Book Review: The Thing About the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt

The Thing About the Truth

By Lauren Barnholdt 

Release Date: July 10, 2012

Source: Library

Summary: In this humorous love story from the author of Two-Way Street, an unlikely romance is the best sort of surprise—but the wrong secret can ruin everything. Kelsey’s not going to let one mistake ruin her life. Sure, she got kicked out of prep school and all her old friends are shutting her out. But Kelsey’s focused on her future, and she’s determined to get back on track at Concordia High.

Isaac’s been kicked out of more schools than he can count. Since his father’s a state senator, Isaac’s life is under constant scrutiny—but Concordia High’s his last stop before boarding school, so Isaac’s hoping to fly under the radar and try to stay put for a change.

When Kelsey and Isaac meet, it’s anything but love at first sight. She thinks he’s an entitled brat, and he thinks she’s a stuck-up snob. So it surprises them both when they start to fall for each other. Kelsey’s happy for the first time in months, and Isaac’s never felt this way about anyone before...But nothing’s ever completely perfect. Everyone has secrets, and Isaac and Kelsey are no exceptions. These two may have fallen hard, but there’s one thing that can ruin it all: the truth.

Review: Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt is one of my favorite books (I've read it multiple times, which is so rare for me), so I had really high hopes for this one. I'm so happy that Lauren was able to create yet another great contemporary novel that kept me reading that I couldn't stop until the end!

The main reason I loved about this book was the writing style. The book starts out in the future where Kelsey and Isaac are in trouble and seem to hate each other. We haven't seen how they met, how they got together, or what happened to make their entire relationship blow up in their faces, but we do know that things don't turn out well. Then, the story switches between Kelsey and Isaac in the "Before" chapters of their lives and the "Aftermath" chapters. Things are slowly pieced together, but what you still don't know is what exactly Kelsey did to make Isaac so mad and guarded around her in the Aftermath time. This mystery and drama trap your intrigue and attention until you finally figure out the truth. 

The other reason I loved this book was the characters. Kelsey and Isaac were both kicked out of their past schools, which means they both have secret filled pasts and strained family lives. The thing I loved about Kelsey's character is her love for romance novels. Maybe it's because i can relate to her a lot on this part, but she connects moments of her life to the books she's reading and reads no matter what people think of her. And I loved how she was super guarded when it came to trusting Isaac when he first showed interest in her. She wasn't the typical cliche girl who fell for the first hot guy that paid attention to her and they immediately clicked. Kelsey made Isaac work for her attention and Isaac wasn't about to give up on her. 

The entire journey of this book was so good and I loved reading about Kelsey and Isaac's journey to falling for each other while opening up some secrets about each other. Not only did I love the two of them, but their friends were so quirky and awesome too! Everything about this book was awesome and I wish it wasn't over! Lauren Barnholdt brings yet another great YA novel about love and how the truth always comes out in the end.