Book Review: Lola and The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins.

"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." (Goodreads)


Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance.
Published: September 29th 2011
Pages: 338 (hardcover)


(Note: there will be some spoilers in here, just small ones but still. SPOILERS) 
Lola and the Boy Next Door is the companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, both young adult novels and an amazing light and sweet read.
This novel follows the story of a teenager named Lola, who lives with her two fathers (yes gay marriage they are absolutely genius) in a wealthy neighbourhood. Everything in her life finally seems to fall in place, until the one guy she has always loved, and who had broken her heart two years ago, moves back into the house next to hers.


The Bell family, a family in which everything evolves around Calliope Bell, moves back into the house closest to Lola's house. Calliope is one of the best figure skaters in America, if not the world.
Calliope's brother, Cricket, is the boy next door. Before the Bell family moved away, Lola and Cricket were best friends and both hoping for more. They had fallen in love, until Cricket broke Lola's heart by a misunderstanding.
Now Cricket is back and he is about to rock Lola's world. 

So. Characters. Lola is a different story. She is not a stereotype and she makes that clear by dressing in costumes on a daily basis. She likes to wear wigs and colourful clothing, something that made her character stand out. Because if there is one thing that I hate in contemporary novels, it is the creation of another normal and average girl.
Lola is insecure but loving, creative but shy and trying to be the perfect daughter. Her uncle, now her father, took her in after her mother couldn't take care of her anymore. Her mom is messed up and she is raised by her two fathers. Those two guys are genius and worth pointing out. They were saracastic and cheesy and something like Cameron and Mitchell from Modern Family, which I loved!

And then there is Cricket, who still feels guilty for leaving Lola behind and who still happens to be in love with her, which is inconvenient because Lola is dating Max, a daring and tough musician.
Cricket is sweet and innocent and a bit geeky, which was cute, and he accepts Lola for who she is and what she has been through. He is kind of predictable when it comes to the way he is going to act and what he wants, but not in an annoying way.

Max is the annoying boyfriend who cares only at times that are convenient to him. You can see him wandering off throughout the book and the fact that they will break up is no surprise.

But then again, the ending of this book is no surprise since it is a contemporary romance novel. But nevertheless, the story is cute, well written and not too cheesy. I definitely enjoyed it and I've got my share of contemporary books for this month.
I rated it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads!