Review : Two Way Street
Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
Pages : 288
Genre : Young Adult, Fiction
My Rating : 
There are two sides to every breakup.
This is Jordan and Courtney, totally in love. Sure, they were an unlikely high school couple. But they clicked; it worked. They’re even going to the same college, and driving cross-country together for orientation.
Then Jordan dumps Courtney — for a girl he met on the Internet.
It’s too late to change plans, so the road trip is on. Courtney’s heartbroken, but figures she can tough it out for a few days. La la la — this is Courtney pretending not to care. But in a strange twist, Jordan cares. A lot.
Turns out, he’s got a secret or two that he’s not telling Courtney. And it has everything to do with why they broke up, why they can’t get back together, and how, in spite of it all, this couple is destined for each other.
I wasn’t sure what was waiting for me in Two Way Street, but it turned out to be a very good surprise!
One of the interesting things in this book is that it really does bring you on both sides of the breakeup. The chapters alternate between Courtney and Jordan, but also between the present and the past. This is a dangerous device : both are written in a first person voice, and every time I read a book like this, I wonder : can the author really pull this off? Make me believe these are really two different voices, two different characters?
The answer is, yes! Surprisingly well, in fact! I thought that Barnholdt captured really well the mind of an 18 years old, both female or male. I had no problem telling the two voices apart and they were both believable. The relationship between the two is believable, too, both in present and past, and this really made the story work.
As for the story itself, I enjoyed it too. You learn about Jordan’s secret soon enough, so it’s not a book with a “huge mystery that you guess on page 1 but are only told on page 280”. There’s no false suspense : from the start you have a pretty good idea of what happened, but it’s still interesting to go back and forth in time to discover how it did.
Two Way Street certainly was a fun ride! It was light, quick to read, and what I would certainly recommend as a fun summer read. If you’re traveling this summer, why not read it on the road? 😉
Sounds like a really good book. I’m curious what the secret is (though I don’t want to know yet, of course).
It does sound like a quick, fun read for the summer!
I like the premise of this one and it does sound pretty interesting!! Great review!
This sounds cool, I like when chapters alternate between characters and love when it’s well done.
I really enjoyed this book as well, reviewed it on my blog.