Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the negihborhood. 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 the adorable and super sweet Anna and the French Kiss, I immediately started Lola and the Boy Next Door, the companion to Anna. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as good as Stephanie's first book; however, by the first chapter, I knew that wouldn't be the case at all, as Lola and the Boy Next Door was just as amazing, if not a little more so!
There were so many fantastic things going for this book; however, one of my favorites was the setting. Just like Paris, San Francisco is high on my list of places to travel, so the fact that Lola was set there made everything so much better. I loved Perkins' descriptions of the city, and I loved seeing her intertwine little parts of its history and charm within the text.
Another aspect I loved was the characters. Lola was someone who I'd want to be best friends with if she was real. I loved her spunk and attitude as well as her love of costumes and extraordinary outfits. She was such a kick ass character, so seeing everything from from her POV made this book great, in my opinion. I also loved the addition of Cricket, Lola's love interest. He was totally different from St. Clair; however, that made me love him all the more. I loved how wickedly smart he was as well as his love for inventions. Plus his love for Lola was seriously adorable, even though he made some major screw-ups at times regarding it. I also enjoyed seeing characters from Anna and the French Kiss pop up in this one as well! It was awesome getting to see them from anther character's perspective as well as to see how they played a role in this book.
The plot in this was also a lot of fun! I loved the development of Lola and Cricket's sorta-forbidden love as well as all the sweet and memorable scenes that popped up because of it. Furthermore, I enjoyed seeing more about Lola's love of costumes. Her outfits always sounded legendary, even though they probably would have been way too wild for me. I also loved the family aspect in this one. It was awesome to see that Lola had two dads, as that doesn't appear too much in YA. Plus I adored how Stephanie presented them just as any other family would be: loving, protective, and with their own fair amount of problems.
In all, Lola and the Boy Next Door was another great one by Perkins! I seriously can't wait to see how everything comes together in Isla and the Happily Ever After.
Grade: A+
Lola and the Boy Next Door is now out in paperback and hardcover.
Source: Bought
