Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Summary: “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.” (Summary found on Goodreads).
Okay, I’m going to go a little crazy here because I really, really hated Lola.
First, she’s the most self-centered person on the face of the fictional planet. I swear, everything was Lola, Lola, Lola. Do other people exist in her world? Nope. Not unless it’s for her benefit. For goodness sakes, Lola Nolan, you do not live in this world alone. And yet somehow Cricket, who is the most precious boy ever, dealt with it. I guess that’s what love does to you, it makes you put up with things you wouldn’t ordinarily. Love makes you a fool, trust me on that one.
Second, Lola led Cricket on. I don’t care if she felt bad about it ever. She led someone on and coming from personal experience, it’s not exactly fun. Continuing on Lola’s self-righteous attitude, she never considered that her actions could hurt Cricket. It just made her feel better to be around him, so she did it anyway. I cannot and will not condone her actions.
Ultimately, it was Lola that caused this book to be rated three stars. The plot itself, which was largely unremarkable, would have earned four stars. I did enjoy Lola and the Boy Next-Door. I was captivated and I was head over heels in love with Cricket. I would never have made him wait for me because if I truly loved him, I wouldn’t have needed to get over the jerk that I was dating before. Also on the list of people I hated in this book: Lola’s boyfriend in the beginning of the book.
In the end, it wasn’t a special book. Anna and the French Kiss was so much better and had ten million times the depth. I’ll probably read Isla and the Happily Ever After because the cameos from Etienne and Anna make everything better. I hope I didn’t get too angry with this review, but leading someone on is something I absolutely 100% cannot handle.
However, if you love boys who are as sweet as cinnamon rolls, give this book a shot. Maybe Cricket will steal your heart as well (and you can pretend Lola isn’t in the picture).
-Book Hugger
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