Review: One Night That Changes Everything

Title: One Night That Changes Everything
Author: Lauren Barnholdt
Published: 2010 by Simon & Schuster
Obtained: Library

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 bad enough that 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 . . .

First Sentence:
"I lose everything. Keys, my wallet, money, library books."

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I’m actually surprised that I enjoyed this book. I picked it up because I heard a couple good things about it, the front flap description sounded interesting, and it was short.

This book was my Halloween night. Reluctantly, I decided that 17 is too old to trick-or-treat, so my evening consisted of me reading this book in a living room chair and getting up every 2 seconds to give candy to un-costumed teenagers with backpacks. (What do they think this is? Free-candy-hand-out-day? And yeah, my neighborhood might be a little ghetto, but can they not just put a dumb sports jersey on or something? It’s not that difficult to make a little effort and actually be deserving of getting candy. I love questioning the obviously un – costumed ones: “And what are you dressed as?” “Uhh, you know, myself!” “Fine. HAVE some candy.”) There were some cute costumed kids also.
Anywho, I finished this book in that one night.

The tale of Eliza is an inspiring and meaningful tale of reaching deep inside and facing your fears. Eliza has one crazy night, during which she must accomplish brave feats such as karaoke, swimsuit pictures, kissing boys, and the like. *gasp* During her perilous adventures she learns a lot about her friends, her ex-boyfriend, and herself.

That sounded so sarcastic, but I didn’t hate it. I enjoyed it for what it essentially is: a fluffy, contemporary, fast-paced novel with some cheese.

Eliza was pretty annoying. It wasn’t just her character flaws, which she had to rise above, it was her strange personality. She was just … a weird person. I mean, she was relatable on occasion, but usually I was confused by her choices.

I loved that her two friends, Clarice and Marissa, were well-rounded side-characters. We learn about their personal issues, and I was very interested in seeing their outcome would in the story.
It’s almost like there are three main characters and that you just have the first person narrative of one of them. I cared just as much about Marissa and Clarice doing the right things, as I did about Eliza.

As for Cooper, I could totally tell he was nice from the beginning-ish, but Eliza was blinded by her hate. Shame.

This is a great one-night-read, because well, the story is all in one night, so that’s appropriate. Also the fast pace and short size make it easy to read in one night. Don’t go in expecting a mind-blowing plot, but it’s a cute story.

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Content Warning: Language, kissing, mention of sex, etc.

Rating: