Anna and the French kiss is great. Lola and the Boy Next Door is also great. Stephanie Perkins is great.
Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton
Genre: Young Adult: Romance
Pages: 338
Synopsis
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 just finished this book. I've been reading it since last week but due to our quarterly exams, which I really need to prepare, I got delayed everyday. So now, finally, I finished it and I have great things to tell about it.
When I started reading Lola and the Boy Next Door, I got bored. I'm not a girl so I cannot get into the "fashion matter" of Lola. Also, I don't like the describe-all-manner in the first few chapters of the book. I first thought that Anna is better. In Anna, I got into the story at the very first chapter and enjoy it. But in Lola, I need to force myself to continue because I know that this must be great. Now, here's the thing. After finishing the book, I finally concluded the difference between the two. Anna and the French Kiss started with the introduction of the guy-to-be and then followed by sweet scenes. But at the past middle part, there are a lot of hanging moments. In Lola and the Boy Next Door, the hanging moments, for me, are on the beginning then suddenly we were placed in a sweet parts. I salute Stephanie for this matter.
Lola is just a typical girl, except for the costume matter. She improved very little in the story. We define dimensional or 3D characters as someone who developed throughout the story. From weak to great, for example. But in the case of Lola, many things about her didn't change. Her attitude and relationship with other people, especially to Norra, are the improvements I greatly like. Actually, we can never mind the other because attitude is one of the important traits for a character to develop.
Cricket, also, improved very very little. I don't know what's happening to me. I super like this books but I admit that the characters improved very little. Cricket is nice, talented in the field of mechanics, and is always in need to be present in his twin competitions. That's all. Nothing more.
Since this is romance, let's talk about the love factor of this book. The love between the two characters started years before the time in the book. Then when they met again, Lola found out that she still have that feeling for him. I think this kind of love is very rare for today's romance novels. Many of today's works started from not knowing each other then falling in love. But this book, it's different. I, again, salute Stephanie for expanding her imagination out of the boundaries.
Overall, I still like this book. I like the minor characters and their characteristics. I just have this problem with the main characters development. But I assure swooning, smiling, fantasizing , etc while reading this. Great work!
