Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: September 29th 2011
Pages: 338
My Copy: Hardcover, Purchased
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Teaser

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

You really can't can't find anything as beautiful and free spirited as Stephanie Perkins' companion novels Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door.

Lola wants nothing more than to never have to see the Bell family ever again, but when they move next door again, she can't help but begin to feel her feelings for Cricket Bell all over again. And she wishes she could still hate him. But then she begins to doubt her feelings for her current boyfriends and things become even more difficult.

Gay Parents. I love it. Andy and Nathan, Lola's dads just seem so perfect and cute. You really don't see Gay parents is books and it's a very nice change, and the explanation for both of the parents is very well thought out and makes a lot of sense.

Anna and St. Clair make several appearances in this books as Lola's friends and advisory throughout the story. The book being in Lola's point of view gives an outsiders look on Anna and St. Clair, and seeing them from the outside is very different than it is from Anna's point of view in Anna and the French Kiss.

The one thing I wish would have been different in the book is that there would have been just more in the story. Cricket and Lola don't really do much other than talk in the book and I think it would have been a little bit better if they had done more together in the middle of the story.

In whole Stephanie Perkins books are some of my all time favorite and if you have not yet read Anna and the French Kiss it is a must read.