Lola and the Boy Next Door: A Review

Two weeks of book review-less blog! I'm so sorry about that, I've been so occupied by crap thoughts and school concerns I couldn't find it in me to read and review anything, but now here I am, trying to be a responsible blogger and writing again! Yay! Anyway, for this week's review, I have Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins.

What do you think is under the title?

• Well your main character is Lola, and then there's the boy who lives next door.

In general:

• It was good.

Why? (This is gonna be so informal and for that, I am so sorry.)

• I've been trying my best to not compare this to Anna and the French Kiss but much to my chagrin, I couldn't. Besides, it seems impossible not to. (I'm sorry if this sounded harsh?)
• To start this review off, I'm going to say that this is lots different from Anna and the French Kiss. I don't necessarily mean this as a bad thing, though. I've been in a very bad need to read a contemporary romance since forever and this gave me what I wanted.
• I'll be honest, though. I didn't feel for the romance so much. I thought it was a little bit off?
• Cricket Bell > Etienne St. Clair
• Lola Nolan < Anna Oliphant
• I was actually so glad when Anna and St. Clair showed up! I thought it was cute that Lola looked up to them in terms of relationships. Also, I liked Lola's relationship with the both of them.
• My main issue with this novel is that it's slow-paced. I thought there was nothing going on for the most part and so I kept on waiting and waiting in hopes of something to happen. (On the contrary, as stupid as my point could be in this bullet, I'd like to contradict my previous point because I realized how realistic it was. That's life. It may seem very boring, but if you really take some time to absorb and appreciate it, you'll realize just how many great [and not so great] things are going on in your life.)
• I don't know if it's just me because I've been in so much stress lately from school and other mental issues, but I thought the plot was a little flat? I kept on waiting as to where the actual problem will start, and I couldn't seem to find it. I'd say it's Lola's whole identity stuff ("I don't know the real you" shit), but then you realize that it is Lola to dress up and be quirky and creative in the way she presents herself to herself and to the world.
• Let's talk about Cricket!! I did like him more than I did St. Clair, but not in a fictional boyfriend sense. Cricket reminds me so much of my brother. Who also happened to be my twin. But we're no Calliope and Cricket. We're just twins and he happened to like tinkering with stuff and he's awkwardly tall and obnoxious, that's why.
• Alsooo, I loved Lola's parents! It's rare that you come across gay parents in a YA novel and I love them so much.
• Overall, Lola and the Boy Next Door is a good novel about staying true to yourself, reconciling with old relationships and believing in hope.

Quotes you liked:

"It's easy to talk about things we hate, but sometimes it's hard to explain why we like something."

"History books are filled with lies. Whoever wins the war tells the story."

“Once upon a time, there was a girl who talked to the moon. And she was mysterious and she was perfect, in that way that girls who talk to moons are. In the house next door, there lived a boy. And the boy watched the girl grow more and more perfect, more and more beautiful with each passing year. He watched her watch the moon. And he began to wonder if the moon would help him unravel the mystery of the beautiful girl. So the boy looked into the sky. But he couldn't concentrate on the moon. He was too distracted by the stars. And it didn't matter how many songs or poems had already been written about them, because whenever he thought about the girl, the stars shone brighter. As if she were the one keeping them illuminated.

One day, the boy had to move away. He couldn't bring the girl with him, so he brought the stars. When he'd look out his window at night, he would start with one. One star. And the boy would make a wish on it, and the wish would be her name.

At the sound of her name, a second star would appear. And then he'd wish her name again, and the stars would double into four. And four became eight, and eight became sixteen, and so on, in the greatest mathematical equation the universe had ever seen. And by the time an hour had passed, the sky would be filled with so many stars that it would wake the neighbors. People wondered who'd turned on the floodlights.

The boy did. By thinking about the girl.”

Make a three to five song playlist for the novel:

• Still Into You- Paramore
• Keep On Walking- Gabrielle Aplin
• Thinking Out Loud- Ed Sheeran

Rate it by stars/rubber ducks:

three ducks!

Would you recommend it?

• Sure.

Last words:.

• I'm so sorry I haven't posted a review in two weeks! I told myself I'd be in a reading slump for a month or two into school, but my stress and other mind devils got the best of me I couldn't focus on anything but what's bringing me down.  Worry not, I'm starting to adjust and move around my new surroundings, so this should make reading easier for me as well.

'Til next time!