Waiting on Wednesday: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 384
Release Date: September 29, 2011

In this companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, two teens discover that true love may be closer than they think
For budding costume designer Lola Nolan, the more outrageous, the outfit – more sparkly, more fun, more wild – the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins move back into the house next door.
When the family returns and Cricket – a gifted inventor and engineer – 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.–Goodreads

So, this is going to sound terrible, but I wasn’t necessarily super-interested in this book until a couple days ago. Don’t get me wrong–I really like Stephanie Perkins as a writer, and I really enjoyed Anna and the French Kiss, but for some reason, the jacket copy of this didn’t grab me.

And then I read Stephanie Perkins recent blog post about this book. To quote the Q& A-style post,

“Exactly how tall IS Étienne?

My lips are sealed. But, yes, I assure you that he’s shorter than Anna. I had a great joke that revealed his height in Lola and the Boy Next Door, but I cut it due to pacing issues. Maybe you’ll see the joke in Isla and the Happily Ever After? Hmm . . .

Also, YES, that means what you think it means. If you’re thinking it.”