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Currently Reading: My Last Three Library Books before China!

The Book of Men: Poems by Dorianne Laux
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
No Questions Asked: The Secret Life of Women in the Mob by Clare Longrigg

I am going to miss my local library so much when I go to China. It was named Library of the Year for good reason!

7 years ago 18 notes Source

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

Lola Nolan believes that life is too short to be the same person every day. A budding fashion designer, Lola is all about wearing coloured wigs, sparkles and anything wild and outrageous. All she wants is to wear a homemade Marie Antoinette dress to her high school’s winter formal. And to be accompanied by her boyfriend, Max. Of course, he also happens to be her parents’ worst nightmare, since he is five years Lola’s senior, in a band and covered in tattoos. When the Bell twins move back into the house next door, Lola’s life gets complicated. Calliope Bell is a promising figure skater, and her brother Cricket is a novice inventor. Lola barely recovered from the last time she saw Cricket two years ago, when he broke her heart. But Lola is with Max now, and she definitely no longer has feelings for Cricket. Right? With Cricket back in the picture, Lola will have to come to terms with the fact that she never stopped loving the boy next door.

Boy, was I looking forward to this book. I loved Anna and the French Kiss, so you can bet I was excited about Stephanie Perkins’ next novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door. And of course, it was amazing. First things first, I love Lola. Perkins is especially good at creating characters that are likable, believable and original. Even the secondary characters have a lot of depth. At one point Max says that Lola is constantly changing her personality with her outfits, but I never felt that way at all. Her costumes were a big part of her personality and reflected who she was. Cricket was probably my favourite character in this book. He was everything a boy next door should be (but rarely is, at least in my life.) He was sweet, honest, brilliant and he always saw the best in Lola. What more can you ask for? He definitely gives Etienne St. Clair a run for his money (I’m more of a Cricket girl, myself.) Speaking of St. Clair, he and Anna appear quite a bit throughout the novel. Anna and Lola work together at the cinema, and St. Clair and Cricket live in the same residence. When Anna was first introduced, I was a bit wary about her being in this book as well. No idea why, because it worked really well. Anna and St. Clair are just as cute as ever, and being able to see them from someone else’s perspective was very cool. Lindsey, Lola’s best friend who loves converse shows and Nancy Drew books, was great and I wished we’d seen more of her. Just like in Anna and the French Kiss, Perkins has written interesting characters that really ring true.

As is often the case in chick lit, the plot was fairly simple. And the good writing and great characters make that work well. These things also made the book very hard to put down. Lola’s relationships with boys, her friends and her family are in the forefront in this novel. I feel like Lola could be read as a sort of guide for relationships. Don’t start a relationship off on a lie, it’s probably a bad sign if your boyfriend is rude to your friends, age differences can be trouble, and so on. In the end, I was really satisfied with everything that happened and couldn’t have asked for more.

I really liked this book. It was a sweet story with some amazing characters. Once again, Perkins succeeded in making me wish I lived somewhere else. First it was Paris, now it’s San Francisco. And I wish I had a Marie Antoinette dress (although I am not nearly as brave as Lola, so I’d probably never wear it.) I don’t think that it had the same special magic as Anna and the French Kiss, but it was a great read all the same. I’d recommend this book for anyone looking for a fun and light read, with a swoon-worthy boy and some wild outfits.

4/5

“Once upon a time, there was a girl who talked to the moon. And she was mysterious and she was perfect, in that way that girls who talk to moons are. In the house next door, there lived a boy. And the boy watched the girl grow more and more perfect, more and more beautiful with each passing year. He watched her watch the moon. And he began to wonder if the moon would help him unravel the mystery of the beautiful girl. So the boy looked into the sky. But he couldn’t concentrate on the moon. He was too distracted by the stars. And it didn’t matter how many songs or poems had already been written about them, because whenever he thought about the girl, the stars shone brighter. As if she were the one keeping them illuminated.”

book review lola and the boy next door stephanie perkins YA reading books lit

7 years ago 15 notes

Book Review: Pies & Prejudice (The Mother-Daughter Book Club) by Heather Vogel Frederick

Three years ago, the Mother-Daughter Book Club was formed when four friends decided to start a book club to bring them closer to their daughters. The four girls had very little in common, but they soon became best friends and book lovers. Now Jess, Emma, Megan and Cassidy are about to enter the ninth grade. All their plans for high school change when Emma’s family decides to house-swap and spend the year in Bath instead of Concord. The book club perseveres by having Emma and her mom attend the monthly meetings via webcam. In honour of Emma spending the year in Bath, the book club is going to read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. While Emma moves to a village outside of Bath, a new family lives in her house. The boys, Simon and Tristan, go to school with the other girls in the book club. Cassidy immediately clashes with Tristan, a stuck up ice dancer. Megan hits it off with Simon and starts a fashion blog called Fashionista Jane. However, her blog causes problems for her at school and with her budding relationship with Simon. As Jess struggles with her crush on Emma’s brother Darcy, she also worries about not knowing what she wants to do when she grows up. When Emma gets on the wrong side of Annabelle, a regular Caroline Bingley, she makes Emma miserable with some unflattering photographs. The girls want to surprise their friend by paying for her to come visit for spring break to cheer her up. They come up with their own business selling pies to friends and neighbours, called Pies & Prejudice. As the girls adapt to high school and deal with crushes and Queen Bees, they ask themselves, what would Elizabeth Bennet do?

I picked this one up based entirely on the title, since it references two things I love (I’m referring to pies and Pride and Prejudice, not pies and prejudice. That would be weird- I hate prejudice.) I really wish that these books were around when I was a pre-teen, since I would have loved them. When I was younger I would have related to Emma, since we have a lot in common. We actually were both named after the book Emma, oddly enough. The girls were all great characters and a lot of fun. They were all very different and I feel like there’s a character for everyone to relate to. I loved how all the girls found different things that that enjoyed and found their own projects to do. They were all so resourceful! I thought Megan’s blog was very clever and hilarious, although I knew it was only going to cause trouble. From early on I knew what was going to happen in the story, but I still had fun reading. The audience intended for this book is middle school aged, and as a whole it didn’t matter that I’m 6 or 7 years older than the characters. The actual book club discussions were too juvenile for me, but I still enjoyed the book overall. It was very character driven and I really liked that. The writing was great and I found myself feeling everything along with the characters. It didn’t matter too much that I hadn’t read the earlier books in the series, although now I want to read them. I loved how Pride and Prejudice was worked into the plot. Throughout their first year of high school, the girls dealt with a lot of issues, such as dealing with bullies, crushes and finding out who they are and what interests them. Overall, Pies and Prejudice was a fun take on a classic, and a great read for middle school aged girls.

4/5

“Never say ‘I can’t.’ 'I can’t’ is a limit, and life is about breaking through limits. Say 'I will’ instead.”

book review books reading lit

7 years ago 22 notes

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