Review: "Lola and the Boy Next Door" (Anna and the French Kiss #2) by Stephanie Perkins

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Genre: YA/Romance
Publication: Usborne Publishing
Release Date: Jan 1st, 2014
Pages: 384
Spoilers: Nope, spoiler free! I will not spoil any romantic book EVER even tho when you start reading, you already know what’s going to happen anyway.
Rating: (4 / 5)

After finishing Anna and the French Kiss in a couple of days/nights while I was in Paris, I was totally hyped about reading Lola and the Boy Next Door. I have to admit that the plot line of Lola didn’t sound half as interesting as Anna’s, I was excited anyway. Stephanie has this amazing writing style. So I got into it pretty quick. What I thought about this book? Continue reading and I’ll let you know!

“Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion… she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit – the more sparkly, more wild – the better. And life is pretty close to perfect for Lola, especially with her hot rocker boyfriend.
That is, until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket return to the neighbourhood and unearth a past of hurt that Lola thought was long buried. So when talented inventor Cricket steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally face up to a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. Could the boy from Lola’s past be the love of her future?
Fall in love with the international bestseller from queen of young adult fiction, Stephanie Perkins.” [Goodreads]

I’m going to be really honest: I didn’t really feel Lola in the beginning. At all. Lola is a quirky girl with her own special clothing style. She dresses up like a rainbow, unicorn or goth princess – depending on how she feels that day. I kind of understood the whole clothing and emotion thing, but she was a bit too much for me. But as always, I just had to get used to it. Because why judge a person on its cover? That’s part of what this book is trying to say. And I felt bad about not liking her style. But than again, Lola was struggling with it as well. Because are her dress up games covering up who she really is? All of the sudden, I started to get to know Lola, and understand her bit by bit. Because don’t we all do that sometimes?

When I got a feeling of who Lola was, I started to see her boy problems. So we have Max – bad boy and boyfriend who lives the rock star life. He’s also a couple of years older than Lola. Did I mention Lola has two dads and no mother (well, kinda)? I’ll come back to that later on. Just to be clear: her dads don’t like Max. And then we have Cricket, Lola’s crush from way back then. He also has a evil twin sister – Calliope – who happens to be gorgeous and Lola’s ex-best friend. To make things really complicated, they’re relationship is like this: Lola used to be friends with Calliope until she wasn’t cool enough for Calliope anymore. Calliope is a ice-skater and star-to-be. She has nobody except her brother, Cricket, who happens to have a crush on Lola. Lola also has a crush on Cricket. But things happen, Calliope happens, and the family moves away. Lola meets Max and they fall in love. And then the Bell twins move back, Lola still has feelings for Cricket and things get complicated. Damn. I started the see the whole picture and rooted for Cricket. I didn’t like Max so much.

Back to Lola’s dads situation. Lola’s mother is one of her dad’s sister. Lola’s mother wasn’t really mommy material when she got pregnant, so her brother adopted her. He’s gay. So now Lola has two dads and a mom that’s not really in her life much. Until, of course, Cricket moves back. Simultaniously bad things start to happen and Lola is confused as hell. Her dads try to help her as much as she can, and I totally love that Stephanie write this not-average family story. I haven’t read a lot of books about teens growing up with two dads/moms. So thumbs up, Stephanie.

The story line of Lola and the Boy Next Door is pretty next-door-ish. You see lots of things coming, but it’s still pretty funny to read. Feels all over the place, of course, but that’s Stephanie’s strongest writing power I believe. The story kept me reading for a couple of days. It’s one of those books you REALLY like, but not completely get sucked in that you will not sleep. Although, honestly, the last couple of chapters of this book, I read after midnight. I always have this urge to finish a book once there are only 100 pages left to read.

I also fangirled every time Anna and St. Clair appeared in the book. Stephanie always says that you can read the books separately, but there’s a main line that follows through all three books. And that is what I really like. I LOVE to read about the old characters, to see how they are doing. And they are doing fine, thank you very much.

Over all, I totally adored Lola and the Boy Next Door.  Stephanie’s writing style is pretty amazing and she knows how to capture the feeling of being in love. There’s no need to save the world in her books; the real world is interesting enough to write about. That is one of the things Stephanie’s books show. If you are looking for an easy read with a little bit of dept about real people, Lola and the Boy Next Door is the book you are looking for!

You can get the books (English/Dutch) right here! Just… click on the link!

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