Friday, May 8, 2015

We Can Work It Out

We Can Work It Out (Lonely Hearts Club #2)
Elizabeth Eulberg
Point, 2015. 312 pages. Young adult fiction.

Get over a scheming boy? Check. Start a fabulous girls club to support girls who are leaving their scheming boyfriends? Double check. Find an amazingly supportive and understanding new boyfriend? Oh, yeah. Penny Lane Bloom has it all - great friends, a new outlook on life, and a boyfriend who doesn't seem to mind that she is the head of a rapidly growing group (The Lonely Hearts Club) that is revolutionizing the way teenage girls approach romantic relationships. But will Penny be able to balance all of her conflicting interests or will she end up alienating all of them?

Fans of the original Lonely Hearts Club will love seeing the interaction between the driven Penny Lane and her practically perfect boyfriend, Ryan. The circumstances and lack of communication often make it rather awkward reading (I often wanted to shake Penny, who seemed absurdly obsessed with trying to make her relationship with Ryan look casual so as not to offend her girlfriends.), but Eulberg does a great job showing how to have a boyfriend without losing your identity and how to have strong outside interests without alienating your boyfriend.

JH

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