Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Fashion means something entirely different to Lola Nolan than it does to most other girls. That’s because Lola does not stop at fashion and instead reaches for a higher art form: costume. Those that know her aren’t ever surprised to see her wearing her more outrageous, elaborate, and extravagant conceptions because they know that’s just who she is. But despite her more wild outfits, Lola is really a good kid and loving daughter. So maybe her dads don’t really approve of her sexy rock star boyfriend, but at least Lola knows she’s keeping her eye on the prize: a fashion-filled future. That is, she was until next door neighbors move back in. And now that twins Calliope and Cricket Bell are back, Lola can’t concentrate on anything, not even her most ambitious costume yet. No matter how much she tells herself that she has everything she wants, she can’t ignore her lingering feelings for Cricket, her childhood friend and first love.

Lola and the Boy Next Door is just as sweet and charming a book as its companion Anna and the French Kiss. Perkins delivers another wholeheartedly satisfying romance that is sure to make its way into all readers’ hearts. The neat balance of strictly romance and the more complicated side of life that I came to appreciate in Anna and the French Kiss functions nicely in Lola and the Boy Next Door as well. In addition to struggling with her conflicted feelings for both her boyfriend Max and her neighbor Cricket, Lola has to deal with an unexpected houseguest, her screw-up of a biological mother. I loved Perkins’s flamboyant yet realistic characters and the sometimes ridiculous yet still believable situations they find themselves in. If there’s anything to complain about, though, it’s that the solution to Lola’s relationship with Max is a little hasty, but even with that, Lola and the Boy Next Door is a smooth and fantastic read. In all, Perkins has given readers another winner of a YA romance.

Fans of Anna and the French Kiss will not want to miss its companion, Lola and the Boy Next Door, nor will readers who also enjoyed Breakfast at Bloomingdale’s by Kristen Kemp.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from BEA