Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lola and the Boy Next Door is, of course, about a super fashion eccentric designer girl named Lola. Lola likes to dress in costume, she likes being in love with her 22 year old rocker boyfriend, and she likes creating the ultimate dress for her high school dance. What Lola does not like is her old crush Cricket and his twin sister Calliope moving back in next door. It could very well mean disaster.

Stephanie Perkins writes the cutest stories!

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Writing:
Stephanie Perkins has a very easy-going writing style. Her characters are young, and they talk young. Somehow, Perkins infuses that with the most beautiful use of language, and it comes off as light, and easy-going, and just all around feel good.

Characters:
I love the characters in this book. The female protagonist, Lola, is so full of imperfections. She makes a lot of mistakes, she seems to feel confused a lot. She is, by no stretch of imagination, the typical human, and none the less, the typical teenager. She is also fresh, and passionate, and interesting. Her crazy outfits are intriguing, and her reason behind wearing them, even more. I would have pegged her as a attention seeker, as we all can be at times, but it was clear, that she was truly passionate about her costumes. I love when characters have a thing or idea or past time that they are passionate about. There are too many YA characters that have been left without lately, they are defined by their paranormal powers and the person they "somehow fell in love" with. I was beginning to miss characters who just liked to do "things".

Cricket is adorable and nice to read about. I did have a slight problem with Max. Not with his character, which I liked, but with his somehow indefinite spiral towards being the evil jerk of the story. I saw it coming the entire time, that eventually Max would be painted as a sort of antagonist, making it clear and easy for Lola to just knock him out of the picture towards the end. But, I wouldn't ask Perkins to change that aspect, or any other. It just bothered me because it was predictable, and it happens a lot. But hey, I also hate when female characters hold on to useless love triangles, when clearly, they wouldn't give one side the time of day, and the other side has their panties dropping with a thought. At least Lola seemed to have the true inner turmoil that comes with having feelings for two people at the same time.

I loved the supporting characters. Especially Lola's two dads, they were cute and so lovable. I guess I just have a thing for father figures because I am a total daddy's girl. Off course, every extra glimpse I got of Anna an St. Clair was more than welcome, and appreciated, they were so cute! I felt like I didn't see enough of Lola's best friend, but other than that, good supporting characters.

Story & Plot:
Perkins is very good at making her stories light and cute, even with the inclusion of the many problems and mini tragedies that ensue. It's never too heavy, and it just feels good to read. Good pacing, I was never bored by the story one moment, and then completely overwhelmed the next. Perkins is just an awesome story teller.

Basically:
I enjoyed reading Lola and The Boy Next Door. It was fun and light of heart. I definitely want Perkins to write more. She will be my go to writer when I need something to cheer me up, something that will make me grin like a fool.

Speaking of grinning like a fool, did I mention than Anna and St. Clair were cute!

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