The View: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Pages: 338

Publisher: Usbourne

Source: Bought

Rating: Amazing

Good Reads // Amazon

Summary (from Good Reads): 
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 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.

It's been no secret that I absolutely loved Anna and the French Kiss, so it was kind of a given that I had to read Lola and the Boy Next Door. I have to admit, I wasn't as into it as Anna, but that doesn't mean to say that I didn't still enjoy it.

Stephanie Perkins has such a great writing ability, and she really knows how teenagers speak, and think, which is great. I feel that this really enables me to connect to the characters and story as a whole, which I love being able to do with books as then I feel truly invested in the book. Perkins writing is also special to me as I feel like I'm reading the story of a real life person, instead of a fictional character. Perkins just makes everything sound so real.

The story itself was pretty good. The first few chapters, I was itching to know why Lola had such a strong disliking for the Bell twins, but that was revealed pretty quickly, which is good as it really helped the story progress into better things! I liked the feature of Lola having two dads, as I think this really added to the story, especially since having two dads or two mums is not uncommon! I also liked following Lola's story and her relationships with people such as her boyfriend, Cricket, her best friend, her mother and her dads. 

Now let's talk about Cricket..what can I say? Another great boy that Perkins has made us all swoon over! Stephanie Perkins has a seriously good ability to create and build on characters. I just don't know how she does it, but Cricket was honestly so sweet and a quirky character that it was fun to meet. I enjoyed the scenes that Cricket was in, and I feel that he really added something to the book. Plus I loved the connection between him and Lola - their difficult friendship was interesting to see, as at times, it seemed to be a bit come and go!

There were parts of the book that made me cringe a little, but then there were other parts that were so nice that I loved. I liked all the characters within the book, apart from Max. He was just such a douche bag, even from the very start, and I just wanted to slap him in the face. I also wanted to slap Lola a few times, because she just seemed so whiny at small points in the book.

Oh, and can we also mention the inclusion of Anna and St. Clair?! Oh my gosh, how perfect? I was so happy to see that Perkins had connected the two books together the way she did! Great job, Stephanie!

As I said at the start, I didn't like this book as much as Anna. With Anna and the French Kiss, I was constantly trying to sneak in time to read it, and although I did still do this with Lola, I don't feel like I was as attached to it in comparison to how much I was with Anna.

Lola and the Boy Next Door was an enjoyable read for me, and I enjoyed being able to experience Stephanie Perkins writing once again. I couldn't wait for Isla and the Happily Ever After before I read this, but now I'm looking forward to it even more!