Rambling and Raving: STEPHANIE PERKINS BOOKS- AWESOME AUGUST WEEK 2

HEY THERE! Today for Awesome August I am going to be doing a sort of different style of review for you! I haven't really written any notes on these two books so I decided that I could just do some rambling thoughts on them..... I loved them both so much and so I thought that they deserved some love this week... Wondering what they are yet??? (probably not because it's kind of in the title and that picture)


ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and 
LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR. 

(very) Minor spoiler warning.

I've just recently read Lola for BookTube-A-Thon, but I read Anna last year. Anna was one of those books that I picked up one morning, and didn't stop until I had finished it that night. I just fell in LOVE with EVERYTHING in that book. That being said, every minute detail is a bit hazy a year later, but I still remember everything that I felt while reading. Anna and the French Kiss really made me feel everything that Anna was feeling along with her. Honestly, the book was predictable in the sense that you knew how it was going to end when you started. But it wasn't really about the end game (this being Anna and St.Clair) but it was about all the messy details leading up to a great relationship.

Lola was read just as quickly. After I had finished The Knife of Never Letting Go, I started reading Lola at nearly midnight. I then proceeded to read just over half that night, and then finish the rest in the morning. Once again, you knew that Lola and Cricket were endgame, but that's just not why you read these books. You read them because of the journey towards the relationship.

There is really nothing serious about either Anna or Lola, they are meant to be really fun and fluffy and light. They're both painfully romantic, and absolutely adorable. They're also not very smutty or overly sexual in any way, they're just fun. They're character driven, as opposed to plot driven, and you learn lots about all the characters, and there is character development for each of them.

(SLIGHTLY BIGGER SPOILERS)

I just loved how much Anna and St.Clair were in Lola and the Boy Next Door. It was so sweet seeing their relationship in full bloom after their story was done. I LOVE CROSSOVERS. It was awesome how Lola and Anna were friends as were Cricket and St. Clair. Though you don't really have to read Anna first, you would pick up on little things that Anna and St. Clair do and say that you can appreciate. They're both ridiculously nice people, and they really help Lola a lot, which is great. Did I mention that I love crossovers?

I was able to see a lot of myself in both girls, but more so in Lola. I, quite like Lola, LOVE fashion design and sewing. Though I'm not as intense as her, I definitely wish I was. Her crazy fashion was awesome and I loved it. It made me want to dress more outside my comfort zone, and not care so much about what everybody else is thinking. I feel as if I do that a bit, but Lola made me want to die my hair purple and wear Jeffery Campbell shoes and crazy vintage and quirky outfits everyday of my life. (I think she'd like JC shoes, they seem her speed)

 

Overall, both of these stories were really great. The detail about every character's life was awesome, it made them seem all the more real. Because if one thing is to be said about these books, it's that they're real. Sure some of the situations are pretty intense or far-fetched (hello, boarding school IN FRANCE.) But they just have to be to help the story along, and it's best not to question it. 

Out of the two books, I think that I liked Anna and The French Kiss better. I couldn't tell you why, but even still, they both rocked my socks.

Have YOU read Anna or Lola? As psyched as I am for Isla and the Happily Ever After? Leave me a comment with your thoughts, and we can chat!

Read on,

B