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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.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
October 11, 2011 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780307968579
- File size: 258868 KB
- Duration: 08:59:18
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- ATOS Level: 3.7
- Lexile® Measure: 570
- Interest Level: 9-12(UG)
- Text Difficulty: 2-3
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Reviews
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Seventeen-year-old Lola has grown up with two dads and the knowledge that her drug-addicted mother deserted them. It's not the grim situation that will pull in listeners, but the feisty main character. Shannon McManus lends believability to Lola, who might have come off as a chick-lit stereotype, especially when she falls for her first love, none other than the boy next door. At the story's opening, McManus shows Lola's strong character through snarky dialogue that conveys her intelligence and sass. Later, McManus projects a troubled tone that dramatizes Lola's disturbing thoughts and uncertainty in making difficult decisions about love, acceptance, and self-identity. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from January 30, 2012
With two dads, a tattooed rocker boyfriend five years her senior, and a penchant for over-the-top fashion, Lola Nolan is not your average teenager. But as she struggles with the everyday issues of family, friendship, school, work, identity, and determining the difference between love and lust, Lola proves a realistic character with which young adult listeners will easily relate. With a 17-year-old narrator, snappy dialogue, and more than a dozen main characters, narrator Shannon McManus has a daunting task on her hands; however, she is up to the challenge and her reading proves truly exceptional. McManus creates fully realized voices for the book’s entire cast—from Lola, her two dads, and her two loves, Cricket the scientist and Max the rock star, to her snobby neighbor, her socially awkward best friend, and her deadbeat birth mother—infusing each character with subtle nuances and never resorting to stereotype. This winning performance makes for a fun, engaging audio experience. Ages 14–up. A Dutton hardcover. -
July 25, 2011
Like its predecessor, Perkins's companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss has snappy dialogue and sexy love interests, though high-school junior Lola is a much more unconventional heroine. With an array of wigs and costumes at her disposal (her outfits include an Egyptian-inspired gown made from a sheet and a cheetah-print number adorned with red ribbons and brooches to protest game-hunting), she has no interest in blending in. As Lola begins her junior year, her goals are to get her fathers to approve of her 22-year-old boyfriend, Max, and to create a masterpiece Marie Antoinette costume for the winter dance. But complications arrive when Cricket Bell moves back next door. Two years ago he broke her heart, and seeing him again shakes her faith in her relationship with Max. What's a girl to do when two guys are into her? Lola indulges her inner angst plenty, but her self-deprecating sense of humor and Perkins's skill at capturing Lola's seesawing emotions make for a lively romance about a girl trying to understand who she is under all the gowns and glitter. Ages 14âup.
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