Published: 1 June 2011 (print)/11 October 2011 (audio) 
Publisher: Usborne Publishing/Books on Tape
Pages: 384/8 hrs and 59 mins
Narrator: Shannon McManus
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Romance
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars
Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the 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.
I am well behind the hype for Perkins’ series, though I did experience all the Anna hype at the time, it took me a few more years before I got a chance to read it. But then I never continued with the series. I’m not sure whether Anna didn’t drive me enough to want to keep reading, or it was one of those ‘one day’ books and then suddenly years have passed. The important thing is, I was not a fan.
I don’t think enough was put on the fact twenty one year old Max got together with Lola at sixteen. I know Lola is our perspective so it’s not going to be balanced but I didn’t like it. By the time the story starts Lola is seventeen, Max is twenty two, and they’ve been dating a year was a surprise, I thought it was relatively new. I couldn’t understand why a guy in a band, who tours the country, old enough to drink and be in bars would be ok dating a sixteen year old. One still in high school, with all the childish drama, and be happy with that? It’s not like he was eighteen or nineteen. Are we meant to think it was because he really cares about her? It adds another level when he starts calling her Lolita and all the red flags already raised are suddenly waving around.
Lola’s parents do the best they can in her situation – making Max have weekly meals with them, keeping track of what they’re doing in a non-invasive way. Lola admits that they know if they enforce anything harsher or make them stop seeing each other it would only push them closer. It doesn’t stop her lying and sneaking around though despite the trust they’ve put in her.
Her dads were great characters, and I really enjoyed their scenes and their relationship with Lola and one another. They were fun and interesting and supportive. The Norah element was interesting and spread nicely through the story. You can definitely see Lola being burned before by her birth mother and being the selfish person she is having little understanding of what it means beyond her own feelings.
Aside from the Max thing, the actual story was fine. Lola is a quirky girl who goes to extreme effort in her outfits and how she presents herself. It’s amazing she gets away with it at school, but it is a creative hobby for her.
The whole story arc with Cricket and his family was interesting and I liked how it naturally came together by the end. I can see how everyone thinks it’s sweet and it is, but at the same time Lola doesn’t deserve Cricket. He’s too nice for her.
So much of the praise for this book goes towards Lola and her relationship with Cricket, which isn’t for most of the book. She’s angry at him, wary of him, slowly comes to be ok with him all while still dating Max. Her issues with him are valid, though her absolute fear at them returning was a tad over the top.
Once the story focused more on Cricket and Lola’s friendship the story was better, with a title like this you know how it will end, I just wish there’s been a better way to get them together without having to read about creepy Max. There was enough hurt feelings and history to build on where we didn’t need to normalise that kind of relationship.
You can purchase Lola and the Boy Next Door via the following
Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
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