Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Dutton Books, 2011
338 pages
YA; Contemporary
3/5 stars

Source: Received an ARC via resugo's book tour.

I mostly liked Anna and the French Kiss with some qualms (mainly that St. Clair is super short, which is reiterated in this book and it may be shallow but I like guys who are taller than me; and the fact that St. Clair CHEATED on his girlfriend to be with Anna-yeah they only kissed at the end but there was serious emotional unfaithfulness going on way before then and I will never stop mentioning that because I've yet to see anyone else mention it and it really bothers me).

But I LOVED Perkins' writing so I jumped at the chance to read this book early despite knowing that the main characters were called Lola and Cricket; Lola is a nickname but Cricket is apparently his real name which makes me think that his parents were on something. Additionally his twin sister is named Calliope, which is rather out-there although less worrying. A Greek muse is clearly a better namesake than a bug. I can appreciate unique names in YA and I hate when character names run together (I read two books where the main characters were Emily and Emma and I kept confusing them in my mind) but they don't need to go that far, IMO.

Anyway Lola is the main character and she loves costumes; quite frankly, it sounded like she dressed like Claudia from the Baby-Sitters Club: absolutely cracked-out crazy.  And while I admired her sewing abilities, she was a ditz who could be out of it for days when the boys in her life confused her.  She is also a character who feels that lying is the best solution for her problems (that seems to be cropping up a lot in the YA books I read). So I wasn't a big fan of Lola.

Then we have her boyfriend Max, a guitarist who is 22 to Lola's just turned 17.  Because of the age difference, her dads require the two to have Sunday brunch, an early curfew, and hourly check-ins when they're on a date. Although Max isn't to my taste (he drinks, which is legal but I'm a teetotaler; smokes pot and possibly also cigarettes, which illegal for the former and super smelly for both!), he seemed like a mostly cool guy. The age difference at that particular point in life is kind of weird but they seemed to have a connection and to be working on building a solid foundation for a future.

However there is the complication of "the boy next door," the aforementioned Cricket, who had a chance with Lola but screwed it up big time. She has decided to hate him forever except that he's really cute, states quite clearly that he does like her and always has, and her dads love him.  Thus we have the typical YA hate of a girl for a practically perfect boy who she clearly adores and who tries to fight her attraction for way too long.

Beyond the romance, there is also Lola's family situation. She lives with her dads, technically her uncle and his partner, as her mom, Norah, became pregnant but was drug-addled and unstable. Norah is still occasionally part of Lola's life, causing embarrassment and hurt feelings whenever she appears.  Lola's dads are pretty great though, if overprotective and a little too interfering with her life. I think it's fine to disapprove of your daughter's boyfriend, especially when he could have already graduated college while she's still in high school; less cool to invite a boy she used to have a crush on but who broke her heart on a surprise "family" outing with absolutely no consideration of Lola's feelings.

Something that most early reviewers seemed to have liked was the reappearance of St. Clair and Anna. As someone who doesn't really like St. Clair, I found their together ALL THE TIME coupleness kind of disgusting (they seem to spend all of their time together or traveling to be together).  I'm usually a much more optimistic romantic but this couple just pisses me off.

By the end of the book, there were some swoony scenes...except that I didn't like Lola or Cricket so I didn't care. Additionally, I didn't feel like the writing was as strong in this book. More scenes felt contrived and the San Francisco background didn't come to life like Paris did. The humor was lacking

Overall-
What I liked: Lola's dads; Max until he was demonized; Norah, who ended up having touching insight.
What I didn't like: Lola--and almost every decision she made; Cricket's name

Cover: I hate people staring at me from the cover and the guy is only okay looking. My imagined Cricket is much hotter although equally tall and lanky.

Book Signing-Kiersten White, Andrea Cremer, and Stephanie Perkins

I arrived at about 5:15 and was excited to see the poster advertising the event as well as quite a few people who had arrived before me.

I checked out where the event would be and there was a table set up for each of the authors as well as the boy they were promoting. According to a volunteer, they were doing a podcast in the back.

The table with the books

This didn't come out as well as I had hoped but if you can see, they renamed some of the items in the Barnes and Noble cafe to celebrate the release of the books.

Then the authors came out (quite promptly I believe although I didn't check my watch so I can't be certain).

This is Kiersten standing on a chair in order to be heard better, describing how the event would go. First each author read a short excerpt, then there were five questions, a quick chocolate giveaway and then the signing.

Reading from Supernaturally; I haven't started yet but it was somewhere in the middle with the introduction of a unicorn.

Andrea reading from Wolfsbane; I was a bit lost because I haven't read Nightshade yet (reviews for both of those books will be posted in August-I have the whole month planned out already!)

And Stephanie reading from Anna and the French Kiss; also clarification on the pronunciation of Etienne.

Overall, it was a very fun event and I'm so happy I got to attend and meet all three authors! Be sure to check back later for the winners of my giveaway.

Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Dutton Books, 2010
372 pages
YA; Contemporary
3.5/5 stars

Source: Library

Some Spoilers!

I was really excited about this book after seeing near unanimous acclaim for it around the blogosphere.  And I loved the writing and Anna's voice (for the most part).

Anna's father (a Nicholas Sparks kind of writer) decides that she should be more exposed to culture so he sends her to a boarding school in Paris instead of allowing her to finish her senior year in Atlanta.  Obviously Anna is upset but she quickly becomes part of a group of friends with Meredith, Rashmi, Josh, and, most importantly to her, Etienne St. Clair.  Unfortunately for her romantic hopes, St. Clair already has a girlfriend, the already graduated Ellie.  Meredith also has a crush on St. Clair, which she confesses to Anna early on (that's important).

As I said, I really loved the writing.  Perkins immersed me in Paris and did a fantastic job covering the passage of time as almost a whole school year passes over the course of the book.  Anna loves the cinema and her interest in films mimics my own so that made me happy.  The characters were well-differentiated with their own personalities and interests.  They seemed like pretty typical teenagers.

But. (You knew there was a but coming, didn't you?) But the majority of the book is about Anna's crush on St. Clair, a guy who is in a relationship since before she knew him even if he FINALLY manages to break it off. I know St. Clair is supposed to be so great but I had many problems with him:

A. I do not get French names; is Etienne like John or Matthew here in the US because I cannot imagine how it's supposed to be pronounced and it just seems weird which meant that I thought of him as St. Clair which makes me think of St. John in Jane Eyre, not a good comparison. (I know, I know, hegemonic American but I can only speak from my own experiences)
B. He's short, which is mentioned many times.  His exact height isn't given, which might have been helpful for me because I kept picturing him as my height, which no. Not attractive.
C. He seems to have had a crush on Anna the whole time without having the guts to break up with Ellie.  I know he's going through a hard time, way harder than anything I've had to deal with, but it's just not the way a gentleman should act.
D. He confesses his interest in Anna while drunk and still officially the boyfriend to Ellie; he sleeps (platonically) in the same bed as Anna for three nights; and then later makes out with Anna (and while she's also culpable, I think he is more so). Not cool, St. Clair!

I'm not asking for a perfect person; that would be boring. His good traits are good; he's friendly to most people, loves history, adores his mother, and is loyal to people he's not dating. But I was not down with his behavior to Anna, Meredith, or Ellie.

Especially because of the way Anna acts and reacts.  She spends so much time confused by Etienne thus leading to making some spectacularly stupid decisions such as dirty dancing with him while drunk and sort-of dating a loser fellow student.  She's whiny and while she starts the book basically afraid of Paris, she ends being too good for America.  She does the same thing to Meredith that her American friend did to her (although I would argue that Anna is slightly worse) and it takes her forever to realize that.  By the end, I didn't even really like her though I still enjoyed her narration and descriptions.

Warning: Drinking (technically not underage since they're in France); swearing (especially toward the end)

I know I spent more time listing what I didn't like than what I did like but I really did enjoy reading this book; I'm cautiously optimistic for Lola and the Boy Next Door even as I question Perkins' judgment in naming her main characters Lola and Cricket.