Amy and Matthew by Cammie McGovern

Amy has cerebral palsy. She can't walk without help and communicates through a machine.

Matthew has OCD. He is imprisoned by endless rituals and finds himself unable to escape from a voice that constantly threatens him with disaster.

Amy needs Matthew's help to get through her final year at school. He's reluctant - high school is hard enough without babysitting the loneliest girl in the school - but he soon finds that she's funnier, stronger, more brilliant and better company than he could have imagined. He soon needs her as much as she needs him.

There are no easy answers here. Finding each other is not the end but the beginning of this story about making choices, growing up, being brave, being honest, being alone and learning to be together and also apart.

So few books are written which feature a disabled protagonist, and it would have been very easy for this novel to be sentimental or trite. It isn't. It's funny, touching, moving and complex. You'll want them to have their happy ending, but McGovern's characters occupy a world where life is never that straightforward.

One of my favourite YA novels of 2014. A must-read for fans of John Green, Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan.

14+