One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt

Book:  One Night That Changes Everything
Author:  Lauren Barnholdt
Published:  July 6, 2010 from Simon Pulse
My edition/number of pages:  ARC/242

Age group:  Young adult
Source:  Publisher
Series?:  No.

Four dares.  Two secrets.  One night.

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. . .

Lauren Barnholdt has done it again.  She has written a cute, fun, quick read that I adored.  One Night That Changes Everything is the perfect book for chick lit lovers everywhere.  It was so good I stayed up until 3 in the morning to finish it.

Eliza loses everything.  Whenever she needs something, she can’t find it.  That’s why she isn’t too worried that she can’t find her purple notebook.  That is, until she gets a phone call from her ex, Cooper, saying that he has it and in order to get it back she has to do everything he tells her to.  From that moment on, Eliza is forced to face her biggest fears and take on the tasks that she has written about in her notebook.  With the help of her friends and even Cooper, she may have a chance to get it back.  The only question is, what tasks are they going to pick for her from the list?

One Night That Changes Everything was pretty much just a fun story to read.  There wasn’t a whole lot of meaning to the book but in this case it was okay.  I mean, Eliza did have to face some of her fears and then realize that they weren’t actually so bad but that was only a minor part.  The real thing was Eliza and Cooper’s relationship and how it ended.  I definitely saw similarities to Two-Way Street in the fact that the reason isn’t given away until about halfway through the book.  That was pretty much where the similarities ended though.  One Night That Changes Everything was so much fun because of that.  I never saw what was next and I had no clue how it would end.

Eliza was the best character in the book but Cooper was a close second.  Eliza’s friends, on the other hand, weren’t that great.  They were kind of flaky and they kept leaving her.  She had to rely on Cooper most of the book because her friends had already left without her.  I don’t think that’s a very good friendship.  Eliza wasn’t worried about that though.  She was more worried about the tasks that she had to do.  I didn’t think they were so bad but then again, I have never been forced to do them.  Cooper did help her through most of them and I really liked that about him.  His friends were jerks and were the ones forcing Eliza to do all of it but he did help.

Overall, One Night That Changes Everything is a fantastically written, hilarious novel of facing your fears.  I think every teenage girl has been in Eliza’s place at some point so it’s easy to relate.  If you have any free reading time this summer I definitely recommend picking this one up!

First line:  I lose everything.

Writing:  4

Characters:  4

Plot:  5

Ending:  4

Originality:  4

Overall:  21=B-

Cover:  4=B- (I really liked the original cover.)

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9 comments

  1. i am a fan of lauren barnholdt’s books, and i’m sure i’ll love this one too. i like that it’s about facing fears. can’t wait to read it!

  2. Oh I can’t wait to read this one! Sounds like so much fun. I prefer the other cover way better too. Fabulous review Katie! =)

  3. I’ve recently read one of Barnholdt’s other books and enjoyed it, so I’ll be looking forward to reading some of her other books, thanks for the review!