* REVIEW * - Checked by Jennifer Jamelli

Reviewer : Kaylene

Rating : 5 Star

 One, two, three - this book is incredible, fantastic, amazingly beautiful

 and one of the best reads so far this year ...

Checked is the story of Calista (Callie) Royce’s life where everything is done in three’s due to her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Callie is a very likeable woman who was able to laugh at her own condition which helped to make her condition more light-hearted for me.   I laughed but sometimes I also felt tears. 

This book is extremely well written and is told from Callie’s point of view.  What I really liked was that she often supported her thoughts with her inner soundtrack of popular song lyrics that seemed so appropriate to the various situations she found herself in.  Her condition gives you an insight into OCD and you soon discover that Callie has a “leaving the house” routine and a “before bed” routine which seems to take hours plus her obsessions take up most of her daily routine which are to say the least exhausting.  I was really happy when she started her “alternative” therapy with Dr Aiden Blake who steps up when her actual Psychiatrist cannot make her first appointment.   

You watch her struggle through the various steps of her alternative therapy that Aiden takes her though.  Some more than others you feel may actually be helping but there a couple where you just feel despair for her.  Aiden falls for Callie very quickly and you soon discover that there is more to Aiden than just a therapist.  He also had a mother who suffered severely and lost her battle with the disorder.  Callie lets Aiden in as one of her safe people, people who she can be around, who can hug her and be physical with her.

Don’t you just love it when a book surprises you with its incredible, fantastic, amazingly beautiful awesomeness.  When I started reading this book I had no idea what it was really going to be about - all I had to go on was the blurb and the fact that one of my friends had added it to her To Be Read list on Goodreads.   As I was between reads I started it straight away and I was so glad that I didn’t leave it on my kindle to be read at a later date.  This book has a pretty major plot twist and has caused major author stalking for me. As far as I am concerned book two cannot come fast enough.  This was a five star plus read for me.

Callie spends countless hours staring at appliances to make sure they are really unplugged. She wastes obscene amounts of time checking for murderers in various corners of her house and entire sleepless nights performing pointless checking rituals. Then every spare minute is filled with inspecting doorknobs, chairs, floors, etc. for minuscule traces of germs. Oh, and she does all of this as she counts to three over and over again in her head. She does this every day. Without fail. 

Dr. Blake just doesn’t fit into her schedule. Until he does. Until Callie begins to trust him. Until she starts to need him. And want him. And . . .