Book Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins.

Product details:
Publisher: Dutton.
Hardcover, 338 pages.
Release date: September 29th 2011.
Rating: 3½ out of 5.
Ages: YA.

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.

A bittersweet tale of love and loss, and learning to love again, Stephanie Perkins Lola and the Boy Next Door, a companion novel to 2010’s heart-warming Anna and the French Kiss, is both whimsical and wistful telling the story of budding fashion designer Lola Nolan as she deals with family fall outs, older boyfriends and the reappearance of Cricket, the boy next door who broke her heart.  Lola’s world is quirky and cute, but it is missing the relatable qualities of Anna and the French Kiss. Perkins again presents to us a tale that is wonderfully written, engaging and witty, but her second novel lacks a little of the magic that made her first forever unforgettable.

In any book enjoyment of the text will often hinge on how well a reader can relate to its characters, and I feel this statement is true especially in relation to this book, and most important in the discussion of the character of Lola.   Unfortunately for me, right from the start, I didn’t relate to Lola, I just couldn’t find any common ground between us.  It’s not that she’s an unlikeable person per se, although she is a little too try hard for my liking, it’s just that we never clicked. While I love that she is a very unique character, quirky, dramatic, and with an extremely unconventional sense of style through which she expresses herself, it is also this which partly makes her difficult to connect with. 

Then there’s the issue of Max, Lola’s boyfriend who at five years older than her is pretty much hated by Lola’s parents, her two dads who certainly have nothing good to say about him, even though he makes every effort to endear himself to them. It doesn’t work, and when Cricket moves back in next door, Lola’s dads couldn’t be more delighted. They want her to be rid of her pot smoking rock star boyfriend, and in his place, they want Cricket Bell, a little shy and a little awkward, he’s a self-confessed geek, and the boy Lola has been in love with forever. So, really, Max didn’t stand a chance, but there were certain elements added to his character as the story progressed that seemed very contrived and that I took issue with. As a love interest, Cricket might have worked for Lola’s dads, but he just didn’t work for me. The appearance of Étienne St. Clair in this book didn’t do Cricket any favours either. I know some people have fallen for Cricket Bell, but I am all about St. Clair, and whenever he appeared on these pages I was all like ‘Cricket who?’  This brings me to the name situation, which has to be addressed. I am preoccupied with names in books, and I place far too much importance on them, I know, but how am I meant to find a name like Cricket appealing? Étienne St. Clair had me swooning, but Cricket Bell? Er, no.

So, while St. Clair stole the show from Cricket, he’s not all perfect here either. I know him and Anna and all loved up and besotted with each other, but they are literally stuck to each other like glue in this book.  I’ll forgive them, as I guess they’re still in that glorious honeymoon period of their relationship, although I preferred when they were all angsty and conflicted and desperate for that kiss!!

 While LOLA didn’t work for me quite as well as ANNA did, I’m not sure that any contemporary romance ever will. That glorious Parisian setting and the dreamiest of dreamiest boys were always going to be heard to beat. In Lola and the Boy Next Door the action has moved to San Francisco, and I admit that just like I knew I would, I missed Paris so much. The city of love came to life on the pages of Anna and the French Kiss and was the perfect backdrop to the story of Anna and Étienne. I’m excited to hear that Perkins is taking her characters back to Paris in Isla and the Happy Ever After, the third and final companion book in this set, which releases next year. I’m looking forward to taking that trip!