Poudelivre

Sometimes, you just need to read something light and potentially fluffy, because books like this lets its reader relax, think about something else for a moment and, first and foremost, doesn’t have a bunch of heavy happenings that need a lot attention. But this turns out to not be true, well, not always, anyway. Sometimes, even the lighthearted books carry deep questions you can lay awake during the night and ponder about. Lola and the boy next door is one of these books.

Lola Nolan in a seventeen year old girl who attends high school, lives with her two dads and dreams of being a costume designer, which shows in the crazy way she dresses. She also has a five year older boyfriend who happens to be in a rock band and that her parents just happen to dislike. A lot. While Lola is doing her best to get her parents to like her boyfriend, Max, uncomfortable memories awakens in Lola when the Bell twins move back in the house next door. Suddenly she has to handle Calliope Bell, and the other, while trying to get her parents to realize that Max isn’t the bad guy they think he is.

This is Stephanie Perkins' second book, the first one, Anna and the French Kiss, is an international best seller and it’s clear why when you read it. Lola and the boy next door is the sequel, in some ways since it involves Anna and Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss. But now the main character is called Lola and battling her own war which, in the end, isn’t very far away from what Anna and Etienne went through back when they were in Paris. But now we’re in San Francisco with new main characters in Lola, Max and the Bell twins and only sometimes do we get to see Anna and Etienne pass through in the story.

After I finished Anna and the French Kiss, I yarned for more, to know more about them. I think Perkins has written a splendid sequel in a great way. She gives the reader more information about the previous story without making it a book about them. This is about Lola and she is one firecracker you just can’t miss. She is bright and bold and crazy, utterly believable and so very loveable. To get more answers, and knowledge, about Anna and Etienne and at the same time follow someone knew was so much fun.

Perkins has a light way of writing, it’s easy and fast paced and fun to read. The pages just blurs past. The dialogs usually make me laugh and I like reading books were you feel like the character is speaking to you. It makes the story even more alive. And Perkins' books are alive. They are colorful and fun and sparkling and I wish them to never end. Luckily, a third is coming and I can’t wait until I get my hands on a copy!