LOVESICK
Jake Coburn
Speak/Penguin Young Readers Group
Fiction
ISBN-10: 0142408026
ISBN-13: 9780142408025
240 pages

Jake Coburn starts LOVESICK with a teaser: he writes as if the characters told him their real story. Certainly the story of two addicts trying to survive in college could be true, but it is unique in that Ted is hired by Erica's father to watch her at college. She has bulimia and her super-rich dad wants to be sure she is healthy in her dorm. Ted has his own demons to face in that he is a former basketball star whose scholarship was yanked after a drunk driving accident left him with a metal knee. The "scholarship" from Erica's father seems like a second chance.

As he watches Erica between AA meetings, Ted finds himself drawn to her. They begin running into each other at night when they can't sleep. Soon he starts trusting her with his issues and he wants her to trust him, but ultimately he knows that his secret will divide them if she ever finds out.

In the meantime, Michael, an employee of Erica's father, keeps very close tabs on both Ted and Erica by reading their email and checking their phone and ATM records. The more Ted gets to know her, the more he keeps their friendship from Michael and Erica's father. But it is only a matter of time before all is known --- to everyone.

Slow but intense, LOVESICK follows the daily story of two people's struggles to trust others --- and themselves --- as they recover from their addictions.
   
--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

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