Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

ISBN:9780525423287

 Publication: 2011

Novel: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance 

Blurb:

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.

Click below for the book rant!

Rant:

Spent the whole day reading today. FINALLY. Needed me some reading time. Took me a little over 3 hours to finish this one.

This is my first time reading Perkins' work. Overall, a cute story, but not a very memorable one. I don't feel a compulsion to gush, squeal, or share this novel with friends. While the plot was nice and sweet and the characters were fascinating and original. The STORY was horribly genetic. Perkins' writing lacked authenticity and a sense of realism. I didn't, couldn't BELIEVE it. There was a lack of concrete significant details to make this novel believable and there were cliches abound trying very much to mask themselves as anything, but. It's so perplexing... Perkins seemed to try so hard to make her story different, to avoid the cliched boy next door story, but in trying so hard, everything became ridden with a feeling of "too perfect to be true", yet nothing and no one was really perfect. I couldn't truly empathize with characters, despite the fact that I liked them mostly. Lola and Cricket were interesting enough for me to continue reading. However, everything felt overdone and overexaggerated, made to be a much bigger deal than it should be. I spent most of it rolling my eyes. Yet, the ending did make me smile and go "aww." Omg! Writing a review for this is making me crazy. I'm not even sure what I'm really writing anymore. It's always MUCH easier to rant about books you either absolutely loved or adhorred.

Overall, Lola and the Boy next Door was readable, even pretty enjoyable while it lasted, but not a special read. It will join the ranks of the once read and forgotten, most likely never to be remembered again.

P.S. I caught two typos. There is nothing that turns me off a book faster than errors in a published copy. Though, part of that blame goes to her editor and the publishing team...

 P.P.S. What did others think of Lola and the Boy Next Door? Loved it, hated it, thought it was okay? Explain why in the comments!