“Never judge a book by its’ cover!” This is a term we hear all the time in the context of the people around us. But in the context of actual books, it can be a great way to choose your next literary adventure. Whether you are in the library searching for a book to read for a project, or in a bookstore walking around looking for a novel to read in your free time, cover art is always one of the first things you notice. You might not realize that cover art makes that much of a difference, but you aren’t going to pick a book off the shelf that has a boring cover.

I picked up the book “Love Sick” by Jake Coburn at a book-store several months ago. I was looking for something to spend the last few dollars of a gift card I got for Christmas. I wandered the aisles in search for a story that looked interesting. I saw this book and the cover art was very interesting, so I read the summary on the back and was intrigued by the story. I bought the book and put it on my shelf to read after I completed my current read. And when I read it I was definitely not disappointed.

This story follows two college students facing their own intense personal battles. Erica, a rich girl from Manhattan struggles with bulimia. Ted is a former alcoholic who ruined his life in a single drunk driving incident. He was a talented athlete, but when he smacked into a tree while under the influence, he messed up his knee and had to get a total replacement, erasing his chances of ever playing again. This in turn made his college evoke his full athletic scholarship. But when Ted gets contacted by a man named Michael saying that he works for a man who would be willing to pay for Ted’s college in exchange for him monitoring his daughter Erica. After a lot of thought, Ted decides to accept the deal and take on the struggles of watching over Erica without her knowing and giving updates to her father Charles, who happens to be very rich. The situation then gets much more complicated when Erica and Ted fall in love. To find out what happens you will have to read the book!
I would definitely recommend this book. It isn’t your normal young adult book, the two main characters having deep character flaws. It also deals with some deep concepts, which most authors would decide to avoid. “Love Sick” is also a quick read and great for a busy high school student who wants to get into a book, but doesn’t have time to read a very thick book. Overall, I would give this book a ⅘.