Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

 Book- Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author- Stephanie Perkins

Genre- Young adult, romance, contemporary

My rating- 5 STARS

 So, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins... What can I say?
I read this a while back in one night and am only just writing the review because I didn't write one as soon as I read it, so I didn't know what to do... Then tonight I was just like, 'I have to put a review up for Lola and the Boy Next Door! I just loved it so much!' So that is what I am doing now... 
Back in January I wrote my review for Anna and the French Kiss and if you have not seen it, go check it out. Lola and the Boy Next Door is the second in the series, the main character is different and it is a new story, but the characters all intertwine... Its really awesome.
I recommend these books highly, they are extremely addictive and mind-blowing-ly cute. The feel of the book is something that I love, the characters are so lovable and Stephanie Perkins writes in a way that I adore. I have so much faith in Stephanie Perkins that I will love Isla and the Happily Ever After, the next book that comes out this year. The first two just blew me away, which makes me extremely eager to get my hands on the next one with much excitement.

Lola's story was so addictive which made me turn the pages extremely quickly, in my opinion these are very easy to read, but they don't miss out a great story line.
Here is a little about the book-

Lola has one rule, never wear the same outfit twice. She believes in costume, clothes that are fun, individual and expressive. She knows what she wants to do and is pretty sure life is great, with her rock-star boyfriend, Max. However, when the family who used to live next door move back, Lola is confronted with old feelings from her past. With that, Cricket Bell, the boy next door.

So, I certainly recommend these books... Go get Anna and the French Kiss right now and start reading, because it really is that good. But now I am going to go into spoilers, so if you have not yet read Anna and Lola's stories... Go read them then come back. But if you have read them, do carry on. So onto the spoilers...

Ahhh... 
Lola and Cricket... The thing about these books is that the girls' last names go with the boys' last names so well... Aw... Lola Bell, Anna St Clair... Can we just appreciate those names?
I loved this book, obviously, that is why I gave it five stars. The plot was definitely NOT lacking and the characters were extremely well developed. Lola was a complex character and extremely likable, but she did get on my nerves quite a bit... Stupid decisions and mistakes and little things like that... The way she stayed with Max when he quite clearly was an idiot, (Yeah, I really did not like that Max dude.) It made me feel so bad for Cricket, he is such a sweet and kind character, so when he was mistreated, I did not like it. But other than things like that, I did really like Lola. She had an awesome personality and I loved her outfits, everything she wore you got a description of and I loved imagining the different costumes. She would just be like, 'today I'm a strawberry.' Or, 'Tonight I'm fire.' 

Anna and St Clair being in these books was just amazing, their relationship with Lola was great too. Oh! And the fact that St Clair was friends with Cricket, I thought that was a really cool thing to put in. You can see how Anna and Etienne's relationship is going, eventhough it is not from Anna's perspective, which was great. 
I think something that I need to put in, is how in these books, is these characters are not perfect, they have problems and issues which make these books more real. I saw with Anna, the way she develops and grows up, it is so clear to see and I have also seen it with Lola. Her character development was (I am running out of adjectives) awesome. I just love Stephanie Perkins, got to say that, she is a fantastic author and everything about the way she writes, I adore.
I want to say, I loved the ending... It leaves so much to be wrapped up, it killed me too. (Book endings always do when I am enjoying the book because I want more...) There was a clear link between the start of the book and the end, because obviously Lola wants her Marie Antoinette dress... The start of the book is talking about her dream dress for the winter formal and at the end... Well, ofcourse she gets her dress. That was really sweet and Cricket helping her with the dress and being as into it as she was, that was extremely sweet. Cricket's character is just the cutest-sweetest and such a contrast to Etienne, but I love them both way too much.
And with that, I end this review. Hopefully I will have a new post up extremely soon, I have lots planned! Thankyou for reading,
-Darcy