Rowena’s review of Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt.
Opposites attract—and then complicate—in this romantic, relatable novel from the author of Two-Way Street and Sometimes It Happens.
It starts with a scribbled note in class: I like your sparkle. Harper had casually threaded a piece of blue and silver tinsel through her ponytail in honor of school spirit day. And that carefree, corny gesture is what grabs Penn Mattingly’s eye. Penn—resident heartbreaker of the senior class. Reliably unreliable. Trouble with a capital “T.” And okay, smolderingly sexy.
Harper’s surprised by Penn’s attention—and so is Penn. The last thing he needs is a girlfriend. Or even a friend-with-benefits. The note is not supposed to lead to anything.
Oh, but it does. They hang out. They have fun. They talk. They make out. And after a while, it seems like they just click. But Penn and Harper have very different ideas about what relationships look like, in no small part because of their very different family backgrounds. Of course they could talk about these differences—if Penn knew how to talk about feelings.
Harper and Penn understand their attraction is illogical, yet something keeps pulling them together. It’s like a crazy roller coaster—exhilarating, terrifying, and amazing all at once. And neither knows how to stop the ride…
Lauren Barnholdt seems to be hit or miss with a lot of readers but for me, she’s mostly been a hit. I’ve enjoyed quite a few of her books and was looking forward to reading this one. Before I dug into the book, I was expecting something light and fluffy but that wasn’t what I got, at all.
You see, Penn and Harper are opposites. Penn is the playboy that can get any girl that he wants and he usually goes through them whenever the mood strikes but Harper is a good girl. She’s got a best friend that she hangs out with and she follows the rules for the most part. They don’t really notice each other even though they’ve gone to school with each other for years but then one day, Penn gives Harper a note that tells her that he’s noticed her and things change.
They start to hang out. They get closer and closer until they become a couple and once they become a couple, things kind of spiral out of control. Penn was hot and cold throughout most of the book and it drove me nuts. Harper was a jealous girlfriend throughout most of their relationship and it drove me nuts. A lot of them being together drove me bonkers but surprisingly, I didn’t hate the book. I mean, there’s a lot of teenage angst, immature behavior, jealousy going on throughout the entire story and yet I didn’t hate the book or the characters in the end. Because of course, in the end they both get their shit together and start acting like normal people but their whirlwind romance wasn’t easy to read.
They both had a lot of growing up to do. Penn had a lot of emotional issues that he had to work through and Harper had her own issues that she was working through but it was Penn’s issues that made me want to kick him.
Overall, this book had its fair shares of ups and downs. The ups definitely made for the downs for me and in the end, I wasn’t mad that I read this book but would I recommend this book? I’m not sure. If you’re a fan of Barnholdts other books than you might enjoy this one but because it’s hard to read at times and because both Penn and Harper acted like jerks, it’s hard for me to jump up and do my happy dance while I tell you to read this book. I will say that if you’re in the mood for some angsty teenage relationship drama, this is the book for you. 🙂
Grade: 2.5 out of 5
This book is available from Simon Pulse. You can purchase it here and here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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