Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

LOVE.

Okay. That’s an understatement. Let me start again. I literally hugged this ARC with tears in my eyes when I finished.

LOVE

LOVELOVE
LOVELOVELOVE

LOVELOVELOVELOVE

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE

What? You want more info than that? Okay, fine. Lola is a crazy awesome teenage girl who is a budding fashion designer. Her life is pretty great. She lives in a nice neighborhood in San Francisco with two loving fathers (even if they are really strict) and has a rockin’ hottie for a boyfriend. Everything is going pretty great until figure skating star Calliope Bell and her twin brother Cricket move back in to the house next door. Cricket crushed Lola’s heart two years ago. She thought she had gotten over it, but all those feelings come rushing back, along with Cricket’s tender smiles and warm heart as they get reacquainted. Can they simply be just friends or were they destined for something more?

If you are unfamiliar with Stephanie Perkins, then shame on you. Do yourself a favor and go get her book Anna and the French Kiss right now (my review, podcast interview). I seriously cannot rave enough about her writing. It’s charming, intelligent, and oh so romantic. I don’t usually like contemporary fiction, but I adore her writing. You really connect with the characters and fall in love with the cute boys they love. It just can’t be helped! Ms. Perkins is the master of writing about cute boys. Cricket is my favorite one so far. (Sorry Etienne fans, but I love Cricket’s sweet and slightly nerdy personality!)

If you’re looking for a witty, well written romance, then this one should definitely be on your “must read” list. Warning: Your heart may turn into a puddle of warm goo and you may find you want to re-read this book over and over again. In fact, you might just want to save yourself some trouble and pre-order 2 or 3 copies right away. :D

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins is published by Dutton (Penguin). I received an ARC from the publisher for review. It is scheduled to be released on September 29th of this year.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

“Anna and the French Kiss” by Stephanie Perkins is a-freakin-dorable so READ IT NOW. There. That’s all I need to say, right? Seriously though, this book is so fun and romantic. I do not normally like contemporary young adult fiction and I absolutely adore this book. I went out and bought a couple copies of it to give to my sisters and my best friend.

Anna is sent away to Paris by her nouveau riche father (who is an author a la Nicolas Sparks..mwahaha, nice touch Ms. Perkins) for her senior year of high school in an effort to broaden her horizons and make him look super fancy. As if leaving her best friend and guy friend (def boyfriend potential) behind wasn’t hard enough, she’s thrown into the world of upper-crust snobbery in a country where she doesn’t even speak the language! Luckily, she falls into a great group of friends and meets the perfect guy, Etienne St. Clair. He’s a Parisian, whose also American, but has lived extensively in London so he has a British accent. Plus, add in the fact that he’s an incredibly nice guy and is slowly becoming her best friend. Perfect right? Oh yeah, there’s just one little hiccup - she’s maybe-sorta-kinda taken by that potential boyfriend back home and he’s in a long term relationship. Yowza.

To be honest, the description of the book didn’t have me convinced. As I said earlier, I’m not a big fan of contemporary YA. I’m more of a fantasy/paranormal/historical gal myself. I decided to take the plunge and give “Anna and the French Kiss” 50 pages... if it hooked me, great, but if not, I’d go back to my comfort zone. It had me in less than five pages. The writing is just so sharp, fresh, and charming. I instantly loved Anna and Etienne. I cared so deeply about their happiness and let’s face it, I’m always a sucker for best friend romances. (Yes, Twilight fans, I was unabashedly Team Jacob and will continue to pretend that “Breaking Dawn” never happened. Ugh.) For a teen romance, it is so wonderfully realistic too. It’s so very real and sweet. There is no crazy love triangle. There is no lusty instant sexual connection. It’s real world love and it’s beautiful.

This book will have you saying “oo la la!” Seriously, I know I’m being a total cornball here, but I cannot stress enough that if you like LOVE, you will ADORE Stephanie Perkins’ “Anna and the French Kiss”. And if you don’t like love, um, please go get help.

I know this came out a little while ago, but I just had the opportunity to read it recently (thanks Lalitha for loaning it to me!). I now own my own. :D You can get your very own copy at your favorite bookstore. It is published by Dutton Juvenile (Penguin).