The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: The Lonely Hearts Club
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Release Date: 1st May 2010

My Rating: 4/5

Penny Lane is sick of boys and sick of dating, so she swears off it all and starts the Lonely Hearts Club.

What Penny doesn't realise is just how many of her friends feel the same way and want to join her club. Even some girls she'd never have thought would care, want t o sign up. Then the unthinkable happens...

So what do you do when you are the founding member of an anti-dating club and you start to have feelings for a guy who obviously likes you back?

Elizabeth Eulberg's debut novel is fun, with a great message behind it, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

Penny and her friends are sick and tired of wasting their time on lying high school boys who don't treat them right. The solution? The girls swear off boys, get together, have fun and support each other, much to the annoyance of the male student body!

This is a story about taking control, being yourself and not changing for a guy. A story about friendship, appreciating and supporting each other, major girl power and how strong girls can be together.

Penny and the rest of the members of the Lonely Hearts Club are great role models for girls and there are no overtly dramatic parts like, 'Oh my life is over because he doesn't like me. I'm going to crawl up into a ball and die!' It is a happy, fun book and although they certainly have their share of problems to deal with, they combat them as a group and have the best year in high school they could ever imagine. There is always something happening in this story, it's fast-paced and never gets boring.

It's great to have a story about real girls and high school issues with a main character who is likeable and who has a supportive family. Aside from Penny there is a fantastic cast of characters in this book, someone for everyone to relate to.

The Beatles are a continuing theme throughout the book. From the name of the book and the cover (which looks fabulous), song lyrics (a way of leading into chapters and also Penny's way of expressing her moods and feelings towards others), Penny and her sisters' names are taken from Beatles songs and Penny's own obsession with the Beatles (passed down to her from her hilariously obsessed parents who live and breathe Beatles, from the doorbell chime to the Walrus in her dad's dental office and their vegetarianism because Paul McCartney says so). I have read some reviews where readers who are not Beatles fans have found the Beatles-mania annoying. I am not a major Beatles fan (yes I know there is something wrong with me) but I had no problem with any of the references. I loved it and I think it works really well BECAUSE it is a continuing theme .

I don't think this would appeal to adults. It is very much a read for high school aged girls and those in their early twenties who still love YA books.