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A review by akookieforyou
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
3.0
“And I hold my head high toward my big entrance, hand in hand with the boy who gave me the moon and the stars.”
I really wanted to fall in love with this the same way I did with Anna and the French Kiss, but that magic just wasn't there. Most of my negative feelings towards this story are because of Lola; she irritated me with the way she treated literally every single other character crap. Especially Cricket. It seemed like she was toying with him, and leading him on through most of the book ,until she finally dumps her asshole boyfriend (who she lied to constantly). I know that Etienne did something similar in book one, but the way he handled things was a lot better. Plus a major part of the reason he stayed with his girlfriend so long was because his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and he was afraid of being left all alone. I'm not excusing his behavior, because the way he went about things was wrong, but he was much more sympathetic than Lola was. I just wish Stephanie Perkins wouldn't have done such a similar love-triangle setup, then I wouldn't have compared the two so closely. I personally think this story would've worked better if it had been centered on when Lola and Cricket first started developing feelings toward each other, and Max should've been left out entirely.
Despite all of my criticisms, there were a lot of things that I really liked about this book, hence why it doesn't have a 1 star rating, Lola's parents being one of them. It's rare to see such present parents in YA, usually they're absent, so it was really nice to see not only ones that were actually around, but that were also very likable and respectable. I also found Lola's passion for costumes to be really interesting, especially her big dress project throughout the whole novel with the big payoff at the end. And the romantic scenes between Lola and Cricket were (usually) really good, and even a bit swoon worthy.
Overall this book was decent. Definitely not one of my new favorite contemporary romances, but there were still some fun and enjoyable aspects.
I really wanted to fall in love with this the same way I did with Anna and the French Kiss, but that magic just wasn't there. Most of my negative feelings towards this story are because of Lola; she irritated me with the way she treated literally every single other character crap. Especially Cricket. It seemed like she was toying with him, and leading him on through most of the book ,until she finally dumps her asshole boyfriend (who she lied to constantly). I know that Etienne did something similar in book one, but the way he handled things was a lot better. Plus a major part of the reason he stayed with his girlfriend so long was because his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and he was afraid of being left all alone. I'm not excusing his behavior, because the way he went about things was wrong, but he was much more sympathetic than Lola was. I just wish Stephanie Perkins wouldn't have done such a similar love-triangle setup, then I wouldn't have compared the two so closely. I personally think this story would've worked better if it had been centered on when Lola and Cricket first started developing feelings toward each other, and Max should've been left out entirely.
Despite all of my criticisms, there were a lot of things that I really liked about this book, hence why it doesn't have a 1 star rating, Lola's parents being one of them. It's rare to see such present parents in YA, usually they're absent, so it was really nice to see not only ones that were actually around, but that were also very likable and respectable. I also found Lola's passion for costumes to be really interesting, especially her big dress project throughout the whole novel with the big payoff at the end. And the romantic scenes between Lola and Cricket were (usually) really good, and even a bit swoon worthy.
Overall this book was decent. Definitely not one of my new favorite contemporary romances, but there were still some fun and enjoyable aspects.