Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

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 Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
(Anna and the French Kiss #2)
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Length: 338 pages
Publisher: Dutton Books/Speak
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: July 2013 (reprint)
Source: Paperback
Read: August 2014

GoodReads

Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the negihborhood. 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. (From GoodReads)

***This is part of a series. There will be spoilers of things that happened in the other book(s) so if you haven't read it and don't want to know things that happened, please stop reading now.***

My Rating:

Stephanie Perkins is amazing.
I really enjoyed reading Anna and the French Kiss so I wasn't sure if I would love Lola and the Boy Next Door as much as the first.
I don't know why I thought that. This book was awesome!

The Story:

It is a wonderful second book!
Fun. Cute. Entertaining.
I think I liked this story more than the first book.
Perkins does an incredible job creating a new story with new characters while including visits from the two main characters in the first book. (For some reason I figured they wouldn't make an appearance in this book.)
I really enjoyed this story. I don't know why, but I am a sucker for books that have either a boy-next-door/girl-next-door romance or the romantic interests have a childhood past together.
I also love all the music mentioned in this story. The Ramones, The Clash, etc. I felt like my heart was going to burst with happiness.
I've never been to San Francisco, but the book makes me wish that I could visit there someday.
The story kept me wanting more. It was hard for me to put the book down. And I was anxious for the scenes that include Cricket (because I love him.)
Well written and very entertaining.

The Characters:

I love these characters!

Lola is very unique and special. I love that she dresses up in costume a lot. (Sounds really neat.) She is pretty much my opposite currently (I am not big into fashion: clothes, accessories, etc.) But I remember when I was in college I had my own unique way of dressing (no where near as unique as Lola though!) I also like that she has challenges that she has to face and overcome. She is dealing with some family issues as well as the issue of a past love coming back into her life. I was really able to care and relate to the character.

Cricket. I am in love. He is so sweet and caring. A bit shy and very adorable. He is awesome. He has his own things that he is dealing with. I love that he is an inventor, it is really cool. He is just simply wonderful.

All the other characters are also well-written and interesting.
Lindsey is a great friend to Lola and I enjoy their friendship.
Lola's dads, Andy and Nathan, are great. I love that they are protective (probably because I am a very protective parent and I could see myself being like them, maybe not as drastic, but like them). I love that they love Lola very much and that they are present in the story.
Cricket's twin sister Calliope was also well-developed. She has her own life and challenges. And there are times that I don't like what she does very much, but I feel like I had an understanding of her and liked her too.

And of course I love that Anna and Etienne made appearances in this story. I loved seeing a little more of their relationship as well as their friendship with Lola.

My Recommendation:

If you like romances that involve a boy/girl next door type, then I highly recommend this book. Also if you like an interesting and a bit eccentric main character. Or if you are looking for a new AMAZING book boyfriend to swoon over, you should give this book a read!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

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Title: Anna and the French Kiss 
(Anna and the French Kiss #1)
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Length: 372 pages
Publisher: Dutton Books/Speak
Classification: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Release Date: August 4, 2011
(reprint)
Source: Paperback

GoodReads

Can Anna find love in the City of Light?
Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken —and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's waiting for? (From GoodReads)

 My Rating:

I had been wanting to read this book for a while, but I kept putting it off. Then I found that a group of bloggers decided to have a readalong in anticipation for the third book in the series to be released. So I gladly signed up and joined the readalong #IslaIsComing.

I can't believe I kept waiting to read this book! I loved it.

The Story:

Such an adorable story! I absolutely love it.
I read this book in pretty much 2 days. I would have finished it in one sitting but I started the book too late in the night and had to go to sleep before getting to the end.
I could not wait to find out what happened next.
The author did an amazing job of capturing my attention and leaving me desiring more. (I seriously struggled with putting the book down and going to sleep. I almost didn't do it.)
I devoured the words and was left with a book hangover!

I adore that the author has created such a well described version of Paris.
(I traveled to Paris when I was in High School.)
It felt like I was there again. I had no trouble picturing the scenes in my head. It is wonderful.

The story overall is fun, exciting, and very entertaining. I was very fascinated by everything that was happening in the lives of the different characters.

The Characters:

Oh. My. Goodness. I love them.
They are all so well written and developed.
I love the friends that Anna made while at school in Paris.
They are the type of friends that you also want to be your friends.
Fun. There for each other. Caring. Amazing.
I loved reading from Anna's point of view. I really enjoyed her voice throughout the book.
St. Clair is certainly made me swoon. But I was a bit frustrated with him and his girlfriend situation. Other than that, I really liked his character.

My Recommendation:

If you like chick lit and romance and want a quick, fun, entertaining read then I highly recommend giving this book a read.

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

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Title: That Summer

Author: Sarah Dessen

Length: 198 pages

Publisher: Speak

Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary

Release Date: June 2012 (First Released in October 1996)

Source: Paperback (own)

Read: June 2014

GoodReads

The more things change... As far as Haven is concerned, there's just too much going on. Everything is changing, and she's not sure where she fits in. Then her sister's old boyfriend shows up, sparking memories of the summer when they were all happy and everything was perfect... But along the way, Haven realizes that sometimes change is a good thing. (From GoodReads)

 My Rating:

A quick summer read. It did not take me too long to read it.

This book was my second Sarah Dessen book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, The Truth About Forever, but I did like the book.

The Story:

Overall, I liked the book, but there were some parts that frustrated me. I was also unsatisfied with the ending, I was left wondering what else happened, and specifically what was going on with one of the not-main-characters that was mentioned a few times throughout the story but I didn't get an understanding of what was going on with this character. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started reading this book, but I did think it would have to do with summer romance since on the cover there is a couple on the beach in the background. 

But I was surprised that there didn't really seem to be a love interest for the main character. Instead of finding romance, she discovered something else. I found this to be interesting. I really tend to like the romance part of books, but it is refreshing to come across a book without romance for the main character.

The Characters:

For the most part I don't feel that I really connected with any of the characters that much. I think the character I cared for the most was the main character Haven. But even then, I didn't connect with this character as much as I have other characters.

She really did have a lot of personal issues to deal with about her family. So this book had a lot to do about various changes happening in the main character's life. And she did think about the past a bit. 

I liked that the character was tall and dealing with some of the issues that tall women might be dealing with during high school. I have always been on the tall side myself and I know that I spent a lot of my teenage years wishing I wasn’t so tall.

My Recommendation:

I enjoyed the book, but I don't think it is one that I will read again in the future. If you like quick books that have a character dealing with the changes in her life, then you may like this one. 

Legend by Marie Lu

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Title: Legend

Author: Marie Lu

Length: 305 pages

Publisher: Speak (Penguin Group)

Classification: Young Adult, Dystopian

Release Date: November 29, 2011






My Rating:

I LOVE this book. I knew after reading it that this was going on my Favorite Series list/shelf.

I found this book to be action packed and I had a hard time putting it down.

This book is based in a broken America. It is primarily split into two sides, the Republic and the Colonies. There is also a group of people known as the Patriots.
Not to mention there is a plague that is killing people (mostly in the lower sector since the more wealthy can afford shots to protect them from the plague).

The story is told from two different points of view. Day and June.

Day is the Republic's most wanted criminal.
June is a prodigy of the Republic and starts to work for the military.

I liked the plot of the story. Day's brother catches the plague and so Day does pretty much anything he can do to get his hands on the cure to save his brother's life.

I really like Day's character. She is strong, determined and cares for others in his life. He will do anything including risking his life to save/protect those he loves. And I love it! Yes there were parts of his speech that annoyed me a little bit, like how he calls everyone cousin. But it didn't annoy me enough to quit reading or even take away from the overall loveness of this book.

I liked June's character. She is strong and determined too. I think her and Day were quite similar in a lot of ways. But instead of being a criminal, she is part of the top military of the Republic.




Spoilers ahead. Stop reading if you don't want to know what happens during the story. 
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I was surprised when June's brother died.

...probably because I didn't read anything about what happens in the series (not even the information on the book) before picking it up to read. I had seen good reviews and that it was a dystopian, so I knew I would end up liking it so I didn't need to know much about it.

But I was, especially when we read from Day's point of view of him hitting Metias in the shoulder with the knife.

I was also really surprised that Day was able to jump from such a height and not really get hurt. Especially since he already had a bum knee.

Then we have June going to look at her brother's dead body, being told that Day is the one that murdered him.
Which I immediately took note, that I did not believe that Day did it. Because he hit him in the shoulder. I made a note saying "did someone else move the knife and kill Metias?"

But I kept thinking, if Day didn't do it then who did? My mind thought to different soldiers, the captain, or even maybe someone else that had been on the streets. I just didn't think that Day did it. (Maybe I just didn't want to believe that the character I started to like could do something like that...)

June is very smart and she went under cover to find Day.

She didn't really have to look long. She ended up stumbling into the cage match that he had been at to win some money to buy a cure. And she ended up taking the place of Tess (Day's best friend) and fought in the cage match.

She gets stabbed and runs off. Where Day comes to the rescue. She doesn't realize that it is Day at the beginning (which I found easy to believe) and ends up staying with them for a few days.

They kiss.
They both really like it.

Then she figures out that he is Day. She follows him to his family's house and then is able to make a report about it to her superiors.

I was a bit surprised that she still turned him in. I thought there was starting to be something between them, and figured she would probably hold out a little bit longer and maybe find out what happened before turning him in.

Nope, I was wrong. The next morning they came for his family and when he got there he found a trap. All thanks to June turning him in.

Not to mention they killed his Mom, right then and there. Took his brothers into custody and captured Day.
I felt so bad for him.
And I also felt anger towards June.
Maybe because I thought her act of revenge to capture her brother's killer was not really happening. Since I still thought that Day didn't do it. But I was a bit surprised that she went through with it. I thought she might help him or something.

Later on in the story we find out that she finally believes him about not killing her brother. And she finds some interesting information regarding her brother and her parents.

I loved the puzzle that Metias left for June. I thought it was so creative!

Also finding out that Day also scored a perfect on his trials was surprising. I didn't see that coming. I did think a couple times that there had to be some kind of mistake with his score. But I didn't think that it would be him getting a perfect score like June.

Another thing that had taken me by surprise was the fact that Metias loved Thomas. I totally didn't see it coming either. And it really made me sad for June and Metias (about his death) when she found all the information that he had discovered. I wish he didn't die. But I also liked his advice to her. He was a very good big brother.

I found Day's flashbacks to his childhood to be interesting. Especially about his necklace.

And the banquet that they had to celebrate Day's capture. The second we were introduced to Anden there was going to be our LOVE TRIANGLE.

I love June's determination. And her desire to do what is right. After finding out that Day didn't kill her brother, she decides she needs to help him escape. She wanted him captured for justice, but when she learns that he is the wrong guy, she wants to get him out.

I knew when his execution date got pushed up that something was going to go wrong with the escape plan and I was really worried for June's safety as well as Day's.

And then we have one of the biggest surprises of all for me was when June and Day escaped, and John was executed as Day. This really broke my heart. John (Day's older brother) pretended to be Day (since they look similar) and was executed in his place. Which gave Day the chance to get out. To survive.
It made me so SAD. I felt so heartbroken for Day. Between him and June, they both pretty much have lost everyone. Parents. Siblings. At least Day still had Eden (which they weren't able to get to yet).

And the ending made me want to immediately start reading the next book!

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END OF SPOILERS


So I really loved this book! And I recommend it to anyone that likes to read YA dystopians and likes action and adventure.