Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss #2)
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Release Date: September 28th, 2011
My Rating: 5/5

Hey there!

I just finished a wonderful book by Stephanie Perkins. Lola and the Boy Next Door was such a good book. I could not put it down. I finished it in two days and wanted more. It was funny and quirky and just such a great read. It was fast paced and was entertaining the entire time. To my delightful surprise, Anna and Etienne return for cameos in this sequel.

I loved Lola. She was spunky and adorable. She doesn't care what people think of her. I also loved Cricket. Well, I loved his name to begin with, but then I just fell in love with his personality. I obviously hated Max, but who didn't? Lola's parents are hilarious and I wish I knew them in person. They remind me of the couple from Modern Family. Overall, this was a great group of characters and I am very pleased.

This book was 100% contemporary. It was short, sweet, and focused on the love interest. I loved every minute of it. This is exactly the type of book I needed to pull me out of a reading slump, and I am going to recommend it to anyone who needs a cutesy book to brighten their day.

Spoilers below the picture, so for those of you clicking out, see you next time!

**SPOILERS**

Here we go. 

I loved loved loved loved loved Cricket. And when he made the bridge between their rooms?!? I wish I had a cute neighbor guy like that. He was just so smart and loving. It killed me to read the look on Crickets face every time Max was mentioned. There were some parts where I didn't like Lola very much in those situations.

I was so happy when Lola kicked Max to the curb. I loved how Stephanie Perkins gave Lola time to grieve her breakup. A lot of authors just assume that because a character dumped someone for someone else, they will just skip on their merry way and move on. I like how Perkins kept it real and realized that even though Max was a jerk, there was a part of Lola that loved him. 

I surprisingly liked Norah. Well maybe I didn't like Norah, but I liked her appearances in the book. She added some drama and the scenes with her and Lola were some that stick out in my mind. I loved the scene at the end where Lola and Norah are watching TV and they feel like they are finally getting to know each other. 

I also liked Calliope. I know she was kind of stand-offish, but I just couldn't bring myself to dislike her. I was hoping that they would become friends at the end. My favorite scene of the entire book was when Lola was making Calliope a new outfit. It really brought the novel together for me. 

I can't think of much more to say, but overall I loved this book. I can't wait to read more from Perkins in Isla and the Happily Ever After. 

I recommend this book to anyone that loves a great, romantic, and funny book. 

Until next time, Keep Reading! 

The Lightning Thief

Title: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
Author: Rick Riordan
Release Date: March 21st, 2005
My Rating: 5/5

Alright Everybody!

I'm finally done reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, and it was pretty amazing. It took me so long only because I am a new University student, and was getting used to college life. Otherwise, this book was so fast paced, I could barely keep up. I am most definitely now a Percy Jackson fan and cannot wait to finish the series. (By the way, I found a great box set at B&N for only $35).

This book kept me entertained the entire ride. It seemed like Riordan just jumped to the action. If the scene didn't have action in it, we only got a brief description and continued on to the good parts. That's one thing I loved about this book. I can't stand boring transition scenes.

The relationships between Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, developed very quickly. This meant we got to see the humor that true friends bring out in each other. They weren't afraid to throw insults at one another. This trio reminded me of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Percy, the hero, Grover, the comedic relief, and Annabeth the genius.

Riordan created a world full of myth, action, and anticipation. I absolutely loved how much I learned about Greek mythology and what it means to be a hero.

This is one of the only books I've read that I would recommend to readers of all ages. In fact, I'm about to force it onto my own younger siblings. I suggest after you read it, you do the same. I'm not going to insert a spoiler section, so don't worry to those who haven't read it yet. I'd love for you to find a way to contact me to discuss what you thought of the book! I love discussions. Feel free to leave comments!

Read this book.

Until next time, Keep Reading!

OPPOSITION!

Dun Dun Dun-Da!
Finally! It has come! the day you have been waiting for is here! That's right, my review of the fifth and final book of the Lux series, Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It has been a long time coming, I know. I have been reading this book for a long time (two weeks) because I have been busy moving in to college and getting used to the whole college life thing, but this morning I finished! I'm so excited to share my final thoughts of this beautiful series with you.

If you have not read the Lux series, go read them. If you have read them up to Opposition, stick around.

This book is full of comedy, drama, action, and multiple Harry Potter references. It all mixes together to form this great addition/finale to the series. I don't have enough good things to say about this book, so I'm going to jump to the spoiler section.

For those of you who haven't read it, this is me demanding you read it and get back here to discuss.

**SPOILERS**

Alright everyone. I am so sad to see this series go. I loved it so much and can't believe it is finally over. All of the books are amazing and this book was no exception. If anything, I have just fallen even more in love with Daemon Black. 

In the beginning of the novel, I was very confused by the whole zombie-brain-luxen thing going on. At first I thought Daemon was going to stay all bad, but then we saw from his P.O.V. and knew that he still loved Katy. Daemon and Dawson are not brain-washed by the other luxen because they are connected to humans. Dee, on the other hand, gets sucked in and cant escape on her own. 

I'll admit, I'm getting kind of tired of Dee always being hostile. I wish there was one book where Dee and Katy just get to be best friends. I can't help but love Dee, yet she always pisses me off and starts crying in every book. 

I loved seeing the connection between Dawson and Bethany grow even stronger in this book. During Origin, I honestly thought that Katy would be pregnant too because there was a bunch of foreshadowing, but I'm glad it was only Bethany. I loved seeing baby Ashley in the epilogue, it gives us some insight to Luc and Archer's background and how they grew up. It also made me think that if the Daedalus children grew up in homes, they would be as normal as Ashley. 

I feel like I didn't see enough of Daemon and Katy's relationship in this book. They were either always fighting the Luxen, Katy was hurt and Daemon was comforting her, or they were having sexy-time. I miss the back and forth from the previous books. That is what really kept their relationship interesting to me. 

The action in this book seemed rather anti-climatic. Through out the entire series there was all this buildup, and I was just expecting more. During this novel, there was a lot of action so for the finale I was expecting something huge, but then it turns out that Katy just runs away and lets the Arum handle it. It seems like the biggest climax was when we find Katy's mom, and even then it was a short scene that didn't really have an impact on the book as a whole. I was just a little disappointed by this. 

Don't get me wrong, I loved this book entirely. It was action packed and kept me on my toes. I just think I liked the first book, Obsidian, the best. 

Overall, I would definitely tell you to read these books. They really are fast paced and worth your time. They are hilarious and witty and gut-wrenching. I really don't want to say goodbye to these books and wish I could read them for the first time again. They will always have a spot on my favorites shelf, that's for sure. 

Until next time, Keep Reading!