LOVIN LOLA....

Lola and the Boy Next Door
Stephanie Perkins
Released September 29, 2011
338 Pages
Dutton Publishers

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.

If I am being completely honest....I didn't have the same stupid smile pasted across my face after finishing Lola and the Boy Next Door as I did after finishing Anna and the French Kiss, BUT it was two in the morning and I was pretty tired....

Another BUT...I did really enjoy the story...the characters, Lola and Cricket, and the realness of the story.  I really liked Lola as our heroine.  She was cool, creative and someone that I would definitely have been friends with in High School.  She dated older bad boys, uh HELLO..we have all made that mistake before and she had fallen for a boy who knew her so well that he was able to break her heart so completely.  And Cricket...what a freakn cutie pie.....and when he tells her how he feels about her....I think I swooned right with Ms. Lola.

I have to say, I liked Max....but I always fell for the bad boys too....the one's that you don't realize are complete assholes until you finally see that they are COMPLETE ASSHOLES.  He wasn't bad for her, but he just wasn't right for her.  I loved how Stephanie showed this to us without having to make him into a bad person....sometimes two people just aren't meant to be. 

I would recommend reading Anna and the French Kiss first, not that you have to, but when Lola and St. Clair have a heart to heart about things...you will understand what he is talking about if you read his book first.

Stephanie gives us another YA romance that has real characters, real situations and real emotion.  I love her writing style and will continue to pine for her next release over and over.  xoxo