Mini-Book Review: Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt

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Through to You
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: July 8th 2014
Review Source: Edelweiss | Simon Pulse

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…

This is one of the many books that capture my attention because of its cover. I seriously need to stop this. Through to You was slow paced in my opinion. I also felt this book should be label middle grade and not young adult. Harper and Penn’s relationship started off strange from the beginning. It all starts when Penn leaves Harper a note on her desk saying he liked her sparkle she wore on her hair for school that day. The note didn’t have any meaning. He was just trying to be nice. But as the story proceeds they start skipping school together and just hang out.

As I mentioned, I think this book should be middle school level. Why is that? Well Harper and Penn are very innocent for their age. They hang out, and then they ignore each other. The cycle repeats. And there are other actions I felt were too immature for their age. I guess this book wasn’t for me but I do hope someone else would enjoy it more.