading updates