Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication date: September 2011
Pages: 384
Source: Library
For: Fun
Series: Companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss
Things I Liked:
I was so happy that I picked this one up! I was one of the very few not blown away by Anna and the French Kiss. I did not adore St. Clair or Anna and I didn't think it was the greatest book I'd read (which, you know, it seemed like everyone else did). But this one, this felt more like what I remember of high school romance. Lola was so much fun! I loved her personality and her insecurities and her fashion choices (obviously). I loved Cricket even more. He made this book for me. He was the epitome of what the boy next door means. Their weird and hesitant and confusing relationship was so well drawn, so real that I began to think of them as real people. Perhaps I liked it more than Anna, because it felt more like what I experienced in high school. Just what I like in a nice light romance. Happy to be a Stephanie Perkins fan now. Here are some favorite parts:
I don't believe in fashion. I believe in costume. Life is too short to be the same person every day. p 7
I wonder if he's looking at my butt.Things I Didn't Like:
WHY DID I JUST THINK THAT? Now my butt feels COLOSSAL. Maybe he's looking at my legs. Is that better? Or worse? Do I want him looking at me? I hold on to the bottom of my dress as I climb into the backseat and crawl to the other side. I'm sure he's looking at my butt. He has to be. It's huge, and it's right there, and it's huge. p 128
Honestly, it seemed like there was a LOT of other stuff going on. There were so many issues in Cricket's family and Lola's family that it seemed just a bit too much. Yes, there is usually family drama going on, but it felt overdone at times. Still, loved it. Would recommend it to pretty much everyone.
Read-alikes:
Of course, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Otherwise, I really have no good read-alike ideas...
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
not too much, actually, but it's there
mrg-factor: XX
I really didn't like her boyfriend
v-factor: none
Overall rating: ****
Any read-alike suggestions for these books? I'm completely at a loss.
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage
Posts
I agree, this one was very fun, especially because of Cricket! What a guy! :)
ReplyDeleteI would totally obsess over Cricket if I were a teen - wait, I might anyway!
DeleteI loved Cricket! I wasn't in love with Perkins' first book so I was skeptic when I started Lola's story. I ended up loving Cricket and Lola though and this is certainly a book to add to the keep pile.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this one and I don't think anyone really liked Lola's boyfriend, he was just getting in the way of her dating Cricket!
Thanks for the great review, I'm also at a loss for what to compare this one with.
I was really happy this one was better for me than Anna. Yeah, no one liked Max and they weren't supposed to :)
DeleteI'm glad you liked this one. I wasn't blown away by Anna either. I liked it but I didn't particularly like the characters. I loved this one, though. And Cricket??? Oh man!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not alone in my non-Anna love. But boy, Cricket sure does it for me too!
DeleteHeart in my throat any time the two of them were on the page together. Heart in my throat.
ReplyDeletePerkins has a real talent for the romantic tension. I loved seeing them together :)
DeleteI guess I"m with the majority here, because I loved Cricket, too. He was perfectly awkward. :) I didn't really notice it while I was reading, but there are a lot of other issues going on with Lola and Cricket. It is a little unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the issues added to the tension, but I could have done with a fewer issues. Still, Cricket makes up for it all! :)
DeleteI agree with all the other issues, but as you pointed out, it did add to the tension. It may have been a boring novel otherwise. Glad you liked it, though.
ReplyDeleteI love that first quote you picked. I think while I adored Cricket, what made the novel for me was all the costume changes. :-D
It probably would have been boring without all that stuff going on :) And I loved the costume changes, even as I recognized that I would never do that (don't care about what I wear enough).
DeleteAh. I've been dying to get my hands on either or both Anna and Lola. I think I may just have to suck it up and order them, since my library does not have them. :( Anyway, this one sounds particularly fabulous. I can't wait to meet his Cricket.
ReplyDeleteBummer about your library not having them! I personally liked Lola better (obviously), but you may want to start with Anna anyway :)
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