Review: LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins

While Anna and the French Kiss is about the boy, Etienne St. Clair, this book is about the girl, the protagonist, Lola Nolan. Because of this, I think Perkins might have a few disappointed readers--it's less gushing about the the love interest and more about the transformation of the main character. But Perkins does this so well. In my opinion, this is more of a book about self discovery than romance, though the romance is there at every step.

Lola wears costumes; she wears something different every day. And her outfits are extravagant and themed. To be honest, I was a bit wary going into this book. I so loved Anna and the French Kiss and I was a bit skittish about Lola's over-the-top personality. I thought, "What do I possibly have in common with this girl?" But I know Perkins' talent and I actually bought this book, so I kept reading, and I'm so glad because I feel like Perkins is such a rock star at writing contemporary stories. Here's why:

1. Her sense of humor. At one point I was laughing for so long, I had to read the section over again. She writes awkward situations so well; she makes her characters breathe.

2. Her acute glimpses of truth. I LOVE this quote: "I know you aren't perfect. But it's a person's imperfections that make them perfect for someone else." I'm not sure I thought about imperfection and romance that way. I absolutely adore this insight (and it came from Cricket, the love interest, which was an excellent touch).

3. Her authenticity. I've been following Stephanie on twitter for several months now, and it was fun reading this book because for so much of her writing I kept thinking, "That sounds just like one of her tweets!" So I know Perkins is writing in her natural voice. She breathes her happy, witty personality into her books. I can tell she has a creative and fun personality because it shines through in her books.

My only complaint is I don't feel like I got to know the love interest, Cricket, like I got to know Etienne St. Clair. But I don't know if that's a fair complaint, because we got to meet Etienne along with Anna, and Lola's known Cricket her entire life. Plus, we know Cricket's a sweet boy who loves her the entire time (or we learn this quickly enough) so again, this isn't so much the drool-over-boy type of book (because honestly I think I might have liked the mean rocker boyfriend better) but it's a brilliant insight into the self discovery a teenager goes through when learning who they are. Perkins knows how to weave a fun, page turning tale. Kudos to her for writing the perfect companion novel to Anna; it fits the mood (we even get to see Anna and Etienne a bit!) but it's opposite in so many ways, addresses different themes, and this time our journey takes us to San Francisco, a place I've never been.