Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins
(Companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss)
Author Info: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Tumblr / Blog
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: September 29, 2011
ARC: 338 pages
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Buy: Amazon
Read it in: 2 days
Source: Won it in giveaway from Andra
Challenge: TBR Pile, ABC Reading
Rating: ★★★★★
To learn more about my rating badges, click here! 

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.

I've been dying to read this since I finished Anna and the French Kiss back in August 2011. I won this in a Twitter giveaway from Andra and it took a while to get here because of the stupid mail people, and I was SO excited to have it in my possession. But once I finally had it, I couldn't read it! I wanted to SO badly, but I wanted to save it for a time that I got into a major reading slump. Which, I did! And I joined a    read-a-thon and read it during that time and it definitely got me out of my slump, though now after I've read it nothing else compares and it really sucks!

It took me a couple of pages to really get into this new character. You can obviously tell Stephanie Perkins wrote this book, she has a certain unique voice to her that makes you fly through the pages of her books before realizing you're already a hundred pages in. But this wasn't Anna, and I was worried she wouldn't be able to compare to her. Which, she doesn't. I do like Anna better. But I absolutely LOVE Lola. She's definitely unique! I'd definitely want to be her friend.

It was hilarious when Anna and St. Clair pop up in this book. At first when I saw the name Anna and the whole thing with Anna's banana necklace, it didn't click for some reason. I was too into the story to notice. But when I read St. Clair's name, oh boy. I freaked out and had to go back a page or so to read where Anna showed up again. And then I was all, "Yay! Anna and St. Clair." and gosh, they are SO freaking cute. And hilarious. Just makes me so jealous!

I love my husband to death, but sometimes I'd love to go back to fresh new love where we wanted to be EVERYWHERE the other way. Sooo cute! But anyway, the characters are so real in this book. For a while Lola was annoying me a bit, I was screaming at her asking her what the hell was up with her with Max. Yes, he's a hot rockstar. BUT he wasn't right for her. I'm not going to go into anymore details about that....

But, oh, Cricket. He's so awkward and cute and makes you want to just snuggle up to him and give him a HUGEEE hug. *le sigh* I'm SO happy with the ending!

Overall, yes, I do love Anna and the French Kiss more. But this definitely was an amazing read and definitely one of my favorite contemporarys. I can't wait for the next companion novel. I'm going to be sad about getting into yet another characters head, but I know it will be great. =D Don't stop writing, Stephanie! You're amazing! I recommend this cute companion novels to EVERYONE! Especially if you're a hopeless romantic and you love contemporary romances. *Sighs with stupid grin on my face*

The third and final companion novel to  Anna and the French Kiss & Lola and the Boy Next Door is called Isla and the Happy Ever After. It is set to be released in 2013. 

Read my review for the first companion novel:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Series: --
Next Book in series: --
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: December 2, 2011
Hardcover: 372 Pages
Age Group: Young Adult
Buy: Amazon
Source: library
Challenge: Support Your Local Library, 350 Page
Overall: 5/5
Summary                                        
Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?
First Paragraph                                                                                       

Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amelie and Moulin Rouge. The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, although I have no idea what the function of either actually is. Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, and a lot of kings named Louis. I’m not sure what they did either, but I think it has something to do with the French Revolution, which has something to do with Bastille Day. The art museum is called the Louvre and it’s shaped like a pyramid and the Mona Lisa lives there along with the statue of the woman missing her arms. And there are cafes or bistros or whatever they call them on every street corner. And mimes. The food is supposed to be good, and the people drink a lot of wine and smoke a lot of cigarettes.

My Review                                                                                                

Oh. My. God. Seriously? I. Freaking. Loved. This. Book. Why did it have to end?! Why?! It was amazing. I have heard soooo many great things about this book.  I kept hearing that it was one of their most favorite contemporary novels for the year, and for some the greatest ever!

 It definitely got me intrigued and when I was able to snag it at the library without putting a hold on it, I was ecstatic! I wasn’t even looking for it at the time, I mean, I knew I wanted to read it, but I was just browsing the shelves and I saw the Eiffel tower on the spine and then the name and I freaked and grabbed it.

I don’t even know how to explain this book. I started reading it and that was it. I was hooked. From the first freaking page! And I didn’t stop then, nope. I read until, like, 4 in the morning! I only got in about 200 pages before falling asleep, but I finished the next day. And wow, I even dreamed about Paris and, of course, St. Clair (Drools!) when I was sleeping.  And that’s after about half an hour of tossing and turning while thinking about the book. I couldn’t get it out of my head. And I still can’t. I am so unbelievably sad I finished it. I keep staring at the pretty cover and making a sad face.  Normally books this size (Nearly 400.) takes me a few days to read nowadays because I have my son, but I read this book pretty dang fast! If I could add up all my time spent reading it, it might have been about 5 hours all together? And that’s because half the time I would read very slow in some areas, or go back and read it over again to smile at it. I will definitely be rereading this in the future and I can NOT wait to read the companion novel Lola and the Boy Next Door. I don’t even know what it’s about yet because I told myself I would read Anna and the French Kiss before reading the synopsis for the companion.

Anna was a great protagonist, she annoyed me at some points, but all the characters were great. Especially St. Clair! God he’s hot. And soooo nice! Even the annoying preppy girls like Amanda was fun to read about. All the characters were pretty real to me, they made mistakes and learned from them, and they were flawed. 

The writing pulls you in and has great detail. And I mean GREAT detail. Perkins did an amazing job describing the streets of Paris. I've always wanted to go there, but after reading this I want to go NOW. 

But overall, just get it. It was amazing. Really. I kind of want to go back and re-read it now just to be back with the characters and setting. 

Cover Love                                                                            

So cute!! Love everything about it!