I wasn't going to read this last of the Stephanie Perkins books but it was on my library hold list already and when it was ready I couldn't resist.

Like the others it is a charming teen romance with quirky fun characters. She's really good at that. Just like with the Book about Isla I can't believe some of the completely inappropriate situations the kids are in: a 16 year old dating a 22 year old??? What?? (To be fair there's outrage from lots of characters but our heroine is all wrapped up with him. Spoiler alert: he is NOT the boy next door.)

Like the others this is an easy to read romance and perfect fluff for when you don't have a lot of brain power to spend on reading.

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Good stuff: charming characters, sizzly (but totally sweet) romance, lyrical writing.

Not so good stuff: ridiculous predictable plotting and, worse, the long drawn-out hesitation of our heroine Lola between her two romances. It's not so much that her ambivalence was inexplicable (Max only becomes a real asshole at the end), but that she behaves so badly toward them both -- and knows it, and so does everyone else-- and still keeps doing it. It's hard to be patient or sympathetic with that, especially when the winning boyfriend is so patient and long suffering himself....

Not sure whether I'll try another of these. I feel like I already got enough of Anna and St.Clair without needing their own story. ( )

Lola is a high school girl with a passion for dressing like an a-hole (well that's what I think of it anyhow), and her 22 yr old rocker boyfriend Max, who her 2 dads are very disapproving of (for good reason, hello he's 22!!). But Lola is determined to make this relationship work.... until her old neighbors, the Bells, move back in and bring with them a whole lot of unwelcome feelings. It turns out Lola has had a flirty past with the geeky/cool boy living steps away... until he broke her heart. But now he's back proclaiming he's always liked her and she feels torn. Is it true love with her boyfriend? Are these feelings swirling around in her just memories of how she once felt for Cricket (yes that's the name of the crush-worthy boy in this book)? Or maybe those feelings are just resurfacing from the place she pushed them when he moved away....

I really liked [b:Anna and the French Kiss|6936382|Anna and the French Kiss|Stephanie Perkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267522241s/6936382.jpg|7168450], and I liked this one too, but maybe just like half a star less. I think it was the costumes that did it. If Lola was interested in fashion, that I would've understood. But dressing up like a halloween character everyday of the week did seem like someone who was hiding from herself. Plus it's super weird and hard to relate to.... am I supposed to feel bad that people made fun of her??
It was cool to see Anna and St. Clair again, even if they weren't of much consequence to the story and they were up each others butts so bad it kind of sickened me. (sorry but I hate when couples HAVE to be together 24/7, I mean everyone needs space to breathe!!)
The part I LOVED was the relationship between Cricket and Lola. It made me remember that feeling you get when you get near someone you really like but are still unsure of where it's going. And it's nice to remember those feelings :)
Anyhow it was a super-fun read, and I'm glad I picked it up!






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What a nightmare!
Such a hard crash after Anna's wonderful story.
Honestly? Go find something better.
This is a disaster. ( )

Definitely more show than tell in this Perkins novel than I found in Anna and the French Kiss, so the romance felt more authentic and, well, romantic. (I really, really want a little moon and stars automaton now, by the way.)

I was a little thrown off by the random insertion of depression two-thirds of the way through the book, though. Not that I wouldn't expect Lola to be sad at that point, but there's a difference between being blue and saying you want to "cloak myself under [depression's] heavy weight and breathe it into my lungs[...]check out with it, drift asleep in its arms and not wake up for a long, long time." That sounds like a clinical depression, but Lola just bounces right back from it. Distracting....

Also distracting were all the sparkly bits of San Francisco cliché scattered throughout the book. Now, I've never been to San Francisco, so I really only know the clichés...and after about the fourth one, I started keeping track. My list: gay dads!, chilly summer weather ("The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." - spoken, sadly, by someone not Mark Twain), rainbowed Victorians (of course), Harvey Milk, a bleeding heart for animals (I can't dissect that fetal pig!, let's get a black doggy from the shelter so they don't KILL IT!), almond butter (but no sprouts, alas), vegetarians, composting.

I'm not sure whether I should be disappointed in the book for relying so heavily on the clichés or in San Francisco for honestly being this cliché. I'll have to wait until I visit to know for sure, but I definitely would've enjoyed Lola's character a bit more if she'd had just one thing that went against type. Like...maybe she hates vegetables and loves a rare steak. Or maybe she goes out back and shoots arrows at targets when she needs to let her creativity bubble up. Or...well, you get the idea.

Still, I think this an improvement in storytelling and character development over Anna and the French Kiss, so I'm looking forward to seeing how Ms Perkins handles her next novel. ( )