All It Takes Is…One Night

INTERRACIAL :  Young love is a source of joy, excitement, and confusion for high school sweethearts Kevin Brown and Ally Thomas.   They recognize each other as ‘the One’ at a teen gathering place.  Eventually, they will be challenged with obstacles such as insecurity, frustration, and time constraints.  Surviving the demands of college, along with personal demons and ambitions, tests their relationship’s strength as they slowly see themselves grow apart.

The reality is that people grow and change.  This book invites readers to follow a pair of earnest young lovers experiencing an overpowering mix of love and raging hormones for the first time.  The couple gradually grows from teenagers to college-aged adults.  Their emotions are raw and innocent. Ms. Harper takes her time building the foundation of Ally and Kevin’s relationship, lending a young adult feel for much of the novel.  Eventually, the romance fast-forwards to their last year in college with Ally and Kevin preparing for career opportunities taking quite some time to build to the climax.   With their issues already established it seems unnecessary to repeat them so often.  Ultimately, readers are left with a cliffhanger ending.  Will readers follow Ally and Kevin into the next book?  It depends on how much they feel invested in these high school sweethearts to discover whether these lovers are meant to be.  Overall, Ms. Harper writes an emotional and angst-filled story about the challenges of young love that may or may not be forever.

Anna Fitzgerald