Lola and the Boy Next Door
Stephanie Perkins
★★★★
FOUR POINT FIVE STARS
Two years ago I remember reading the first book in this series and enjoying it. So, when I was looking through the library’s audios and saw this one I thought, ‘why not.’
First off, I liked this one more than the first book. I know it’s been two years since I read book one but this one was more fun to read.
What got my attention right away was LOLA. What an interesting character. She’s a senior in high school who has a boyfriend who happens to be five years older than her. Right there, I connected with her. While in high school I dated an older guy too (not quite as old as hers but to my parents too old for me). And now as a parent of teenagers myself I could connect with her parents. Now, I know why my parents thought it was a bad idea to date an older guy. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I didn’t realize this book was a love triangle until I got into the story. I’m not a fan of love triangles because someone always loses. I know there are a lot of ‘Max haters’ out there but I really felt for him. Of course, he’s going to be jealous and suspicious when he feels Lola isn’t be totally honest with him. Lola didn’t do anything to make Max feel secure in their relationship. Here’s another reason why her parents knew this relationship wasn’t a good idea: a 17 year old and 22 year old are at two very different maturity levels and stages in their lives. He’s a man and she’s still a girl living under her parents rule. Too big of a difference.
Okay, enough about Lola and Max, and back to Lola. Lola is this girl whose parents are two dads. Her mom gave her up and her uncle and his partner adopted her. I loved how her dads parented her.
And of course this review wouldn’t be complete with out mentioning the boy next door, Cricket. I loved this out-going guy. I can see why teen girls are swooning over him.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There’s just something about young love that can be fun to read. What teens find to be “life ending” seems so trivial to us, who are adults, but I can remember being that age and have big ideals.
The narrator did a great job and if you like YA this would be a good option.