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.
After reading and loving Anna and the French Kiss, I had high hopes for Lola and the Boy Next Door. Despite having liked this one slightly less than the first book, I still loved it and thought it was a great read.
Once again, the writing is wonderful. Lola is such a funny protagonist, but comparing her with Anna, i couldn’t notice how she was a little bit more immature, which was fine, because she IS younger than Anna. She did get on my nerves in the beginning, especially about her relationship with Max, which I could write a whole post about how wrong that one was…
I actually thought that the message of this book was stronger. Lola has to come to grips with who she is and accept it, while accepting everyone else too. It’s a lovely story, really.
I loved Cricket Bell! And Cricket and Lola as so sweet and cute, my heart was exploding with happiness whenever they were together. I loved that he didn’t shy away from his feelings anymore, and he told her from the start how important she was to him. I loved how slow their relationship progressed and how sure they both were about each other, before anything else happened.
One thing I absolutely adored in this book – that was lacking, for obvious reasons, in Anna – was the involvement of family! Lola’s parents are super awesome! I loved them. I loved how she loved them. Even when they were being overprotective and almost beating the crap out of Cricket… I still loved them. I loved Andy especially, though Nathan was a riot. I really liked Norah’s role on the story, and how Lola manages to start a real relationship with her. Equally, I liked the role of Cricket’s family, especially the importance of Calliope in his live, even if I wasn’t a big fan of hers in the beginning.
Friends were also super important in this book, and I loved Lola’s relationship with Lindsay – there should be more friendships like theirs in YA. But I was ecstatic when two familiar characters became a recurrent appearance… yep, Anna and Étienne were there, and they were glorious! I love them so so much!!!! I loved how close they were, and that they were practically living together 😀 ❤ !!!!
Ultimately, I loved reading about Lola and Cricket, the only thing that put me off a bit about this book was how irritable Lola was at some points, and sometimes she was just a tiny bit over the top… I still loved her! 😀
Cricket is so cute. It’s impossible not to love him 😀 . Also, good thing this book wasn’t lacking of Anna and Étienne. They were one of the best parts of the book.
You really didn’t like Lola’s relationship with Max. Was that only because of the age?? I didn’t like it mostly because I didn’t like Max
i don’t mind age differences, but there a 16 yo with a 22 yo? it’s weird. it’s even weirder the whole he waited to the day that she turned 17 to have sex. I don’t think she was ready. and her accusation later on about how he liked how young she was? I don’t think she was that far from the mark…
I didn’t have problems with the age only with how a**hole he was. But I agree with you on that
but you know, I didn’t think he was THAT much of an asshole. i thought he was creepy as hell, because come on… Lola was totally jail bait. but the fact that he even went along with the sunday brunches and everything… I thought it was partially sweet. Still creepy, but sweet.
what he eventually said to her was the worst. but I also don’t think that she was ever truly herself with him.
She wasn’t. She was trying to be someone else when she was with him
yep. so his accusation wasn’t that out there, you know?
Yeah (even if I don’t remember his accusation that well)
he said she was always a different person each time he saw her. that she was a fake, and there was nothing special about her 😦
But it was Lola. It’s just like you said, she was trying to figure out who she was. I didn’t like Max at all
she was. and she had the right to be because she was only 17. the problem was that she was trying to act a lot older because the wanted to be with him :(. she was crazy immature and irrational about the whole Max thing. Her relationship with Cricket was a lot more balanced 🙂
Yeah. You can see that the relationship was wrong from the beginning. Not only becaus eof the age but because the way she acted to be with him. It was completely different with Cricket
cricket knew HER
True 🙂
Glad you liked this one! It’s one of the first few YA Contemporary books I’ve read. 🙂
i did. but it’s my least favorite of the series though
This one is my favorite from the trilogy and I think it’s mostly because it’s set in California haha
i loved the setting because I love san francisco, but Lola ended up being my least favorite of the 3 =(
Isla is my least favorite, she was just too obsessive for me. And the cover says New York and they were there like five minutes!!
lol. Isla ended up being my favorite. lol ;). I guess the cover has NY because it couldn’t have paris again
Yeah and that bothered me haha I guess we can’t always agree on books haha
😉 it happens
I read Anna, and Isla recently, and for some reason skipped Lola, I don’t know why, maybe I sensed you didn’t like it that much and decided to skip it, haha! Great review! I really like this series so far, so I might read that one eventually 🙂
LOL!!! eheh. you should give this one a go :D. what’s your favorite so far?
I will! I think I loved Isla even more! 😀
really? Isla was my favorite 😀 ❤
Great review! Totally agree. Didn’t love it quite as much as Anna, but it was still really cute. 🙂
it was. especially when Lola was with Cricket 😀
I do agree with everything you said. I liked this one the least of the three books, but I still loved it. I could find no faults in Perkins writing, even when Lola got on my nerves. I can’t wait for her to release new books!
oh yeah, the writing is kind of perfect. I loved how the 3 girls have such different voices 😀
They were all their very own person! But still, there was this thread that connected them all together and they were fun, funny and heartbreaking all at once.
yeah :D, I want more =/… I would like a novella about the wedding or something
Uuuuh, that would be great! I am still devastated that no one has made Josh’s comic yet …
yeah =/, it was so great. I loved Isla description of the events of Anna and the French kiss on Josh’s comic. btw, the interval between Lola and Isla publication was huge!
I didn’t notice it that much. I read them before Isla was published, but not much before …
well, lola is from 2011 and isla from 2014… =/
Oh wow!
but I would be more than happy with a short novella…. just letting us know how everyone is doing 😉
I’d love that too, but I think she’s writing a crime novel or something now.
really? damn! she could put a novella in one of her anthologies…
Ahh yes! More than Lola and Cricket, I’m shipping Lola’s dads more. I can imagine how cool (and hard) it will be growing up with two fathers!
I love her dads so much!!!! ❤
Yay for loving LOLA! I’m such a huge fan of this series, but I have to say that LOLA is my least favorite. ANNA in first and ISLA in second. Stephanie Perkins is simply amazing.
lola is my least favorite too, but I liked Isla most of all 😀