One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt

Before, when Eliza thought she was moving, she made a list of things that she was afraid of and wanted to conquer when she moved to the new place: new place, new Eliza.

But she never left so now she just keeps writing all of the fears that she has.

And, unfortunately, Eliza loses everything. Everything. And now she's misplaced her notebook. Come to find out that the leader of the 318's club, Tyler, at high school, a group of guys who do pranks every now and then, stole it.

Apparently, Eliza created hardships for her ex-boyfriend, Cooper, who is also part of the 318 group. She broke up with him when she found out that he only started dating her as a initiation rite to become a member of 318. So Eliza broke up with him and hasn't talked to him since.

It is also rumored that she destroyed any chances Cooper had to go into Brown College by writing half-truths about him on the internet.

Now, though, Eliza needs someone on the inside to figure out why they took her notebook, and why they are making her do certain fears that she wrote down throughout the years.

With her two best friends, Marissa and Clarice, Eliza is going from one rendezvous to the next trying to fulfill these tasks that Tyler is making her do to get her notebook back. And Cooper seems to be popping up everywhere, who seems to be trying to help, but Eliza thinks that it is part of the ruse.

Can Eliza get her notebook back? Will she be able to go through all of her fears until Tyler is done tormenting her? And why is Cooper still hanging around after he used her to get into 318? Read One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
I really liked this novel!

I've had good things and bad things to say about Barnholdt's novels, depending on which novel I'm talking about. I started her works with amazing results then found that the rest of them were blah. But I really enjoyed this one so I'm happy that I was able to read it!

I thought Eliza was very juvenile character, and writing down a list of fears for anyone to snatch is never a good idea. But I really enjoyed the plot of this novel and the action that went along with each "dare" Eliza was given.

I also really liked Cooper. He is popular but is always wanting to help everyone who asks him.

Marissa and Clarice are dimwits - I can't think of any better word for them. They are scatterbrained and are leaving Eliza every other scene. Thankfully, Cooper was around to save the day for each dilemma.

Overall, I really liked this book! There were things that bugged me and I thought could be better, but I think it was a great story line and I really enjoyed the ending.

I would recommend this book to fans of Barnholdt's, along with Rachel Cohn and David Levithan since it has some of the same themes.

Now, I'm going to go see if I'm missing anymore of Barnholdt's novels and complete my collection of her works!

Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt

Senior year. Should be the best year of high school. Yet Hannah can't even get out of her car in the school parking lot on the first day back from summer break.

Because she has a secret. A secret that will kill all of her friendships and relationships with her closest friends in that building.

It happened during the summer break before senior year started. Her best friend was off in Maine at a camping summer vacation and Hannah was heartbroken over her ex-boyfriend cheating on her.

Yes, Hannah made a new friend. Yes, Hannah got a job to keep her busy over Sebastian's betrayal the last day of junior year.

And yes, what Hannah did was inexcusable toward her best friend.

But Hannah can't changed what happened the night before. And she can't keep the guilt to herself any longer. Because her best friend deserves more than that. Ava deserves the truth, even though Hannah knows they will no longer be friends anymore.

As much as Hannah fought all summer, she couldn't deny her feelings toward another guy. A guy that was strictly forbidden from her to date. Because he was dating someone else. Someone Hannah knew.

Now it comes down to that first day of senior year. When everything blows up and hits the fan. And all Hannah wants is for this day to be over with. But will she make it to the second day? Read Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Hmm. On one hand, I really appreciate what Barnholdt did with this novel. She took a rough subject, one that many go through in their life, and put it in a novel for others to read and try to "understand" the wrong side of this cliche story line.

On the other hand, I really did not like Hannah. Not because of what she did, but because of the way she acted and spoke, and...I dunno. There was just something that I didn't like about her. Maybe it was her use of "like" and "totally" that made me cringe everytime I read it and imagined her saying over and over.

For the most part, I enjoyed this novel. I started and finished it in one day, so it's not a long book or hard to read. I wasn't sure of the alternating chapters going from "The First Day of Senior Year" to "Summer", telling Hannah's story back and forth from what happened during the summer to cause this rift to the actual day that everything blew up. It was different. It was interesting. I wonder what it would have been like if it went from the beginning to the end, but I didn't hate this format.

I think I spoiled myself with Barnholdt. I started reading her stuff with Two-Way Street and LOVED that novel. But everything that I've read after that has fallen short... I really want to love all of her novels, but find that they just don't live up to my expectations (except for maybe Aces Up).

I'm still going to read some more of her later works, because I want to be a true fan of Barnholdt, but we'll see if I love any other novels from her.

So this novel was alright. It's about betrayal, summer romance, friendships, and deceit  If any of that sounds interesting to you, I would say pick it up and see if you like it. It does have content that would be better suited for older teens and young adults.

The Thing About the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt

After getting kicked out of the Concordia Prep school in town, Kelsey is forced to go to school at the public high school, Concordia Public.

Kelsey is not worried about going to public school, but she is worried about getting scholarships for college as she doesn't have the "prep" in her school name anymore.

So she decides that she is going to create a new school organization and run it to make her applications look more unique for when she applies to college.

Issac is always known as the senator's son. And he was recently kicked out of his old school for starting a fight, so Concordia Public is the last stop for him before being forced to go overseas to boarding school.

So he's going to try his best not to get kicked out anymore.

When he meets Kelsey on his first day of school (her's as well, though Issac doesn't know it), it was not a love at first sight relationship.

In fact, Kelsey was extremely rude to Issac and instead of brushing it off, Issac couldn't stop thinking about the girl in the school office.

When Issac decides to butt in on Kelsey's organization idea (which the principal approved after Issac wanted in, just because Issac's dad is the senator) they are forced to work together on this organization.

Face it Down Day is their new organization. They are going to get kids from Concordia Public and Concordia Prep to come together and discuss questions to open up and get to know each other from the two schools.

This is supposed to help the students realize that just because one is a "preppy" school and the other is the "poor" school, everyone is the same and are just kids trying to get through high school.

Instead, everything goes extremely wrong and now both Kelsey and Issac are facing the prospect of getting kicked out of another school...

Will things be able to smooth out so they aren't forced to leave Concordia Public? Will the relationship that has been building for Kelsey and Issac continue, or stop because of the Face it Down Day events? Read The Thing About the Truth to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
I'm a big fan of Lauren Barnholdt's books, but for some reason I didn't enjoy this novel as much as I thought I would...

The story line was great. Getting kicked out of school and finding someone who was also kicked out, only to be attracted to him/her and  knowing that you shouldn't? Amazing story.

And the way Barnholdt told it was through both perspectives: Kelsey and Issac. It was also told in alternative time areas. One that was "Before" the incident at Face it Down Day and the "Aftermath" of the event.

So the reader knew something had happened and just had to wait until the end of the novel to find out why.

But the ending was bland. We found out what happened and then all of a sudden the book was done.

Just. Done.

It seemed too perfect of a wrap up and there was no final answer about something (not gonna say, you'll have to read to find out! :P)

Also, I don't think I really liked Kelsey's character. She was a hypocrite and only did things when they helped her, not anyone else.

Oh! And one other thing! In the book, Kelsey has brown hair and Issac has blonde hair. The cover is not revealing the truth to the reader ;-)

For anyone who wants to read a novel about high school, this would be up your alley as it really revolves a lot around the different types of schools. For me, it was a little disappointing compared to the other Barnholdt books I've read previously.

Aces Up by Lauren Barnholdt

After Shannon Card's dad gets laid off from his job, Shannon realizes she needs to make money in order to go to college next year. She's already been accepted to Wellesley, the school she's wanted to go to, through Early Admission, but now she doesn't have the funds to pay for it.

In order to remedy that problem, Shannon gets a fake ID so she can work at the casino serving drinks to get $10 an hour plus tips. She realizes, though, that she might not make enough in time for school.

Shannon meets Cole through an anonymous letter Cole sent her to ask her if she wanted to join his club, Aces Up, by playing poker using math skills. Shannon is very good at math which is why Cole singled her out.

At first, Shannon says no because she doesn't want to do anything illegal (even though she's underaged and working in a casino) but after she sees more and more of her parents's items being sold (car, boat, etc.) she gives in to make the cash for school faster.

Throughout this secrecy of working at the casino, playing at the poker tables, and school, Shannon also got wrangled into tutoring her old friend and crush, Max. After months without talking, Shannon realizes that she still might have feelings for Max even though she's "kinda" with Cole while they aren't playing poker.

Seems Shannon has a lot on her plate. Can she juggle it all without getting caught?

My Thoughts/Reflections
This was a great read! I've read Lauren Barnholdt's other book, Two Way Street, but I think I liked this story better!

I will admit, though, it seemed that Barnholdt was trying to make Shannon act like she was in high school to remind the readers of that. Shannon said, "like", "totally", and "omg" a lot throughout the novel which was a little annoying at times.

The struggle Shannon has with juggling so many things is enough to make a grown woman start pulling her hair out, so I admire Shannon trying to do all of those events. The illegal gambling and working? Gutsy, sure, but not the best role model for 17 year old either.

At the end, Shannon made a decision that, I think, was very mature and showed that Shannon grew up throughout the story. I would definitely recommend this book to teens who feel stressed and out of control.

Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

Going off to college is a tough transition. Especially to a college that is far away and you only know one person: your ex. That's what happened to Courtney. She was dating Jordan when he tells her that he is seeing another girl through MySpace and that he wants to see other people rather than be in a committed relationship two weeks before they were going to road trip together to college in Boston (from Florida, mind you).

But. There are always two sides to every story. Lauren Barnholdt wrote this novel in a very interesting way. First, she wrote each chapter alternating the narrators. One chapter was through Courtney's viewpoint and then Jordan would get his say of what happened. However, Barnholdt switched it up even more by changing the time of the story. Some chapters were during the 3 day trip to Boston, when Courtney and Jordan were broken up, to 6 months before the trip when Jordan and Courtney were starting/currently dating.

The reader finds out throughout the series of narration exactly why Jordan broke up with Courtney and also how each character really felt about the other. After getting to Boston, Jordan and Courtney have to deal with the events that unfolded through those very long 3 days of their trip, while also transitioning into their college dorms and classes.

This was very well written. Barnholdt kept the reader in suspense as to what really happened between these two characters and was able to keep each characters thoughts unique to their own style, showing that each character really had strong emotions about the events that unfolded.

I think that this book could easily be read by both guys and girls because both characters were expressing their thoughts. I'm not used to reading a guy's perspective about starting a relationship and going to college with either a girlfriend or an ex-girlfriend, so being able to get some insight on Jordan's feelings was a great change.

While the trip might have been difficult for both Courtney and Jordan, they were able, in the end, to find the truth and be honest with one another, which is a hard thing to do. This would be a great story for anyone, whether they are in or just ended a relationship, scared about going to college or a new school, or having troubles with their parents. This book covers a lot of hard topics, making it a very relatable book to all audiences.