| Title: Here |
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| Author: Here |
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| Genre: Contemporary |
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| Publisher: Dutton |
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| Elements: Romance |
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| Series: Book 2 in a trilogy featuring different protagonists |
This review contains spoilers.Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive 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, 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.
Perkins wrote an excellent romance, one that made my heart ache and shout with joy. I was honestly expecting something of the romance formula used in ANNA, where two people met and fell in love, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that LOLA is about two people who have fallen in love, are in love and have realised it, who have to work and find their way to each other.
The depth of emotions portrayed is just astounding. I could of course feel how Lola felt and what she thought, as she is the narrator. What I noted was that I could clearly know how Cricket felt too, with Perkins creating an effective mix that showed his behaviour so that we could then apply it to with what Cricket told Lola.
I fell a little bit in love with Cricket and Lola being in love with each other. They are perfect for each other, both so attuned to each other's thoughts and feelings. It was almost electric, how much connection they had. The yearning portrayed is just so overwhelming at times that I felt like crying with Lola and Cricket, who are always straining towards each other. At times, it crosses from melancholy to sadness. It's quite a contrast to ANNA, which had an overall joyful tone.
The two main characters from ANNA make a cameo in the form in supporting characters in LOLA, which was neither over the top nor a dismissive mention. There was not a lot of envy on Lola's part as to how great Anna was, and how much she wished she was like Anna. There was also no mooning after Etienne, but more of a friendly bickering relationship. I really appreciated how Lola was her own person and didn't want to be anyone else, which falls in with the theme of self-acceptance portrayed. It was nice to see them having grown from the events in ANNA, and even guiding Lola in her decisions without seeming superior, which I realise some series do when it comes to cameos of previous characters.
Lola, Lola, Lola. How I admire her. Not just her fashion sense and self-acceptance, but her maturity in handling her life and the people around her. She's made some serious mistakes, but she owned up to them and worked hard to redeem herself. I love that she realises that she has to work to earn Cricket's love, and that she doesn't want to be with Cricket until she finds herself again and can give herself fully to him.
Family is an important theme in the book, being there for one another. Lola has to learn to accept her birth mother, as well as "compete" with not just an interested friend or an ex-girlfriend, but a jealous and possessive twin. Cricket slowly learns how to live his own life after years of being a willing and supportive twin.
Okay, I would like to gush about every subtle emotion and moment in the book, and I'm going to stop now. Great romance, my favourite I've read in all time. It's been so long since I read a YA book that's purely romance, and executes it perfectly. I want more, please.
P.S.- Perkins' books have some of the best covers ever. The models here are gorgeous!
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