My Review of Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

Okay, there aren't very many books that I can relate to my own life, but this was definitely one of them.

Jordan and Courtney are like perfect for each other, but unfortunately, some terrible circumstances tear them apart in the book. One night, after a party, Jordan discovers that his mom is having an affair. Later on in the story, we find out that the person Jordan's mom has been sleeping with is actually Courtney's dad.

Throughout most of the rest of the story, it seems like Courtney's dad (Frank) puts a lot of pressure on Jordan to keep his discovery a secret. Jordan struggles with this a lot in the book and it broke my heart. He doesn't know whether to say anything to Courtney because he fears that she will get angry and hate him forever, so he makes the decision to let Frank be the one to announce what's going on. Eventually, Jordan cannot deal with all the guilt, so he makes up a fake MySpace girlfriend and tells Courtney that he doesn't love her (when he actually really does) and doesn't want to be tied down and wants to be able to date other people. It is a horrible thing to read. You can almost feel Courtney's heart break when the whole thing goes down. 

The funniest part about it is that they planned on driving up to college together and they still do. Jordan tells Frank (after Frank tries to say Jordan and Courtney that they shouldn't take this trip together) that Courtney is still going whether she wants to or not, which, of course, she really does not. 

Once on the trip, the humor begins. The relationship between Jordan and Courtney was a lot like how my ex and I used to act after we broke up. Of course, there are a lot of differences in our stories, but our hilarious attitudes before, during, and after the relationship were the same in both cases. The way they try to irritate each other is cute and you can tell that even though they are playing such ridiculous games, they really do love each other.

In the end, even though the book does not tell you whether or not Jordan and Courtney are going to get back together, you at least get the peace of mind that they have finally talked about what happened and are on good terms again, at least for now.

The book kind of bounces around so it does take some getting used to, because one second, you're in a random moment that happened weeks before their trip, then next thing you know, you are transported back to the events of the trip. It was still a good read and once you start, you definitely understand why the book was set up this way.

Overall, I loved the book. I really connected with it and at times I found it hard to read because of the extreme emotion I felt while reading. Not many book can do that to me, and I'm proud to say that this one did. I definitely recommend it!