I think one of the the reasons I enjoy young adult romance books so much is there’s such a wonderful, first love quality to them that’s hard to find some days in real life. The reader feels as head over heels about the characters and the characters feel about themselves. Yes, there’s a bit of a struggle, but there’s not of the adult “real life” involved. There’s no kids, no house, none of the typical “adult” things to overcome. It makes it easy to fall in love with the love.

I absolutely loved Lola. I’m not sure there’s an adequate word to express just how much I swooned through the entire book. Not only over Cricket, but the little piece of Anna and Etienne that were in there, too. Perkins has such a fabulous way for writing completely wonderful, swoon-worthy, perfectly imperfect guys that I’m not sure my heart could handle much more. Of course, that will never stop me from rereading Anna and Lola and eagerly awaiting Isla.

The huge difference I loved between Anna and Lola was the realness of Lola. Anna was amazing, but there was this special feel to it. It was set in Paris, with amazing English boys, living the life almost every girl dreams of. Going away to the city of love and finding it. Lola was set in San Francisco, with a delightful, tall, slightly awkward American boy. It was what could happen to almost any girl.

My heart hurt from all the happiness and love I felt reading this book. It was so amazingly sweet and wonderful and I fell in love with it several times over.