Lola and the Boy Next Doorby Stephanie Perkins
This book just came out last week, so I hurried my little derrière to Barnes and Noble to buy it before somebody else did. Guess who I found? Anna and Étienne! I love them. Lola and Cricket are definitely going to give them a run for their money though.
From Amazon:
"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."
Let's take care of the basics. Setting? Gorgeous. Time Period? Pleasantly Present. I also liked that it ended in winter. A lot of books start in fall and end in spring. It's something to note.
Characters? It's time to rave. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Stephanie Perkins's characters are just brilliant. There's a line in the book that is something along the lines of some people's imperfections are other people's idea of perfection—written much better than that, I assure you. I love Lola. I love Cricket. I love the addition of Anna and Étienne. I love Lola's dads. They were all perfectly perfect. I wished we'd gotten to learn a little bit more about Lindsey and Calliope. I didn't like Max from the beginning—though his Where the Wild Things Are tattoo is just so goshdarn adorable—but he wasn't meant to be the cuddly, cute, praying mantis-like boy that is Cricket.
It's one of those stories where you know the end before the characters do, but that doesn't make it any less exciting or rewarding to read. I also would have given it four stars until the last forty pages. Those pages were the best, most awesomest, most adorablest, most awww-inducing pages ever.
And she lives in a mint green house. If I could choose a house color, mint green would be my preferred color of house.
I think that I liked Anna better, not "I think," I did like Anna better, but Lola and the Boy Next Door is my second favorite. If we're being technical, that would also make it my least favorite of her books, but that's not fair! Stephanie Perkins and her characters have totally been in my head for the past few months.
Characters? It's time to rave. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Stephanie Perkins's characters are just brilliant. There's a line in the book that is something along the lines of some people's imperfections are other people's idea of perfection—written much better than that, I assure you. I love Lola. I love Cricket. I love the addition of Anna and Étienne. I love Lola's dads. They were all perfectly perfect. I wished we'd gotten to learn a little bit more about Lindsey and Calliope. I didn't like Max from the beginning—though his Where the Wild Things Are tattoo is just so goshdarn adorable—but he wasn't meant to be the cuddly, cute, praying mantis-like boy that is Cricket.
It's one of those stories where you know the end before the characters do, but that doesn't make it any less exciting or rewarding to read. I also would have given it four stars until the last forty pages. Those pages were the best, most awesomest, most adorablest, most awww-inducing pages ever.
And she lives in a mint green house. If I could choose a house color, mint green would be my preferred color of house.
I think that I liked Anna better, not "I think," I did like Anna better, but Lola and the Boy Next Door is my second favorite. If we're being technical, that would also make it my least favorite of her books, but that's not fair! Stephanie Perkins and her characters have totally been in my head for the past few months.
Rating: ★★★★★ / 5
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