{"id":4161,"date":"2014-08-26T04:47:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T08:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=4161"},"modified":"2017-05-08T18:44:36","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T22:44:36","slug":"review-lola-and-the-boy-next-door-anna-and-the-french-kiss-2-by-stephanie-perkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=4161","title":{"rendered":"Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2) by Stephanie Perkins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n
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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/b><\/p>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

4 \u2018Here I go, crushing on a teenager again\u2019 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

This is a fantastic follow up to one of my fave YA books, Anna and the French Kiss<\/a>, and Stephanie Perkins has one again delivered a deliciously sweet romance featuring characters that I instantly loved.<\/p>\n

Lola is a bubbly 17 year old with a happy home life, parents (two fathers) that she adores, a supportive best friend, and a hot, 22 year old rocker boyfriend, Max, that her parents strongly disapprove of but who she loves dearly.<\/p>\n

Things are thrown into disarray when her neighbours return home after a two year absence \u2013 including Cricket, her first love and the boy that broke her heart. Lola and Cricket were never a couple, but they were the best of friends and had strong feelings for each other. It\u2019s just that neither of them were brave enough to take it any further. But now they are back, and 18 year old Cricket has grown up and is finally able to tell Lola how he feels. It\u2019s the words she\u2019d dreamed of hearing from him, except now she\u2019s in love with Max and has moved on\u2026 or has she?<\/p>\n

I thought Max was the one, but\u2026there\u2019s that <\/i>other one.
\nThe first one.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a really fun, sweet YA romance. It\u2019s a little bit angsty, with a bit of drama, but it\u2019s a total feel-good read with really nice build-up and some gorgeously swoony moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you believe in second chances?\u201d I bite my lip.
\n\u201cSecond, third, fourth. Whatever it takes. However long it takes. If the person is right,\u201d he adds.
\n\u201cIf the person is\u2026Lola?\u201d
\nThis time, he holds my gaze. \u201cOnly if the other person is Cricket.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love that these characters have a little bit of eccentricity about them. It gives the story a bit more colour and life. Lola is quirky and creative, she loves to dress up in dramatic costumes, and she is proud of her individuality.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe in fashion. I believe in costume. Life is too short to be the same person every day.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Cricket (*sigh*) is charmingly quirky himself \u2013 a science-geekish inventor with his own individual sense of style, he has lived his life somewhat in the shadow of his twin sister, who is a champion figure skater. Now the he is older and more confident, he puts himself out there, and I love that isn\u2019t ashamed of how he feels, yet he\u2019s still respectful of Lola, and more than anything, just wants to be a presence in her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cLola?” Cricket is on his knees at the side of my bed. I feel it. “I’m here,” he whispers. “You can talk to me or not talk to me, but I’m here.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the two of them together are absolutely adorable! From friends, to friends who have feelings for each other but aren\u2019t together, to even more, you can feel the genuine \u2018rightness\u2019 about the two of them. They accept each other exactly as they are, they genuinely appreciate the other, they are incredibly caring and supportive, and they are so compatible, and so stinkin\u2019 cute!<\/p>\n

\u201cI like being different.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd I like that about you \u2026 But I like the real you best.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved Lola\u2019s parents. Two overprotective fathers are truly better than one, and the dynamics they have as a family are fantastic! Lola\u2019s BFF, Lindsay is amazing. And Anna and Etienne fans can also rejoice \u2013 there\u2019s a good amount of time spent with the fabulous duo, and I loved catching up with one of my favourite YA couples, seeing them all blissfully loved up and happy together.<\/p>\n

This is a great read. Cute and fluffy with some deeper moments as Lola figures out who she is and strives to become the person that she wants to be, with the right one by her side.<\/p>\n

I loved it \u2013 4 stars.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

The Anna and the French Kiss\u00a0series<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"Anna<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"Lola<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"Isla<\/a><\/p>\n

Anna and the French Kiss<\/strong>
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Lola and the Boy Next Door
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isla and the Happily Ever After
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback Review 4 \u2018Here I go, crushing on a teenager again\u2019 stars This is a fantastic follow up to one of my fave YA books, Anna and the French Kiss, and Stephanie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[454,9,12],"tags":[242,48,243],"class_list":["post-4161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audio-recommendation","category-romance","category-young-adult","tag-anna-and-the-french-kiss","tag-review","tag-stephanie-perkins"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Lola-and-the-Boy-Next-Door.jpg?fit=150%2C228&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-157","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}