REVIEW: An incredible story with a thoughtful description and handling of both Multiple Sclerosis and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. How these two troubled individuals are drawn together is beautiful. Once I started the book, I didn’t want to put it down. I voluntarily reviewed this Advanced Reader Copy of the book.

DESCRIPTION, NOT REVIEW: They call her Crazy Anna.

Anna Flint won’t shake your hand. She collects tin cans. She cleans her cubicle at work with Lysol several times a day. But Anna doesn’t care that they call her crazy. She’s absolutely satisfied with her life of perfect organization, cleanliness, and most of all, solitude.

Matt Harper likes Anna Flint. He likes that she’s the smartest person he knows and he likes her big blue eyes. He doesn’t even mind her can collection. In fact, he pretty much likes everything about Anna. As his body and his world are falling apart, she still manages to make him happy.

Matt is the only person Anna has ever wanted to be close to. But how can she go on a date with him if the thought of dinner at a restaurant fills her with terror? How can she ever kiss the man she loves if she can't even touch him? ( )

4.5-5/5 stars
I received a free ebook review copy of this book but was under no obligation to post a positive review
Crazy In Love is a dual perspective romance told through the eyes of Anna Flint and Matt Harper.
When the story starts both Anna and Matt are in their mid-twenties and work together as computer programmers. Anna is known around the office as Crazy Anna mainly because the collection of cans she keeps stacked in her cubicle. Add to that the facts that she is considered a "clean freak", her aversion to human touch (and so much more) and you've got the perfect victim for in-office jokes and gossip. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Anna is used to this kind of behavior, so she doesn't care what other people think about her. Mostly. Anna does find herself caring and thinking a bit too much about her coworker- Matt.
When we meet Matt he is exactly what you expect him to be- young attractive man who enjoys drinking beer with his best friend and picking up women not caring if or when he would see them again. (If you ask me he was showing some traits of an a-hole towards women, but I was never sure if it was all him or more due to herd-mentality). Matt definitely enjoys his life both in and out of the office, but no matter how many women he sleeps with he can't get rid of his crush on Anna. He is sure this crush would never come to anything. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for him he gets some news that changes the course of his life forever.

Crazy In Love was a wonderful surprise for me. When I started this novel I thought it would revolve mainly about Anna and her struggle with severe mental illness and the stigma around it. As luck would have it, not only were these issues addressed but I also got a chance to follow Matt's journey in coping with his own demons. The fact that those demons weren't mental but physical made the story so much more important and touching.
I have to admit I was a bit scared reading this story from Anna's perspective because I was afraid it would go in a direction I dreaded. This being the classic girl-meets-boy-and-is-miraculously-cured-of-her-mental-illness-because-he-loves-her-so-much. Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about.
Even though Anna seeks treatment only after realizing something might happen between her and Matt I never got the feeling she did for someone other than herself. She decided to take this dreadful step for entirely selfish reasons- she knew she wanted something badly but her brain kept interfering. She started realizing that all the things that never bothered her before too much, began getting in the way of her leading the life she started to want for herself. That in itself is a great thing to show in these kinds of love stories because in real life no one can get better if they don't want it for first and foremost for themselves.
Also, another thing that I appreciated so much was the mere mention of Anna's past experience with a mental health professional. This was a completely negative experience that left a lasting impression on her and only became one more obstacle in her journey to get better.
From personal experience, I know how a bad first introduction to counseling can damage a persons' path to getting better. Once you get burned you don't want to risk yourself again, and seeing Anna decide to take this risk despite all her reservations can be truly inspiring if read at the right moment in someone's life.
For all that I would like to thank Annabelle's efforts in trying to convey a realistic journey through Anna.
Now when it comes to Matt's story (I will keep this section vague on purpose so forgive me in advance). I couldn't relate on a personal level since, thankfully, I never had to go through anything similar. Nevertheless, I appreciated it so much more because it still felt incredibly realistic and I could imagine and feel his pain and frustration so vividly.
It was also incredibly refreshing since I never read about anything like it before.
I do think that Annabelle managed a great thing with this novel. Telling the story of these two individuals side by side was amazing. While reading you can't help but compare the two journeys and struggles and see that while both of them are incredibly different at the end they are the same. Both need to accept the hand that was dealt them and learn how to live and manage with it.
At the end nothing is hopeless- no matter if you can see the source of the problem (like in Matt's case) or you can't (as in Anna's case).
I couldn't decide between 4.5 and 5 stars. On the one hand, this was a refreshing take on mental and physical health mixed in with a sweet love story, and on the other, some parts seemed a bit rushed for me(?)- I'm not entirely sure. Maybe it's just influenced by my desire for the novel to be longer- to read more about the progress each of them made throughout the story.
Either way, I would definitely recommend reading this story. And I would like to thank Annabelle Costa and AXP's read and review department for providing me with the book and the opportunity to review it. I enjoyed every second. ( )

Actual Rating: 4.25

This was adorable - I was totally rooting for Matt and Anna the entire time!

Crazy in Love is a story written from two perspectives. There's Anna, who suffers from severe OCD and is a social outcast in her own workplace. The only person who she thinks is okay is Matt Harper, who (secretly, of course) has a crush on her, even the crazy can-collecting and Lysol-cleaning parts of her. But Matt is dealing with his own issues, and his world is slowly falling apart. And meanwhile, Anna, for the very first time, is questioning everything she's ever known about herself - and how she can ever fall in love if she's so afraid of the world around her.

I think the characters were definitely the strongest part of the book. Even at the start, their characters were multi-faceted. I thought that the issues they both had to deal with were heartbreaking, but I loved how the author dealt with them in a very realistic way, illustrating the power of hope, even when life doesn't turn out the way you expect (or want) it to. Both Matt and Anna had great character development by the end of the story, and they were powerful characters both individually and together.

The plot for this book was definitely more cozy, I would say. The book spans several years, and despite the progressions in the characters' "situations", I still found that I sometimes forgot that everything was happening across such a long timeline because everything else was quite similar. Nevertheless, I thought the plot was well-written; it was definitely very character-centric, which made for a very personal and thought-provoking read.

The writing style was engaging throughout, and as someone who normally dislikes dual perspective stories, I had absolutely no problem differentiating between them. In fact, I absolutely loved reading from both Matt and Anna's perspectives, because they showed a different side of the story, and their voices were each very distinctive and strong.

Overall, this was a great read and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who was looking for a contemporary romance, especially one that touched upon real life issues, both physical and mental. It was definitely a very memorable book, and Matt and Anna are now definitely one of my favorite couples. ( )