Lola and the Boy Next Door

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. (from Goodreads)

So. I am going to try my hardest not to compare this to Anna and the French Kiss, because that book was epic. This one wasn't as great, but I still enjoyed it.

Lola is a girl with a crazy sense of fashion. When I picked up this book, I thought her style would be crazy, but not outrageous, like how the girl on the cover is dressed. No. She literally dressed up - as in she dressed up as Cleopatra to go to school. It wasn't something that you normally see in books, so I liked that aspect. It also provided a good metaphor for later in the book

The characters are, in my opinion, what makes Stephanie Perkins' books. Both of them. The plots are okay, but I'm not a pure-romance kind of girl. Yet I love these books. And her characters are what do it.

Lola, even though she's pretty much the opposite of me in every way, still felt relatable to me. I'll say it again: Perkins' characters make the book.

The only character I had a problem with was Max. He was your average biker/rock band dude, and everything about him screamed 'bad boy'! I didn't even see why Lola was with him in the first place. All he did was make out/yell at Lola, and she put up with it. Even after he had done something that would have made me walk out on him forever, Lola was telling herself that Max loved her and that she should put up with it because he put up with so much from her parents.

The setting, too, was not as fun (for me) as in Anna. I've always wanted to go to Paris, and I've been to San Francisco. Part of the fun of Anna was discovering Paris as she did. Here, because Lola lived in SF and I'd been there, it wasn't as noteworthy.

Other than that, I found Lola to be a sweet book that provided an enjoyable several hours.