The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

1 star out of 5

Summary:

Penny Lane, so named, by her Beatle crazed parents, after the song. Pen has been fantasying about the same boy since, well forever. Nate is the son of a family friend and they grew up together. They even walked down the aisle together at a cousins wedding, cute picture. Nate turns out to be a jerk, though, as he cheats on her soon after they are a couple. Pen is devastated and decides to give up boys by forming her own Lonely Hearts Club of one. Soon word is out about the club and she is inundated with new members, all sick of being treated bad by boys. The problem is that Pen is starting to feel draw towards Ryan and she isn’t allowed to date, it’s in the club rules. Will the school put up with this anti-boy club? Does Ryan return Pen’s feelings? Will the club help or hurt the members to have joined?

My thoughts:

Okay, I wanted to like this book. When it first came out, I wasn’t drawn to it. But I read the authors second book, Prom and Prejudice (http://stuckinbooks.blogspot.com/2011/01/prom-and-prejudice.html) and absolutely loved it. So I decided to give this one a try. Not such a great idea.

Nate- I’m having a hard time buying this one. Nate supposedly cheats on her only a few weeks into their relationship, in her house. He is visiting. He has been spending all his time with her. Where does he get this girl from? Did he pull her off the street? Besides, he has been interesting in Pen for just as long as she has, why would he suddenly do this? And then the way he acts afterwards is ridiculous. He begs to get her back for weeks and months. He emails. He texts. He calls. He begs. He beats himself up and calls himself names? Never met a boy like that and I am a teacher of teenagers.

Ryan- Um where to start. Ryan is perfect. He is one of only two boys in the story who are portrayed as acceptable. The rest are “devils spawn”. He is so perfect that he takes Pen’s cruelty and comes back for more, after a reasonable period of anger of course. It is so obvious that he likes Pen but she doesn’t see it.

Tyson- He is the only other male that is worthy in this book. I like him. He is a musician but he is shy at school. He wants to ask one of the girls out but never has. Again, it frustrates me that there are only two guys who deserve to be given the time of day.

Penny- She drives me nuts. Is she bipolar or something? One minute she is attracted to Ryan and the next she is insulting him. She bashes on guys to a ridiculous extent. I just don’t buy it. Teenage girls get mad at guys, they ignore guys, they might even decide not to date – but I cannot believe that they would ever decide to not date for the next two years! And then they do not find another 30 or 40 girls in a high school that are willing to do the same thing, absolutely ridiculous.

Penny’s parents – What world did they come from? Her parents are so devoted to the Beatles that they become vegetarians and allow their daughter to have a club that bashes guys as long as they are playing Beatles music at the meetings. What self-respecting Dad would allow his daughter to hate on guys this way?

Moral- I guess the moral to the story is that guys don’t define girls. Well yeah, but can we communicate that without making it out that guys are the evil ones. Girls are drama queens and do just as many mean things to guys as guys do to them. (Again, teacher of teenagers here) I guess my bottom line is that this is realistic fiction and it so wasn’t. Skip this one and read Prom and Prejudice instead, much better book.

Enjoy the read!