Lola and the Boy Next Door - Spoilery Book Rant by Voodoo Bride

Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss #2)
by Stephanie Perkins

What is it about:
Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the 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.

What did Voodoo Bride think of it:
*beware: spoilers*

I will confess I almost DNFed this book. I tossed it aside full of disgust with just 90 more pages to read, but finally decided I already had made it so far into this train wreck I might as well finish it.

And in those last 90 pages I got to know Calliope and wished the book had been about her, or if not her than Lola's best friend. Anyone but Lola and Cricket.

At the start of the book Lola has a boyfriend: Max. It's clear from the start that Max (who's really cool) will be scapegoated later in the book because he's clearly not The Boy Next Door. Now to understand why this really annoyed me you have to know that Lola just turned 17 and Max is 22. When they met Lola lied to him about her age, during the book she lies to him about other things, but when she breaks up with him she thinks he's in the wrong because he doesn't trust her! When did you ever give him reason to trust you, Lola!? Add another extra scene later on to further make him seem to be the bad guy so Lola can go smooch her boy next door without feeling guilty and I really despised both Lola and the whole scapegoating of Max.

And then there's the boy next door a.k.a. Cricket. What a pompous ass! I disliked him from the first sentence that came out of his mouth. Then he does some things I would have kicked him for if I was Lola, but Lola is too busy scapegoating Max to notice. Of course Cricket likes Lola best when she's conforming instead of being alternative, although later on when it's convenient he suddenly likes her costumes again. And to top it all off Cricket confesses he really likes Lola and immediately follows it by telling her he has lots of practice kissing other girls... Smooth, Cricket. Real smooth.

So yeah... The only two reasons I finished this book were that I was curious to see where this train wreck was going, and then I wrestled my way through the last 90 pages because I already made it through most of the book anyway.

I do have the last book in this series in my TBR pile, and I really liked the male lead of that book in Anna and the French Kiss, so I have hope I'll like that one better.

Why should you read it:
Maybe you will like Lola and Cricket better than I did.
And I will confess: I did like Lola's dads.


Buy from bookdepository