Review: Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt

Title: Through to You
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Series: n/a
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: July 8th, 2014
Source: From Publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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…

First things first, look at that cover! If that doesn’t scream read me, I’m not sure what does. I saw this one on Edelwiess, and I just had to read it. I liked it. I thought it made for a cute summer read, but there was nothing about it that stood out for me.

Through to You’s main story line is, pretty good girl gets involved with hot bad boy. That’s pretty much half of the books out there. Harper wears some tinsel in her hair one day and Penn notices. He gives her a note saying he likes her sparkle and BLAMMM! A connection is made.

I liked both Harper and Penn, but they were both kind of generic to me. I didn’t build a deep connection with either, but liked them. Harper, she’s got her shit together, and Penn does not. But the thing about Penn is he’s kind of put out there as this bad boy, Trouble with a capital T according to the blurb. He’s really not though. I didn’t get that feeling. Sure he is a little rough around the edges, has a temper as you will see, but not long before this story starts out, he had his shit together too. Something happened to throw hijm off course. So the whole bad boy thing, I just didn’t buy it. Maybe a bit of a player, but that’s about it.

What I wasn’t expecting but liked was the Dual POVs. I love getting both sides, and I loved their chemistry. There are some pretty smoking kisses going on, and who doesn’t love that?

Through to You was not a favorite of mine, I'd probably give it 3.5 stars. But it’s a fast fun read, and I’m glad I gave it a chance!

About the author:


Lauren Barnholdt is the author of the teen novels The Thing About the Truth, Sometimes It Happens, One Night That Changes Everything, Two-way Street, Right of Way, and Watch Me. She is also the author of the middle grade novels The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney, Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Better, Four Truths and a Lie, Rules for Secret-Keeping, Fake Me a Match, and the Girl Meets Ghost series. She lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. Visit her at LaurenBarnholdt.com.


Find Lauren:

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