Through To You by Lauren Barnholdt

Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Publication: July 8, 2014
By: Simon Pulse
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3.5 Stars

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…

*I received this eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I've read several of Lauren Barnholdt's books and I'll admit, most of them have left me with of a feeling of, "That's it?", but I enjoyed this one--and Penn, a lot more.

Through To You follows the pattern of her previous books with the before and after, dual POV, fluffy romance and very little depth to the story overall although sometimes that's just what you want in a book. Light, flirty and mostly fun. I say mostly fun because the issues these characters, secondary ones included, are dealing with aren't fun at all. Lauren Barnholdt does a good job of capturing the teenage voice of both Harper and Penn by allowing them to make mistakes and suffering the consequences for their actions. But readers are easily distracted from those by the relationship that develops between these two.

Did I mention I liked Penn? Because it bears repeating.
 
Harper and Penn have gone to the same school for four years, but it isn't until Penn drops a seemingly innocent note onto Harper's desk that things change. And fast. Their whirlwind romance runs the gamut of emotions from awkward first non-dates, pulse-racing make out sessions to bittersweet heartbreak and back again. 

Through To You is fast paced, and witty with lots of swoony moments threaded throughout. I did get a little tense at the 97% mark on my Kindle, and I *may* have yelled something about never reading another LB book again if this one didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, BUT, I was happy with how this story ended. :)