Lola and the Boy Next Door

Once upon a time, there was a girl who talked to the moon.

Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion. She believes in costume. To her, life is too short to be the same person every day. Despite the fluffy costumes, glitter, insane colours and hot boys, I did not enjoy reading this book. All of you guys hate me, I know, and I'm going to accept that . . . but it's not going to change my mind/make me miraculously see and understand this book's awesomeness overload.

After reading Anna and the French Kiss, it made my heart feel warm and bubbly; like I was seeing stars. After reading this . . . eh, not so much. I'm going to try and write this review as politely and calmly as I can and not jump on the characters like I always do in my reviews. I gotta keep this review cute, or put it on mute.

Countless times I wanted to put this down and give it one-star, countless times, but my sister said, 'Danielle, finish this book. Stop being an idiot.' So I forced myself to finish. I was determined to see some good in this book, praying to make me enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Anna and the French Kiss. My feelings didn't change. I am generously giving this 2 stars because 1) Lola's awesome; funny parents 2) Lola's sense of style/costumes 3) Cricket Bell and 4) because this was written by Stephanie Perkins.

With that being said -- moving on.

Everyone knows I hate love-triangles. Hate it with a burning passion. Some of you take pleasure in reading about a girl being in love with two boys and trying to decide who to pick and vice versa; I don't understand why. It's vexatious and frustrating to read.

This was a twisted love-triangle. Lola was being immature about the whole situation. From constantly saying 'no I love my boyfriend. I LOVE MAX.' to 'Cricket's here. Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod. Does he still like me? NO. He can't, he shouldn't. I'm happy about this.' Not only was she immature about the whole situation, she was a selfish person. So selfish I was shaking the book in anger. I wanted to throw this book across the room. Me, throwing a book written by Stephanie Perkins, across my room? It hurts me so much.

Why couldn't Lola just leave Cricket alone? Why did she have to always bring pain upon him? She would constantly lead him on then turn and say, 'I can't. I have a boyfriend.' Then she'd go on and say, 'Do I still have feelings for him? But he hurt me a few years ago . . . nope. I don't have feelings for Cricket. This is good thing, so why do I feel so empty, why do I get nervous whenever he's around me?' Isn't it obvious, Lola?

I had to read up till page 200 for her finally realise she still did have feelings for him; that they never left. And then after reading how he had hurt her, I was left with this dumb expression. I thought Cricket cheated on her, or done something that was just completely terrible. It was her not being invited to his birthday party.

Lola was so desperate and determined to forget about Cricket for 'hurting' her (i'm sorry I can't stop giggling) and failed to focus on the life that goes on around her. Like her birth mother, Norah. I would've liked to have read more about Norah besides reading she was a drunk, and she gave Lola up to her brother and his partner. Norah was thrown into this book. How can you write about something so important but fail to make it important?

I just can't any more.

All right. I'm calm again. This book wasn't a complete waste of my time (sort of), some of the quotes were inspiring:

'I know you aren't perfect. But it's a person's imperfections that make them perfect for someone else.'

'Just because something isn't practical doesn't mean it's not worth creating. Sometimes beauty and real-life magic are enough.