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Lovesick
Ted’s drunk-driving accident has ruined his life. it cost him his basketball scholarship, ended his plans for college, and forced him into AA. but just when ted has resigned himself to his new life, Michael appears. the wealthy father of a bulimic Manhattan rich girl has a tempting proposition. He has agreed to pay for ted’s college tuition, but there’s one catch. ted has to secretly keep tabs on his benefactor’s daughter, erica. A seemingly simple task, with only one minor problem: ted never expected to fall in love.
228 pages, Paperback
First published September 22, 2005
82 people are currently reading
2260 people want to read
About the author
Jake Coburn
6 books33 followersJake Coburn was born in New York City in 1978. He grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and attended several different prep schools. In 2000, he graduated from Brown University magna cum laude with a degree in Modern Culture and Media.
Jake’s first novel, Prep (Dutton, 2003), is based on his teenage years, where he witnessed New York’s privileged offspring form some of the city’s most vicious street gangs. Prep was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and a Junior Library Guild selection, and is currently being made into a movie by Paramount-MTV Films and Benderspink.
While Prep has drawn critical comparisons to S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, it is Jake’s unique writing style that has captured reviewers. Booklist writes, “The staccato rhythm of Coburn's prose is the best part of this tale of Manhattan prep-school gangsters . . . Realistic, slang-filled dialogue and short, crisp narrative passages create a minimalist world of frenetic gang warfare, substance abuse, and wild parties that become nightmares.” School Library Journal writes, “Coburn's brief sentences and often-raw gang slang create a cadence and reflect the movement of the novel through four suspenseful days.”
Jake’s second novel, LoveSick (Dutton, Sept. 2005), also named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, is based on his college years and his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Jake writes, “When I started LoveSick, I wanted to write a love story about two teenagers trying to survive addiction, loneliness, and their freshman year of college.”
Praised as a “classic love story” by Amy Gray (SpyGirl) and a “must read” by Koren Zailckas (Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood), LoveSick impressed reviewers with its unflinching look at self-destructive teens. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “Coburn's wrenching descriptions of Ted and Erica's mindsets in the throes of their addictions make for the book's strongest moments;” Booklist declares, “Coburn’s writing skill is evident in his almost sensual descriptions of Erica’s bingeing rituals;” and The Bulletin states that “[Ted’s] struggle to stay sober in college will make readers long to reach into the pages and befriend this lonely and troubled guy.”
Jake is repped by Elaine Markson at Elaine Markson Literary Agency, Ted Miller at CAA, and Dave Brown at Benderspink.
Jake currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and can be reached at jakecoburnweb@yahoo.com.
Jake’s first novel, Prep (Dutton, 2003), is based on his teenage years, where he witnessed New York’s privileged offspring form some of the city’s most vicious street gangs. Prep was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and a Junior Library Guild selection, and is currently being made into a movie by Paramount-MTV Films and Benderspink.
While Prep has drawn critical comparisons to S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, it is Jake’s unique writing style that has captured reviewers. Booklist writes, “The staccato rhythm of Coburn's prose is the best part of this tale of Manhattan prep-school gangsters . . . Realistic, slang-filled dialogue and short, crisp narrative passages create a minimalist world of frenetic gang warfare, substance abuse, and wild parties that become nightmares.” School Library Journal writes, “Coburn's brief sentences and often-raw gang slang create a cadence and reflect the movement of the novel through four suspenseful days.”
Jake’s second novel, LoveSick (Dutton, Sept. 2005), also named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, is based on his college years and his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Jake writes, “When I started LoveSick, I wanted to write a love story about two teenagers trying to survive addiction, loneliness, and their freshman year of college.”
Praised as a “classic love story” by Amy Gray (SpyGirl) and a “must read” by Koren Zailckas (Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood), LoveSick impressed reviewers with its unflinching look at self-destructive teens. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “Coburn's wrenching descriptions of Ted and Erica's mindsets in the throes of their addictions make for the book's strongest moments;” Booklist declares, “Coburn’s writing skill is evident in his almost sensual descriptions of Erica’s bingeing rituals;” and The Bulletin states that “[Ted’s] struggle to stay sober in college will make readers long to reach into the pages and befriend this lonely and troubled guy.”
Jake is repped by Elaine Markson at Elaine Markson Literary Agency, Ted Miller at CAA, and Dave Brown at Benderspink.
Jake currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and can be reached at jakecoburnweb@yahoo.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews
January 28, 2010
Yuck. The premise of the book is unbelievable: a millionaire "hires" a young man, who has messed up his life by his alcoholism, to trail his bulimic daughter. The young man, predictably, falls in love with the girl, and chaos results. The explicit sex and prevalent bad language really marred the story for me. Not recommended for anyone.
January 1, 2009
This is probably one of the worst- no scratch that, the worst book EVER!!! I didnt get it at all, and it was sooooooooooooo stupid...I couldnt even finish it. The summary on the back of the book made it sound so interesting but when I read it, i was like WOW, that was horrible.
December 7, 2014
Well, at first I was liking the characters and everything was fine. And then it went from mostly feasible to completely insane in a second. The ending felt so rushed and I would've liked a more drawn out "courtship". When Ted is in the hospital, I was surprised that James showed up because I was given no indication that they were that close of friends.. in fact, several times Ted admits to having no friends beyond Erica.. but he still has one willing to loan him a car free of charge and to visit him in a different city in the hospital. Weird.
Honestly, this didn't work as a love story. They never seemed in love, especially at the end.. I couldn't imagine them as anything more than friends with a crazy story they can share. There was no chemistry, at least I thought so.
Before reading this, I had two different expectations: that this will be awful, according to the comments on here & that it's great, according to the girl I bought this from. I say it was fast-paced, read easily for the most part, but ultimately I didn't care for it.
Honestly, this didn't work as a love story. They never seemed in love, especially at the end.. I couldn't imagine them as anything more than friends with a crazy story they can share. There was no chemistry, at least I thought so.
Before reading this, I had two different expectations: that this will be awful, according to the comments on here & that it's great, according to the girl I bought this from. I say it was fast-paced, read easily for the most part, but ultimately I didn't care for it.
January 31, 2009
I admit I really didn't care for this book when I began reading it. I found it confusing, and I thought it was overly detailed about things that didn't matter. But as I got into it, I liked it more. It's an interesting idea for a book, and the intensity definitely picked up as things went on. It only gets 3 stars from me because of my feelings at the beginning, and some issues I had with characters, especially Michael. I definitely didn't care for the fact that the menacing older character was gay/bi, foreign, and sexually attracted to the teen protagonist. I think we need to be careful about such easy answers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2021
I gave this book about 1.5 stars, which is pretty generous. Not gonna lie, I went into this book with very little hopes of it being good…And I was somewhat correct. There are a lot of plot holes in this book that just confused me and didn’t make sense. I don’t understand how they go from looking for Erica, to grand theft auto and robbery, to Ted crashing a car and Michael being fine. The middle of the book was pretty captivating and I was actually enjoying it, but it felt really rushed. I don’t really like how they made the LGBTQIA+ representation really creepy. Michael was seemingly an okay character until they made him like a predator. I also don’t like how there was no progress of Erica actually getting better until the last couple of pages. Recovery seems more of a gradual thing and they make it seem like she was like healed and stable. I know this book wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, but it was definitely not the best either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2009
this book was hard to understand, the text had too many complicated words (haha sounds like i'm stupid) and it didnt flow very well. the initial idea was good but i didnt like the book very well. and about half the book was landing the F-bomb.
December 31, 2009
A book about an alcoholic male paid to spy on a bulimic female at college and their languid, uninteresting, ho-hum journey into a quasi-relationship. Blah...
July 1, 2011
I should start by saying that according to the author, this book is based on a true story. And that was a surprise for me because the summary sounds so ficticious;something that can't happen in real live. Obviously it wasn't!
The book is about this guy named Ted York, a high school graduate that had everything going for him. He played basketball and even had a scholarship for college. But he has a problem: he's alcoholic. And during one short trip to pick up a drink, he got into a bad car accident that damaged his knee. And just like that, his scholarship was taken from him. Now he goes to work and attends AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings. And he feels stuck, with nowhere to go.
But one day, a man named Michael knocks on his door with the opportunity of a lifetime. He would go to college, with all expenses paid, if only he would be the look out for this rich girl, Erica. Sounds easy enough, right?
Erica has bulimia and his father wants to make sure that she could handle being in college by herself. So, Ted after asking questions and talking to his dad about it, accepts the offer and that decision would change his life forever.
Okay, a Young Adult book that takes place in college? I love it already! The plot was so interesting and unique! The story is told very creatively. There's only four chapters because it's divided by months. It takes place from August to November. And inside those chapters we get Ted's and Erica's point of views, emails exchanged from Erica's father, Charles, and the guy who knocked on Ted's door, Michael and Yahoo Chess chat/game conversations with Erica and her psychiatrist.
The book is very descriptive, but not in a bad way. I love how the author told the story. We get to see Erica's struggles and let me tell you, the act of eating a donut has never been more detailed as this one. I can't relate to Erica, because I don't suffer from bulimia, but it was really interesting seeing it from her eyes because the author describes the whole process she goes through. From picking out the food she's going to eat, to cleaning the toilet she's going to use, to when she's pucking it all out. It's kind of gross but you're so amazed that you're reading something to detailed and usually something that a lot of people hide, you're just so intrigued!
I didn't get how Ted and Erica's relationship worked. I mean, in the beginning it was great, normal and slow building. That was to be expected. But then something happened and they both had feelings for each other, and it felt rushed and I was like, "Huh? When did that happened?" I thought I missed something, some part of the book which explained the big why that was happening. Because that time they spend together and the short conversations they had didn't explained the impact of the things that followed. I don't know if I'm explaining myself. Okay, like you see this guy and girl in the distance walking together, each keeping their distance, then you turn around and blink, and turn around again and you see them in full make out mode, and you're like, "What? Huh?" You get what I'm trying to say? I just wish we had more biuld up to their relationship.
But that's not to say I didn't enjoy this book. I was so into it in the last chapters. I'm still surprised it was a true story! I have to admit that I did some Googling to see if it was really true, but I couldn't find anything. This book was so different from anything I've read. Definitely worth checking out.
The book is about this guy named Ted York, a high school graduate that had everything going for him. He played basketball and even had a scholarship for college. But he has a problem: he's alcoholic. And during one short trip to pick up a drink, he got into a bad car accident that damaged his knee. And just like that, his scholarship was taken from him. Now he goes to work and attends AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings. And he feels stuck, with nowhere to go.
But one day, a man named Michael knocks on his door with the opportunity of a lifetime. He would go to college, with all expenses paid, if only he would be the look out for this rich girl, Erica. Sounds easy enough, right?
Erica has bulimia and his father wants to make sure that she could handle being in college by herself. So, Ted after asking questions and talking to his dad about it, accepts the offer and that decision would change his life forever.
Okay, a Young Adult book that takes place in college? I love it already! The plot was so interesting and unique! The story is told very creatively. There's only four chapters because it's divided by months. It takes place from August to November. And inside those chapters we get Ted's and Erica's point of views, emails exchanged from Erica's father, Charles, and the guy who knocked on Ted's door, Michael and Yahoo Chess chat/game conversations with Erica and her psychiatrist.
The book is very descriptive, but not in a bad way. I love how the author told the story. We get to see Erica's struggles and let me tell you, the act of eating a donut has never been more detailed as this one. I can't relate to Erica, because I don't suffer from bulimia, but it was really interesting seeing it from her eyes because the author describes the whole process she goes through. From picking out the food she's going to eat, to cleaning the toilet she's going to use, to when she's pucking it all out. It's kind of gross but you're so amazed that you're reading something to detailed and usually something that a lot of people hide, you're just so intrigued!
I didn't get how Ted and Erica's relationship worked. I mean, in the beginning it was great, normal and slow building. That was to be expected. But then something happened and they both had feelings for each other, and it felt rushed and I was like, "Huh? When did that happened?" I thought I missed something, some part of the book which explained the big why that was happening. Because that time they spend together and the short conversations they had didn't explained the impact of the things that followed. I don't know if I'm explaining myself. Okay, like you see this guy and girl in the distance walking together, each keeping their distance, then you turn around and blink, and turn around again and you see them in full make out mode, and you're like, "What? Huh?" You get what I'm trying to say? I just wish we had more biuld up to their relationship.
But that's not to say I didn't enjoy this book. I was so into it in the last chapters. I'm still surprised it was a true story! I have to admit that I did some Googling to see if it was really true, but I couldn't find anything. This book was so different from anything I've read. Definitely worth checking out.
April 30, 2009
LoveSick was a very inspiring book for me. It starts out slow and begins to pick up the pace after the first 3 chapters. A teenage guy named Ted is a basketball player at a local high school, and very very talented on the court. He has everything going for him, and a college scholarship lined up for him to play ball at a decent college. But it all ends one fateful night when Ted gets involved in a drunk driving accident. His life becomes ruined and he loses his basketball scholarship, and ends up being forced to attend AA meetings with other troublesome people.
Just when Ted has given up on life, an unexpected visitor appears at his doorstep. Michael, the wealthy father of a bulimic Manhattan rich girl has a tempting proposition. He agrees to pay for Ted's college tuition, but there is just one thing he has to do: keep tabs on his daughter and her behavior. Ted sees this as a simple task, but he never would have expected to fall in love.
The book contains a lot of symbolism, and its clear language makes it easy to understand and comprehend. The tone is moderate, never forceful, but lightly put. Some of the rhetorical devices used included hyperbole, alliteration and antithesis. Coburn included a lot of parellism in his book, when leading up to the final climax in his story.
This book is crazy good. It is so suspenseful and keeps you flipping through the pages eager to see what will happen next. I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. It is a realistic situation and very entertaining! It was one of the best books I have ever read! Ted was forced to choose between money and love and he chose love...aww isn't that so cute. That is why it is a favorite among many teen girls and is just an amazing novel. You all should read it!
Just when Ted has given up on life, an unexpected visitor appears at his doorstep. Michael, the wealthy father of a bulimic Manhattan rich girl has a tempting proposition. He agrees to pay for Ted's college tuition, but there is just one thing he has to do: keep tabs on his daughter and her behavior. Ted sees this as a simple task, but he never would have expected to fall in love.
The book contains a lot of symbolism, and its clear language makes it easy to understand and comprehend. The tone is moderate, never forceful, but lightly put. Some of the rhetorical devices used included hyperbole, alliteration and antithesis. Coburn included a lot of parellism in his book, when leading up to the final climax in his story.
This book is crazy good. It is so suspenseful and keeps you flipping through the pages eager to see what will happen next. I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. It is a realistic situation and very entertaining! It was one of the best books I have ever read! Ted was forced to choose between money and love and he chose love...aww isn't that so cute. That is why it is a favorite among many teen girls and is just an amazing novel. You all should read it!
November 16, 2012
So this is a good book, bordering on unbelievable but still quite good. I really like the portrayal of AA. when asked if it works the character basically says he doesn't know but he goes anyway.
one of the cool things is the description of people's responses to the fact he doesn't drink. Now I've had my hard drinking years, but I had quit drinking when I started college and I didn't smoke anything and the fact is people do look at you like you have four heads. Even today, I drink some, I use to smoke cigarettes when I felt like it, but people act like not finishing a beer is akin to murder, sometimes things that matter and "things that matter" have nothing to do with each other.
This book is kind of about what happens when your life is consumed by things that actually matter and how lonely that can be surrounded by "normal people" for whom only the "things that matter" are noticeable. If you know what I mean.
** for those for whom this is a deal breaker the grammar in this book is glaringly tragic.
one of the cool things is the description of people's responses to the fact he doesn't drink. Now I've had my hard drinking years, but I had quit drinking when I started college and I didn't smoke anything and the fact is people do look at you like you have four heads. Even today, I drink some, I use to smoke cigarettes when I felt like it, but people act like not finishing a beer is akin to murder, sometimes things that matter and "things that matter" have nothing to do with each other.
This book is kind of about what happens when your life is consumed by things that actually matter and how lonely that can be surrounded by "normal people" for whom only the "things that matter" are noticeable. If you know what I mean.
** for those for whom this is a deal breaker the grammar in this book is glaringly tragic.
October 16, 2018
Overall, this book turned some completely unexpected turns and kept me on the edge of my seat. Ted is an alcoholic who lost his leg in a basketball incident, taking away his full ride to college. Michael, also in the group, offers him a task that will get him a full ride in honor of his work- he has to spy on Michaels boss' daughter during college. Not only does Ted accept the offer, he ends up cherishing the friendship he builds up with her and starts to be distant in his report emails. Michael gets very mad and starts to threaten him. What made me shocked is the strong bond that is formed between Ted and Erica and how open Erica is with him despite her struggles. I am also very surprised by Michaels actions at the end towards Ted even though he did so much for him. I am very happy that Erica got some help she needed from someone besides her therapist.
February 9, 2023
Absolutely fantastic. I can't even express how stunned I feel at the raw power and emotion of Coburn's storytelling. When I read Erica's first binging and purging scene in the book, it was bulimia stripped down to its shocking core. The casualness and methodical movements Erica went through in preparing everything for the climax of vomiting into the toilet paired with the intimate detail of her savoring three boxes of sugary doughnuts in a rigid time frame was completely astonishing and gave me a painfully real picture of what an eating disorder is like.
And Michael's character. Oh my god. This man is the most terrifying character you will ever meet in literature. His lines in the book are mainly through email, which makes it creepier. His lavish eloquence and maniacal glee towards all aspects of life is unsettling, and my feelings were reinforced when every so often he would let slip a disturbing expression of dangerous temper through a threat before soothing it with sickly sweet poetry.
This is a brilliant story of desperation, loneliness, and love that will leave you feeling completely speechless by the end.
And Michael's character. Oh my god. This man is the most terrifying character you will ever meet in literature. His lines in the book are mainly through email, which makes it creepier. His lavish eloquence and maniacal glee towards all aspects of life is unsettling, and my feelings were reinforced when every so often he would let slip a disturbing expression of dangerous temper through a threat before soothing it with sickly sweet poetry.
This is a brilliant story of desperation, loneliness, and love that will leave you feeling completely speechless by the end.
April 5, 2013
I really enjoyed this novel. It has everything a novel needs to keep readers hooked; it has drama, love, and adventure. This novel is about a college girl named Erica, who struggles with bulimia. Her father, Charles, who is a wealthy man who cares about his daughter's wellbeing hires a boy named Ted, who is struggling with his own problems of being an alcoholic, to spy on his daughter and keep him updated on how and what she is doing in college. He does so by offering him a free ride by paying his college tuition to the same college his daughter is going to. After they talk to each other a few times, they end up falling in love and caring for each other. Ted then realizes he can't to this to her and that she deserves better, so he contemplates telling her about the whole situation with her father. By the ending of the novel the readers are hooked and thinking what will happen at the end, will they end up together in love or will they not and both be heartbroken about the whole situation?
December 14, 2010
Ted's life is forever changed the second he crashed his car. The drunk-driving incident lands him in AA, crushes his leg, ruins his dreams of playing basketball, and ultimately his scholarship is revoked. Ted thinks his life is basically over until one day a strange man makes him an offer he cannot refuse. He can get an excellent college education with just one exception: keep an eye on an extremely wealthy man's bulimic daughter, Erica. Ted thinks he is up for the task until the unexpected happens; he falls in love. What an interesting story line! It is not every day you read a book about an alcoholic guy falling in love with a bulimic girl. This story would have been pure love for me if it were written in alternating point of views. Instead, the story was written in third-person so it made it confusing when it was switching from one character to another. Nevertheless, it was still a pretty good book!
June 20, 2015
I really wasn't crazy about this book. Before I picked it up, I didn't realize that it would talk about Bulimia. While I think it is an important topic to talk about, especially with teenagers, I found the descriptions a little unnerving. Close to the beginning of the book, we see the main female character, Erica, binge and then purge. Coburn writes that after Erica binged then purged, it felt like "having three orgasms in a row". It makes me uncomfortable to know that anyone would write this about a disease. I'm sure this is how those who suffer from bulimia would feel, I find that this description gives it a positive feeling. With that being said, it was a very short book and really did not have a very well thought out plot. Many of the emails that were put in were a little annoying, especially when they talked about "gay crap" (smacks forehead in frustration). Reading this book now, in 2015, just goes to show you how progressive we are. I'm glad I finished this book quickly.
December 8, 2010
I thought that this book was really hard to get into but once i got there this book was amazing! The girl that the book was written for touched my heart! I know people have eating disorders. My friends could have an eating disorder but you might not know. The main guy in this book is paid to follow this girl around and make sure that she isn't throwing up after meals. The book is written from the view a newspaper journalist. This review sounds a little jumpy and everywhere but i loved this book and talking about it makes me so excited. What would you do if you were paid to spy on someone and ended up falling in love with them? That is what he had to figure out. What he saw and what he had to do made falling in love with her pretty easy. If i was in that position i think that I would fall in love with that person.
February 1, 2010
Ted liked to drink, a lot. And, after he gets into an accident due to drunk driving, his scholarship to NYU is taken away. He then realizes that he doesn't want to waste his life away so he stops. This is where Erica comes in, with her being bulminic her father starts to worry about her going of to college without any supervision. So he hires Ted to spy on her for him. It starts to work out as planned but then, Ted starts to fall for Erica and Erica starts to fall for Ted. Ted starts to regret what he is doing, but he has to keep going because he needs the money. LoveSick, by Jake Coburn is the tale of love, loss, and regrets. I would recommend it to people who enjoy realistic fiction and aren't afraid of tragedy. I would say it is suitable for people 13 and up, due to language.
October 9, 2013
I tried reading this novel twice in highschool, once my junior year and once my senior year. Both times were unsuccessful because I just couldn't seem to get into it. It's been a year and a half since my last attempt to read it and it's hard to believe that I ever disliked this book. This was an outstanding read. The descriptive language was spot on. Whenever I eat now I'm conscious of everything that's occurring in my mouth and with my teeth, etc. It's all due to this book. My imagination went wild due the descriptive nature. I also loved the characters. They were very real. It was refreshing. It didn't feel like I was reading a fictional novel. They didn't feel like characters, in fact, they felt like real people. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
April 22, 2021
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I was going to. As I usually start off reviews haha. I felt the story was incomplete and was missing so many details or pieces of the puzzle to really allow it all to click.
Spoilers start here!
For example, when Ted walked in on Erica and the muffins, he was just like oh yeah I know what you’re doing I have a friend who does the same thing... like.. what? Lol that was weird for me.
Not a fan of the lack of consent and abuse of power from Charles, Ericas dad.
Micheal turned out to be such a nasty character, that just didn’t seem to match well or be believable in terms of character development.
Idk, overall not a terrible book but definitely missing details for a more cohesive flow
Spoilers start here!
For example, when Ted walked in on Erica and the muffins, he was just like oh yeah I know what you’re doing I have a friend who does the same thing... like.. what? Lol that was weird for me.
Not a fan of the lack of consent and abuse of power from Charles, Ericas dad.
Micheal turned out to be such a nasty character, that just didn’t seem to match well or be believable in terms of character development.
Idk, overall not a terrible book but definitely missing details for a more cohesive flow
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2009
Something that caught my eye and caused me to pick this book up is the subject matter and the format. I have never read a book about bulimia, a subject that is not often addressed, but I dare say is something that should be. This is a non-fiction novel meaning it is a novel that is based on a true story; which caught my attention. However, I was severely disappointed. This could quite possibly be one of the worst books I have ever read. There are multiple F-bombs on each page, absolutely no morals, and unlikable characters at every turn. All I want to do now that I have read this book is burn it...and I never condone book burning. YUCK cubed!!!!!!!!!!!
October 7, 2013
This book sounds better than it is. I felt like I wasted my money. The story was just so... Plain. I think I was expecting a heart dazzled love story in the end, with a twist full of events leading to it. But that's not what happened. I wouldn't read this again. it's just a pain hump of story full of nothing interesting. maybe it's so boring cause its based on a true story, not that all true stories are boring. but in my opinion, who wants to read a plain Jane story on how a couple met?
her dad paid him to spy on her at college and she's bulimic. they fall inlove, with no interesting twist in the midst. the end.
her dad paid him to spy on her at college and she's bulimic. they fall inlove, with no interesting twist in the midst. the end.
August 5, 2014
The idea of a rich business man hiring someone to spy on someone else, even his own daughter, is plausible and maybe even interesting. The idea of a rich business man hiring an alcoholic male who's life has come to a standstill to spy on his bulimic daughter to make sure she's not binging and purging is laughable. I read the book in about a day. There's not much chemistry between the characters, minimal character development, and the ending is quite rushed as if the author got bored of his own story and just wanted it to be over. You're not missing much if you skip over this one.
January 3, 2015
I liked this book. I really enjoyed the concept, and the fact that it followed two people with very different problems. I loved that they came together. However, I didn't really pick up on a lot of things that I felt like could've been easily explained. Maybe it was just me though. I rated this book 3 stars because of the amount of unanswered questions, and also because it took a little while for it to really take off. I would still recommend this to people who just want a quick read with a quirky story to it.
August 12, 2020
It took me forever to read this book, not because it wasn't good, but simply due to the fact that I've gone back to work and my 20-book 'Rona stint unfortunately came to an end. Also, I moved and I was so excited about perfecting my little library room that I did very little reading. But this book was as wonderful a read the second time around as it was the first. The story is so adorable, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a quick read, or anyone struggling with the themes associated with this story.
March 6, 2009
This book was ridiculously good! Truly, one of my fav's now. I loved the dialouge, I loved the fast pace of the book, I loved the characters...OMG so good!!
February 12, 2017
Mediocre at best. Unstatisfying for sure.
January 24, 2018
Absolutely fantastic. I can't even express how stunned I feel at the raw power and emotion of Coburn's storytelling. When I read Erica's first binging and purging scene in the book, it was bulimia stripped down to its shocking core. The casualness and methodical movements Erica went through in preparing everything for the climax of vomiting into the toilet paired with the intimate detail of her savoring three boxes of sugary doughnuts in a rigid time frame was completely astonishing and gave me a painfully real picture of what an eating disorder is like.
And Michael's character. Oh my god. This man is the most terrifying character you will ever meet in literature. His lines in the book are mainly through email, which makes it creepier. His lavish eloquence and maniacal glee towards all aspects of life is unsettling, and my feelings were reinforced when every so often he would let slip a disturbing expression of dangerous temper through a threat before soothing it with sickly sweet poetry.
This is a brilliant story of desperation, loneliness, and love that will leave you feeling completely speechless by the end.
And Michael's character. Oh my god. This man is the most terrifying character you will ever meet in literature. His lines in the book are mainly through email, which makes it creepier. His lavish eloquence and maniacal glee towards all aspects of life is unsettling, and my feelings were reinforced when every so often he would let slip a disturbing expression of dangerous temper through a threat before soothing it with sickly sweet poetry.
This is a brilliant story of desperation, loneliness, and love that will leave you feeling completely speechless by the end.
May 19, 2017
this book was hard to understand at first but once i got all of the characters into line and was able to understand the dialogue clearly it was such a good book and it really touched on some of the darker reality's that we as a society face today that most authors don't want to write about to i liked the subject matter and how the two main characters could be there for each other to support each other.
February 22, 2026
This book took 5 years of my life to finally pick up, it sat on the shelf collecting dust next to all the other books I collect and then forget to read. But I’m so glad I remembered. The depictions of addiction noted here feel very realistic. I would love to sit and have coffee with Erica and Tim, and hear the full story itself.
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