Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

This book made my heart ache.

In a good way.

Even thinking about it now, I feel like I'm having a mild heart attack.

Seriously, it took me a couple of chapters to really get into the story, but after that, I was literally clutching my chest for fear that my heart was actually going to burst. I loved this book. Loved.

The funny thing is, I don't really recall loving the "companion book" Anna and the French Kiss. I remember I liked it, but this, Lola and the Boy Next Door, was by far and away one of the very best books I've read in a very long while. It tugged at pretty much every emotion in my body and I'm sure the story will stay with me for a very long time. 

I absolutely adored Cricket. I thought he had the world's stupidest name--Really? Cricket? Only crackheads and rich people give their kids dumb names like "Cricket" (and "Calliope" for that matter.) Fortunately for the Bell twins, their parents are the latter of the two. Anyway, I loved how good he was to Lola, especially in glaring comparison to her "hot rocker (read: douchebag) boyfriend". I loved all of Cricket's weird quirks, from his rubber bands to his inventions to his fast (nervous) talking. I thought he was probably the sweetest, most endearing male character ever. Yes, he possibly even trumped Peeta (from The Hunger Games). 

Anyway, I know this came out a bit ago, and I'm just slow getting to reading it, but YOU HAVE TO BUY THIS. LIKE, NOW. In a perfect world, you would have bought it yesterday, read it in one sitting like I did, and you'd now be commiserating with me that it's over. Let's shoot for group commiserating tomorrow. Okay? ;)

Happy Reading! 

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

I apologize. I meant to have this review up this morning, but then life happened. Sorry for the wait!

This book has been all over the world of book blogging lately. It seems like everyone has read it, and everyone has an opinion about it. I figured I may as well add my "two cents" too. I actually really liked most of this book. Yes, most.

I'll get everything not included in that "most" out of the way first. First, I didn't think being shipped off to Paris for Anna's senior year of high school "just because" was very believeable. I thought the whole idea of her in Paris wasn't very well thought out. Second, "St. Clair" (who I loved) was a bit pompous at times. He would randomly spout off a bunch of useless information about art or historical points of interest, or...the weather. Pretentious much? I think so. Finally, Anna is described as having a gap in her front teeth. Not that that's bad, it was just distracting. From that point on, not only did she have a "Paula Deen accent, y'all" in my head, but she also whistled out every little Southern word like the gopher on Winnie the Pooh. Honestly, it would have been distracting to you too!

I'm making this book a hard sell, aren't I? I really and truly did like it. I loved Anna and St. Clair's group of friends. I loved that Anna was a movie buff and that they tried to see each film in a different theater when they went. I loved that Anna was a clean freak (but maybe that's because I related to that quirk a little too well...). I thought the actual love story in this book was believeable, even if it was all a tad dramatic. Oh yeah, and I thought St. Clair's phobia was hilarious. I could totally picture him screaming like a girl with his cute little British accent right before a very feminine fainting spell. :)

I do think this is a book worth reading. Where I've read so many mixed reviews on it, I'd recommend picking it up from your local library, reading it, and then deciding if it's one you want to add to your bookshelf at home.

Happy Reading!