Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Title:  Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher:  Dutton

Publication Date: 9.29.2011

Pages: 338

Genre: Contemporary

Series: No (Companion to Anna and the French Kiss)

Source: Purchased Hardcover

Rating: A-

Summary (from Goodreads):

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Review:

After reading Anna and the French Kiss earlier this year, I fell in love with Stephanie Perkins. I love the way she could tell a story and put me right there in the middle of it with a cast of vibrant characters I would love to befriend. Thankfully, she retained that gift of telling a heart-warming tale of a girl falling in love in Lola and the Boy Next Door.

It’s so hard for me not to make comparisons between both of Perkins’ books, but I’m going to try. At first I found Lola somewhat irritating. The way she blatantly ignored the fact that her boyfriend, Max, was a tool to everyone else got under my skin like you wouldn’t believe. When everyone tells you the guy isn’t as great as you think? You might wanna listen. Just saying. It didn’t take me long to love her, though. Her individuality is stunning to read and an inspiration to teenagers. I love that she made a resolution to wear something different every day, and that her clothing typically depicted exactly how she was feeling. I love that she wasn’t afraid to be different.

The story between her and Cricket is just … *sigh*. Literally. It gave me the dopiest, goofiest grin for the majority of the book. I just loved reading their scenes together. The whole supporting cast was plain fantabulous (fantastic + fabulous = fantabulous). From Lola’s two dads, to her crazy mother that occasionally made sense, to her best friend and even Calliope. This cast is as rich and colorful as Lola’s many wigs.

My only real complaint (if you even want to call it that), is that I didn’t feel the same magic in San Francisco that I felt Perkins captured in Paris with her debut novel. She made Paris a character in Anna and the French Kiss, and I just felt that connection with San Francisco lacking in this book. I wish I could’ve fallen in love with this city, too.

Basically, a good rule of thumb to live by is: If Stephanie Perkins writes it, read it. Buy it, own it, cherish it. Her books are little slices of heaven; a sweet escape from reality to a world where love really does conquer all.

Buy: Amazon