Review - Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

by Stephanie Perkins
publisher: Dutton Books
date of publication: September 29, 2011
format: Hardcover
pages: 338
source: purchased
series: Anna and the French Kiss #2
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From Goodreads:

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.

This book has been sitting on my shelves for the longest time, yet I'm just now getting to it.  Why is that?  Heck if I know.  Once I pulled it down and opened that shiny cover, I got sucked in and didn't want to give up reading it. Lola and the Boy Next Door made for a great companion to Anna and the French Kiss, and while it's been quite some time since I read Anna, it still brought back many of the same feelings I had when I did.

Lola Nolan is a girl struggling to figure things out.  She sees herself as much more mature than she really is, evidenced by her choice of boyfriend, a man 4 years older than herself.  That may not seem like much, but at 17, Lola is still figuring out who she is and what she needs.  Seeing Lola get treated like dirt by Max made me very frustrated, almost to the point of putting down the book.  One of her greatest moments of redemption comes in the wake of something horrible he says to her, and it was then that I realized what potential she had as a character.  As she works through the tumult of her thoughts and comes to the realization of who she really is, she really shines.  It is then that you see that Cricket is there to highlight all of the best of her while Max highlights all of the worst.  It made for an interesting contrast and I really enjoyed seeing the culmination of that conflict.

Stephanie Perkins is a very funny writer.  In spite of the heavier issues at hand, she never failed to make me laugh when it was most needed.  The blend of seriousness and humor really worked for Lola and the Boy Next Door and the delivery was much appreciated.  I also loved the subplot involving her dads and her biological mother.  The circumstances surrounding Lola's birth and the lingering effects they left upon her really lent perspective to her overall character.  When combined, it made for an engrossing read that left me alternating between laughter and sniffles.

While I didn't get quite the same level of experience reading Lola and the Boy Next Door as I did Anna and the French Kiss, I still found Lola to be an enjoyable read that ultimately left me with a smile on my face in the end.  The ways in which Perkins incorporated humor and even characters from Anna into the storyline made it even more engaging.  If you're looking for a fun read with some weight at the root of it, Lola and the Boy Next Door should do very nicely.  I would definitely recommend it to all.