Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door
~Stephanie Perkins

Reading level: Ages 14 and up
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publish Date: September 29, 2011
ISBN-10: 0525423281
ISBN-13: 978-0525423287
ASIN: B004RKXHZY

From the author's website:
In this companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, two teens discover that true love may be closer than they think.

 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.

Delores "Lola" Nolan has just turned 17 and thinks her life is moving along just fine - she's got a boyfriend who loves her, a great best friend, and she loves her two dads.  Well... things are fine if you don't count the fact  that her dads don't approve of her 22-year-old boyfriend.  Then, the Bell twins move back in next door and her birth mother shows up, and Lola's life gets turned upside down.

My thoughts:
I absolutely loved Anna and the French Kiss, so I was super-excited to read Lola and the Boy Next Door;  Ms. Perkins writing shines again in this wonderful story of love lost and found anew.

Lola is a sweet kid with a style all her own - wigs, glitter, dresses made from tablecloths.  She works in a local movie theatre (with Anna from Anna and the French Kiss), hangs out with her best friend Lindsey, and sees her boyfriend Max as often as her fathers will let her.  When the Bell twins move back in, she's devastated.  Calliope Bell is just a witch, and her twin brother Cricket Bell was Lola's True Love.  Then, right before they moved away, something happened between them.  It took Lola a long time to get over the hurt, so when he moves back in, she's determined not to let him get under her skin. But he does, again and again and again...

     Cricket walks several steps behind me.  It's a careful distance.
     I wonder if he's looking at my butt.
WHY DID I JUST THINK THAT?  Now my butt feels COLOSSAL.  Maybe he's looking at my legs.  Is that better?  Or worse?  Do I want him looking at me?  I hold on to the bottom of my dress as I climb into the backseat and crawl to the other side.  I'm sure he's looking at my butt.  He has to be.  It's huge, and it's right there, and it's huge.
     No. I'm acting crazy.
     I glance over, and he smiles at me as he buckles his seat belt. My cheeks grow warm.
     WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?
~Page 128, Lola and the Boy Next Door

Cricket is absolutely adorable - tall, stylish but geeky, smart, and kind. He's so interested in Lola; everyone can tell, especially Max, who's not happy about it, and Lola's dads, who are happy about it.  He's absolutely the kind of boy I'd want my own daughters to date.

     Deep breaths.  Take deep breaths.  I adjust my dress, but the fabric sticks to my leg, and I accidentally flash Cricket my thigh.  This time, I catch him looking.  His fingers are messing with his bracelets and rubber bands.  Our eyes lock.
     A rubber band snaps and shoots into the windshield.  Nathan's and Andy's heads jolt back in fright, but they laugh when they realize what happened.
     Cricket's body shrinks up in his seat, "Sorry! Sorry."
     And I'm strangely relieved to know that I'm not the only one freaking out.
~Page 129, Lola and the Boy Next Door

In Lola and the Boy Next Door, Ms. Perkins has written wonderful characters who leap off the pages:  Lola's dads, Max the boyfriend, and Cricket's twin sister Calliope are all integral to the plot without overshadowing Lola and Cricket.  I also loved seeing Anna and St. Clair again.

I think the only reason I didn't give Lola 5 stars is that I didn't identify with Lola like I did with Anna.  That sounds like a bad thing but it's not - the characters are very different, but the writing and story are still fabulous.  I tore through Lola and the Boy Next Door in a day.  This is definitely a series I will be keeping up with!  I'm looking forward to Isla and the Happily Ever After; do we really have to wait until Fall 2012?

 My Rating:

Book received by publisher at ALA.

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss 
~Stephanie Perkins 

Reading level: Ages 12 and up 
Hardcover: 372 pages 
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (December 2, 2010)
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0525423273 
ASIN: B005EP1PJQ

 From the author's website:
Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend. 

 But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.

Anna Oliphant is starting her senior year in high school.  She should be extatic, but she's not; her father has enrolled her in a French boarding school for American students.  She's leaving behind her best friend, Bridgette, and her latest crush, Toph, the cute guy at work who she finally kissed the night before she left for Paris.  She's alone and doesn't know anyone, doesn't speak French, and just wants to go home to Atlanta.
She does make friends, of course, and even while she's pining for Toph, she develops a crush on Etienne St. Clair, one of the guys in her group of friends.  She thinks he might feel the same, but St. Clair has a girlfriend; she graduated last year and attends a local Parisian college.  It shouldn't be complicated, right?  But it sooo is...  
My thoughts:It's ALWAYS the books that I put off reading that I end up adoring.  Anna and the French Kiss is like hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) on a cold winter day:  It warmed my heart, made me smile, and I didn't want to put it down.  
Stephanie Perkins has written a wonderful story about a teenage girl who's learning that although things change, they're not always bad.  Her cast of characters are well-rounded and each of them brings something special to the story.  Besides the witty writing and sweet story line, though, I think what I liked best is that Anna is a character that I can relate to.  I remember those feelings of insecurity and just feeling so...awkward.  Her fears about being an American in France are comically endearing.  I also swooned with Anna over St. Clair, he was  so charming and sweet had his own problems to deal with.
As you probably guessed from the title, Anna and the French Kiss is set in Paris, and Ms. Perkins does a wonderful job of highlighting all the parts of Paris I hope to one day see for myself.  There were several scenes that took place in the city, notably a very sweet scene when St. Clair takes Anna on a brief tour of the city to assuage her fear of leaving the school's campus. 
In case I haven't made it clear yet, I absolutely recommend Anna and the French Kiss; it's definitely going on my Keeper Shelf.  I plan to read more books by Ms. Perkins, starting with the next book in this series, Lola and the Boy Next Door, on shelves September 29.
My Rating: