Lola and the Boy Next Door (Stephanie Perkins)

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton Books (Penquin)

Length: 338 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

Lola is a budding fashion designer who never wears the same outfit twice. She’s a dutiful daughter with a hot rocker boyfriend, and her biggest concern is that her two gay dads don’t approve of him. Then the Bell twins move back in next door: perfect figure skating champ Calliope, and tall, inventive genius Cricket. With them they bring the baggage of the past and flip Lola’s life upside down.

I didn’t like Lola and the Boy Next Door as much as I loved Anna and the French Kiss. However, I did love that Anna and St. Clair were characters in this novel. Age is a big factor in the plot because of the how much older Lola’s boyfriend is, but I found it harder to connect to such a  character who is emphasized as being younger. Lola is only 16, and kudos to the writing for making her 22 year old rocker boyfriend (who is still younger than me) still seem like such an older guy. Cricket of course, is just a little older than Lola, but can she forgive him for the past?

Stephanie Perkins likes to write romances from an inner conflict point of view. Lola must decide which boy is “the one” when she feels that she loves both. At the same time, she must figure out who she is, with or without all her outfits. It all boils down to: who is the real Lola, and who does she belong with? (classic YA finding who you are)

There were some cute moments- I loved that Lola had two dads, and who doesn’t want a cute boy who loves them living right across from their window? (Taylor Swift anyone?)

I’ll leave you with this quote: “it’s a person’s imperfections that make them perfect for someone else.” Adorable.

Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins)

Title: Anna and the French Kiss

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton Books (Penquin)

Length: 372 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Anna is shipped off to a Parisian boarding school for her senior year, far away from her hometown of Atlanta, where her crush who was just on the verge of becoming more still resides. Anna is not thrilled. She doesn’t even know French! But then she meets Etienne St. Clair: handsome, funny, and with a British accent, he’s hard to resist. Unfortunately, he’s already got a girlfriend. Misunderstandings occur, friendships are tested and many films in French theatres are viewed. Can Anna find love in a city known most for its romance?

This book started off like “eh” and ended like “WOAH.” The premise of Anna being shipped off seemed a little flimsy at first: her dad is an awful yet famous writer who wants to seem cultured, so he ships his eldest daughter to boarding school in France. Who does this?

But after this, I found myself really relating to Anna and her situation. Anyone who has experienced being on their own for the first time (whether it be college, studying abroad or hey, attending boarding school) can relate to Anna as she struggles to fit in with a new style of living and a new culture. Anyone who will eventually do these things can gain a lot of insight from how Anna deals with living away from home- Stephanie Perkins nails it perfectly. There’s the drama that comes from living with your friends, the anxiety of not knowing how to behave in another culture/new situation, and even the struggles of returning home a changed person for breaks.

Anna is a great strong, contemporary female lead who doesn’t just sit around waiting longingly for a boy she can’t have. She discovers her own agency, and uses it not to manipulate boys, but to explore Paris. While at first the novel seems just about the romance, there is some wonderful character growth, and who doesn’t like the scenery of Paris as a backdrop? I also appreciated that both Anna and Etienne are good-looking in unconventional ways. A tribute to Stephanie’s writing that I liked Etienne even though he was short (I once decided Daniel Radcliff and I couldn’t date because he is shorter than me).

If you want a contemporary romance that’s more than just fluff, Anna and the French Kiss is a great read. (Special thanks to my cousin for loaning me this book!)

Epic Fail (Claire LaZebnik)

Title: Epic Fail

Author: Claire LaZebnik

Publisher: HarperTeen

Length: 295 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Elise Benton is the new girl at an elite LA prep school. If this didn’t make things difficult enough, her mom is the new (disliked) principle. But things start looking up when her pretty older sister friends one of the cutest, nicest guys in the school. When they start spending a lot of time together, Elise gets to spend time with his best friend and son of Hollywood’s It Couple: Derek Edwards.  But despite Derek’s fame and handsome good looks, Elise isn’t taken in by his charm, and friends his archenemy, social outcast Webster Grant instead. But in this modern Pride and Prejudice, first impressions are rarely right.

It’s a modern Pride and Prejudice. It’s the Clueless to Emma. Need I say more? Okay, I will. I loved the modernization and how the author updated Austen’s world into today’s world. Even thought I knew what was going to happen, I couldn’t put this book down. It was brilliantly done, with just enough changes to keep things interesting.

I was worried this would turn into just-another-bad-teen-movie-book, but page nine got rid of my fears when Elise acknowledges that she’s seen all the cliques about being a new girl at a new school, and she refuses to be one. (I have to say though: the cover art? A little cliché…but I was totally won over by the title). 

The part of the modernization that really sealed it for me was Elise’s family. Juliana is Jane, the perfect, peace-keeping best friend of a sister who happily reminded me of my own sister, while Layla is Lydia, the annoying younger sister who refuses to listen to anyone and self-destructs. The mom was the kicker- overly strict, totally out of the loop and not in a charming way, while the dad had the charm but also the cluelessness. A modern Bennet family to be sure, but also a modern family that anyone can relate to in some way.

If you like Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Clueless, or contemporary YA fiction in general, you’ll love this book.