Two-Way Street

June 4, 2007
Barnholdt's (Reality Chick) set-up here is amusing if a bit staged: Courtney and Jordan are broken up-he claims to have met a new girlfriend through MySpace-but her parents insist that he drive her to their orientation at Boston University as they originally planned. Both teens provide their perspectives of this understandably grueling road trip, using flashbacks to fill in the gaps about how they met and developed their relationship-including the painful secret that Jordan is keeping from Courtney. Readers will figure out the hidden scandal long before it is revealed, and they will know from the beginning that this road trip is going to end with the odd couple revving their relationship back up. What makes the story work is author's solid grip on her characters: Courtney knows she tends to "analyze everything to death" while Jordan is a ladies' man who operates in "avoid-and-deny mode." They spy on each other's MySpace pages and gossip about each other on their cell phones; Courtney, in particular, has constant drama on the road, getting food poisoning at a rest stop and later having a meltdown in a Burger King bathroom. But despite their scheming, Courtney finally comes to terms with what she's known all along: "no matter how much you tell yourself you're over someone, your heart knows the truth." In the end, this is predictable-and pretty fluffy-but the neurotic narrators make the trip worthwhile. Ages 14-up.