“Just because something isn’t practical doesn’t mean it’s not worth creating. Sometimes beauty and real-life magic are enough.” – 3.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: mean sisters, rock bands, fortune-telling, strict parents, colorful wigs, figure skating, babies, a boy next door, Marie Antoinette gowns, and… cherries.

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion… she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit – the more sparkly, more wild – the better. And life is pretty close to perfect for Lola, especially with her hot rocker boyfriend.

That is, until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket return to the neighbourhood and unearth a past of hurt that Lola thought was long buried. So when talented inventor Cricket steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally face up to a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. Could the boy from Lola’s past be the love of her future?

Fall in love with the international bestseller from queen of young adult fiction, Stephanie Perkins.

After finishing “Anna and the French Kiss“, I immediately picked up “Lola and the Boy Next Door” because I was hoping it would be as good as the first book. While it wasn’t, I still think this was a cute read – I just liked the first book better in comparison.

Lola was a fun character and quirky to read! She is very into fashion and designing outfits, and I really enjoyed reading about that. Of course, there were some moments here and there that showed some immaturity from Lola but I had to remind myself they’re still pretty young and this is still a YA novel! I also want to mention Lola’s parents, Andy and Nathan, because I loved them as characters! Even though they are strict with her, they are great parents.

I feel like there’s a more… adult feel to this one. Her boyfriend Max is 22 and she’s only 16 years old, so that was a little creepy to me. Also, he was a jerk to her, always trying to control her and only liking her because she was young.

The romance was cute! I really liked Cricket Bell as a love interest. They liked each other for a very long time, and only now they’re starting to express their feelings for each other. Who doesn’t love a good first love story? Compared to her boyfriend Max, Cricket is very sweet and kind to her.

Since this is a crossover kind of trilogy, Anna and St. Clair from “Anna and the French Kiss” were part of the book! They made a few appearances here and there, so it was cool to see their “happily ever after”.Overall, I had fun reading this. It was a cute story and I enjoyed it for what it was, but so far the first book is still my favorite. I liked the first story better and I found it more entertaining and engaging than the second book. Let’s see how “Isla and the Happily Ever After” goes!