Review: Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

Say What You Will

By: Cammie McGovern

Pub. Date: June 3, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 352 pages

Source: Edelweiss

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

I received this galley in exchange for an honest review.

Say What You Will is one of those YA books that stand out from all the rest. The story was beautifully written, and the characters will always hold a place in my heart. Amy and Matthew are two of the most well written characters I have ever read about. The author did a fantastic job bringing these two, and their disorders to life.

Amy has cerebral palsy. She is a completely normal girl, with normal teenage girl thoughts, but she is trapped in her own body. She needs someone to help her change, feed her and go to the bathroom and since she can’t talk on her own, she uses a voice box to get her thoughts across. You can tell the author did so much research in getting her disorder correct. Being in Amy’s mind, you would forget that she even had a disorder, and that is what I loved about her. She was so insightful and in-tuned with everything. I hated how much her mom tried to control her and her life though. But you could tell the mom did everything to protect Amy. But that is what was so great about Amy, she didn’t want to be protected. She wanted to face life on her own.

Matthew has OCD. Since he refuses to seek any help for it, his thoughts and actions are getting worse and worse. It gets to the point that he believed everything he does or doesn’t do will have a consequence, and that consequence is usually the death of someone he cares about. Matthew is one of the sweetest and most caring individuals I have ever read about. It’s hard not to fall in love with him!

When Matthew and Amy become friends, it’s like fireworks! These two had the most amazing connection and one of the best ones I have read in YA. I loved that while each of them had their problems, they wanted nothing more than to help the other one get through their issues.

Cammie McGovern is truly a wonderful author. I can’t wait to read her other books and see what she comes up with next!