Lola and the Boy Next Door (ARC)

Back with another review, this time of Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins!

Summary: 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.

My review: I felt like a traitor to the male sex reading this book. I felt like I should be stripped of all manliness forever for even looking at the book. If you are a guy, please don't judge me too harshly. I promise one day I'll read a book about a bunch of football playing jocks. I swear. Now, that you've heard my first big confession. I guess I might as well tell you another one: I actually didn't hate it. I know! I know! Please, men. Cut me a little slack! I didn't love this book but I did *begin fake cough here* I did like it *end fake cough here*.

The first thing that didn't make me slam down the book in absolute disgust was that Lola didn't gush. And for a most part (there was a bit of this though) she didn't swoon over Cricket. Right from the start I enjoyed Lola's character and found her a fun, and interesting main character.

I also really loved Cricket. His inventions were SO cool. He created such awesome stuff that I loved and would so want to buy! Cricket was so amazing that I couldn't stop rooting for him! And he was super funny the way he acted around Lola.

The humor in this book was awesome. Lola had a great narrative and Perkins had a very amusing writing style.

I also loved how Perkins capitalized a lot of stuff for maximum effect. IT WAS REALLY COOL. SEE WHAT I MEAN? CAP LOCK ROCKS.

In the end, I couldn't connect with any of the characters too much. But that is to be expected. For a book meant for girls, I liked it. It wasn't something extraordinary for me like it may be for girls but I found it an enjoyable read nonetheless.

4/5

Cover Comments: This cover made it very hard for me to read this book unnoticed at school. Ugh.

Source: Around the World ARC Tours.

Lola and the Boy Next Door is out now.

Reading Challenges this book counts in:

111 in 2011: 86