Mundie Moms

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Book Review: Lola and The Boy Next Door



Published by: Dutton/Penguin Books
To Be Released on: September 29th, 2011
Source: ARC from publisher to review
5 stars- I Adore Stephanie's writing

In this companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, two teens discover that true love may be closer than they think.

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. -quoted from Stephanie's site

Stephanie won me over with her debut, Anna and the French Kiss and she did it again in her companion novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door. There's just something about Stephanie's writing that's magical. She makes true love real, believable and beautiful. She has this ability to transform her story into reality. Her characters feel like friends, her settings come to life and her stories leave me wanting more.

I love the way Stephanie makes me connect with her characters, and Lola and the Boy Next Door has an amazing cast of diverse characters that I fell in love with. Aside from Lola, and Cricket are of course my favorites Anna and St. Clair who play a larger role than I thought in Lola's story, and of course loved every minute of them! Lola also has two over protective fathers. I adored these two guys! They made me laugh, they made me sigh, and they made me respect and admire them for being so involved in their daughters life. Each character in Lola's life is written in a realistic, relatable way. They're flawed, imperfect, normal, every day people.

Lola herself is a character I laughed with, cried with and connected with the most. I like the way Stephanie created her character arc through out the course her story. Lola really grew into her own person. Her story is one about finding yourself, staying true to who you are, first love, heart break, falling in love and learning from your mistakes. There's a few things she does that made the mother side of me cringe, but the rebellious, teenage side of me totally related to. After all, growing up is all about choices and I understood why she made the choices she did. I admired her for taking responsibility for the out come of some of her actions. She's really a pretty grounded person, and I respected her for who she was. I love that she wasn't afraid to let her self shine in the way she dresses and the wigs she wears. I only wish I could pull that off the way Lola does.

The romance in this story is fabulous! Stephanie has a talent for ripping my heart, shredded it to pieces and than fixing it. She created such a fantastic relationship between Lola and Cricket and she contrasted with that of Lola's boyfriend Max. The two relationships couldn't be any more different and I really sympathized with the emotions Lola was going on through and how she felt. Cricket! What a fabulous nerdy, boy next door, charming, respectful character he is! I adored him! The chemistry between these two is so well done and so realistic. It's so well paced and drawn out beautifully through out the story.

Lola and the Boy Next Door is a story that is simple and complex. It's touching, and gut-retching. It's witty and moving. It's brilliant and beautifully written. It's amazing and exciting. It's a story that's layered with so many emotions and realistic, relatable experiences that older teens, and adults will connect with it on many different levels. This book is a complete package of awesomeness! I highly recommend picking it up. There are a few mentions of sex, and very mild language in the book.

8 comments:

  1. Oh I'm so happy that this one is good. I absolutely loved Anna too and I can't wait to get my hands on this.

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

    ReplyDelete
  2. yabooknerd- Tomorrow!!! I can't wait to pick up the published copy. It's a really good read.

    Giselle- I loved Anna, and Lola's story is such a great companion to Anna's.

    ReplyDelete
  3. YAYAYAYYAY I'm glad you loved it! I'm super excited to read this and since I loved Anna so much I have high expectations for this one too, sounds like it will totally live up to them :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great review, MMs. I'm just nodding my head at everything you said. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mel- Thank you!! It's such a great addition! I highly recommend picking it up tomorrow!

    Sophie- Thank you! I'm sure you are lol ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can't wait to read this one. I still need to read Anna and The French Kiss. *hangs head in shame* I do at least own it now - just haven't had time to read it.

    Andrea @ Reading Lark

    ReplyDelete
  7. Andrea- Yes you do!!! I think you'll love both of them.

    ReplyDelete

Labels