Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss #2) – Stephanie Perkins
Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss #2)
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Release Date: September 29, 2011
Publisher: Usborne Publishing
Format: ebook
Page Number: 386
Source: Library Overdrive
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.
5 out of 5 stars
I loved this so much. It was so cute and warmed my heart to no end.
I liked this one much more than Anna and the French Kiss, although I did love that one too. I’ve found that the climax of these books is right at the end when the couple gets together, and then the book ends, but I’m just so obsessed with the cute that I’m okay that I don’t get much of the relationship.
This book followed Lola Nolan who is dating this 22-year-old bad boy rocker guy named Max. She’s in love with him, but she’s only 16 when they start dating. Her dads don’t like Max so they always pester him with questions, and at the time Lola hates it, but she comes to realize it’s for the best, when her childhood crush moves back in next door. Cricket Bell. The epitome of the boy next door, but now he’s older, taller, and much more handsome…
This was so cute.
Seriously SO cute.
I loved Lola because she was different. She has two gay fathers which I loved having in a story. It just added a different dynamic to make the book more realistic. She also wore costumes each and every day. She loved dressing up and creating her own outfits, which I thought was so cool. She wore wigs, glasses, dresses, rainboots, sparkles, you name it and Lola has worn it. I loved that this added something interesting to the storyline. Cricket. Let me tell ya. Dream guy right here, and I’m so lucky because he reminded me of my own boyfriend (aww I know).
Cricket Bell is the cutest love interest I have ever read because he’s so honest with everything. He tells Anna that he’s been in love with her since childhood, but doesn’t push her. He lives right next door and they can see into each other’s windows. He climbs over to her room one night while she’s still dating Max. He knows that she’s sad, so he tries to comfort her, and then Anna realizes in that moment that she loves him and has for forever. So she leans in for the kiss, and Cricket tells her that he wants to kiss her more than anything in the whole world, but doesn’t want her to feel guilty with Max. He’s just such a considerate guy.
Anna and St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss showed up! It was so cute because I knew that these were companion novels, but I didn’t know that they would be in the storyline so much. I can just see Stephanie Perkins smiling and giggling to herself while she came up with this adorable storyline. Ugh so cute. I love St. Clair and Anna together, so seeing that again was just so cute.
The first kiss between Lola and Cricket was perfect. The rest of the kisses were perfect. You could tell they were crazy about each other, and it was precious and so pure. That is what love feels like. That was such an amazing representation of the pure need and want of a couple in a new relationship. It was just so cute and real and I loved it.
The moon cycle thing that Cricket makes for Lola. Oh my gosh I almost died when I read that because it was just so sweet. So thoughtful, and you can tell in that moment she’s just so far head-over-heels. I LOVE that Cricket didn’t make a big deal about Lola having slept with Max because that would just be dumb and rude, but I’m also glad that the book left off when they were walking into the dance so then you were left thinking that all they did was kiss and be happy and cute.
I’ve started reading the acknowledgements of books, and I would HIGHLY recommend doing this. The last part of the acknowledgments was to her husband, and she talked about how he flew across the country to take her to prom, and they wore their matching Converse for grand march. I was just overwhelmed with the cute of the book and that just added another layer omg it made me so happy.
Guys, this series is just as good as everyone says it is. This has raised the bar for every contemporary book I read!!
