Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Companion: Anna and the French Kiss
Hardcover, 388 page
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: September 29, 2011
Source: Book Expo America
Buy: Amazon
Book Summary (from Goodreads.com):
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:
If you’ve read Anna and the French Kiss (and you should if you’re a contemporary/romance fan), you may be wondering to yourself if it is possible for Stephanie Perkins to outdo herself. Anna hit the Best Of lists of many bloggers last year, and her companion novel Lola and the Boy Next Door has a lot to live up to.
I am here to happily tell you that I am fairly certain I liked Lola even more.
Much like Anna’s story, Lola has a few relationship problems. She’s trying to find herself, and when an old neighbor boy comes back into her life she is forced to reexamine who she was and who she is now. Pair that with the boyfriend she currently has who doesn’t always seem to ‘get’ her, and you’ve got the setup for an awesome contemporary.
A few reasons why I liked Lola even more than Anna:
-Lola has two dads instead of the traditional mother father household
-Since it is a companion novel, I got to smile every time Anna or Etienne made an appearance
-Cricket
-Lola handles herself slightly better than Anna did re: relationships
-Lola’s costumes and how they helped her learn about herself
The more I type about it, the more I want to go reread… Which isn’t fair to the other books I picked up at Book Expo America. For now I will just have to be satisfied knowing that fans of Anna will fall in love with Lola, too.
Buy: Amazon
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Thanks for the great novel! Can’t wait to read it. I love that it’s a companion novel.
Amber M recently posted..Winner of Birthday Giveaway & ARC of The Near Witch
I like your list of reasons of why Lola is even better than Anna–I loved Anna so much! I can’t wait to read this novel and more of Perkin’s writing. Love it!
Jayme @ Horribly Bookish recently posted..Review: Anglefire
I want this book so badly!! Great review!
Just finished this one up yestereday. I enjoyed it (Perkins definitely is a master of the contemp romance) but felt like it was a bit long in the middle. I liked Anna more, but still….really enjoyed this follow up and am looking forward to the third.
Michelle recently posted..Alyxandra Harvey – Haunting Violet
I really, really can’t wait to read this!! Great review!!
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Twitter: BasicallyBooks
I’m so glad to hear that it lived up/surpassed Anna! It would be SO hard to follow up a book that had the reaction that Anna did! I’m really excited to read this one!
Great review!
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