Review: One Night That Changes Everything By: Lauren Barnholdt

Title: One Night That Changes Everything
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 288 Pages (July 6th 2010)
From: the Publisher - Thank You!

Synopsis: Eliza is in a full-blown panic. Her notebook has been stolen—the one that lists everything she wants but is afraid to go after. And the absolute worst person in the world has it: her ex-boyfriend, Cooper.

Like it’s not enough Cooper was lying to Eliza for their entire relationship, now he and his friends are blackmailing her. They’re giving her just one night to complete the most humiliating tasks on her list or they’ll post her secrets online—including the ones that aren’t just about her.

Eliza’s sure of only one thing: she isn’t going down without a fight. Cooper may have what’s left of her dignity, but she’s not the only one with something to hide…


Review: 4 Stars - One Night That Changes Everything was a cute and entertaining story about overcoming your fears and second chances.

Our main character Eliza is faced with a huge problem. She’s misplaced her notebook and can’t seem to find it. That wouldn’t be a big deal, except the contents tell of every fear she has ever had – emotional, physical, the whole gambit of fears since she was younger. In comes a call from the one person she never wants to speak to again – her ex-boyfriend Cooper who tells her he’s got the notebook and just where to meet him to get it back.

Set over the course of a single night, it takes on a slight hint of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Play list as Eliza and her best friends travel all through the city to try to complete task after task in order to not only get Eliza’s notebook back, but to keep some of the secrets.. well, secret.

With flighty friends, Eliza finds herself stuck with the one person she didn’t want to be near and over the course of the night she has to fight through some scary and embarrassing challenges. Some I don’t think I’d ever want to face. Yet in the end it was nice to see that not only did Eliza learn a lot about herself and her fears, but she changed because of them.

All in all One Night was a quick and entertaining read with characters that could easily be real people. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Being that we all have fears of some sort I think that most would find this story easy to relate to and the lightness, humor and entertaining characters would make this a great summer read that many will be able to enjoy. I’m looking forward to reading more from Barnholdt in the future.

FTC Disclaimer: I did not pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this review.