Review: "Lola and the Boy Next Door" by Stephanie Perkins

From Goodreads:  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.

My Thoughts:  I feel terrible for saying this but I didn't enjoy this book as much as I expected to.  It is definitely not as good as Anna and the French Kiss.  It was kind of slow moving, not very compelling and I found myself not really caring about the characters.  At times I liked Lola but at other times I thought she was kind of a brat.  For much of the book she seemed to only care about herself and it wasn't until the end of the book that she redeemed herself in my eyes.  I loved that Anna and St. Clair were woven into the story; I had forgotten how great those two characters are!  The character of Cricket Bell was probably the saving grace for this book.  Cricket is a quirky, sweet and lovable character and I thought the story was much better during the parts where he was featured.  I don't care if I don't see Lola in one of Perkins' future books but I would like to see more of Cricket.  In the end, I didn't hate this book.  I just don't think it lived up to the hype.  3 stars.