Rather than alluding to them, he says them up front: the reader is inside Erica’s head as she binges and purges, seeing her thought process and the euphoria she experiences throughout. Through a mix of narrative and e-mail correspondence between characters, readers are taken on the emotional roller coaster that is addiction, and does not shy away from controversial issues like alcoholism and bulimia. Their paths cross when Erica’s father offers Ted the opportunity of a lifetime: keep an eye on Erica and have your college tuition paid for. old.Ted is a former basketball player whose life was turned upside down when he lost his college scholarship, and Erica is a bulimic girl from a wealthy family, determined to go to college despite her father unease about her moving out. For this reason, the book is not recommended for teens under 14 yrs. While these topics are interesting to many teens, the dialogue may not be appropriate for younger teens. He successfully tackles the important issues of teen alcoholism and bulima. I found this book to be a fast paced and intense narrative. Although the novel tackles these serious teen issues, the writing style of the novel was easy to read and moved along quickly. The tone of the novel is fast paced, serious, and intense. They struggle to trust others and both experience a long road when it comes to addiction recovery. Both Ted and Erica are mature and aware of their faults. Jake Coburn weaves a story that addresses the serious themes of teen alchoholism and bulima. Faced with the truth, Erica, who has her own money, finally, decides to get better herself. He tells Erica the truth of what is going on and her father’s perfectly laid scheme falls apart. He has second thoughts and decides to leave. Eventually, Ted starts to drink again and Erica calls him a hypocrite. Ted’s loyalty is divided between Erica, who he loves, and her father, who is paying Ted.

While this start off as an easy job, Ted doesn’t bank on falling in love with Erica. The catch is that Ted has to babysit the man’s bulimic daughter, Erica. All is not lost when Ted is offered a propostition by a man. This ends up blowing his scholarship to college. In this book, Ted crashes his truck when he is drunk. Also, the word “Lovesick” is written in red in an intriguing way. The cover art would appeal to teens because of the forlorn girl looking in the mirror. Published: Dutton Books, New York, 2005, 228 pages

LoveSick by Jake Coburn