Since I’m reviewing two books at once I’m going to skip the summary. Suffice it to say Lola and Isla both like boys who like them back. End summary. My review for Anna and the French Kiss can be found here.
I kept reading these books because I really wanted them to get better. Unfortunately, that never happened. I didn’t really like any of these books. I just didn’t feel like they had a good message. I don’t know…something about these books really bothers me. I didn’t like any of the protagonists–I couldn’t really relate to Anna or Lola and I didn’t agree with practically any of the choices that any of the girls made. I found myself rolling my eyes multiple times throughout the series. They were just so hyped up and I know I’m really in the minority here, but these books are just not for me.
Let’s start with Lola. She was really annoying to me the whole time. I couldn’t handle it. I liked Cricket quite a bit because he seemed like a decent, smart guy but I have NO IDEA what he saw in Lola. She was self-absorbed and entitled the whole book. No thank you. Even though Max ended up being a creep, I really didn’t like the way Lola strung him along at first. Just be honest! If you’re not confident enough in your relationship to be honest, then there’s obviously something wrong with the relationship. It felt like Anna 2.0 and I wasn’t a fan.
Now for Isla…I could actually relate to Isla a bit. She felt a little lost and was feeling bad because it seemed like everyone else had their lives planned out when she didn’t. I know exactly how that feels. I first felt that at the end of high school and then again a bit at the end of college. Not a great feeling, but you do get over it eventually. I liked Josh from the first book, but I didn’t like that he was being portrayed as this “bad boy” with all of his rule-breaking and detention. I’m so tired of the good girl falls for bad boy trope. MAKE IT STOP!!! Bad boys are labeled bad boys for a reason. It’s because they’re BAD. In real life, bad boys are not waiting for the right good girl to come along to reform them. Because they’re just bad. They’re NOT GOING TO CHANGE. Sorry, mini-rant there. There are just so many good guys out there…don’t waste your time on the bad ones ladies. Okay, but last little comment. I liked the relationship between the three sisters Hattie, Isla, and Gen. I thought their relationship seemed genuine and I liked the growth that was there especially between Hattie and Isla.
Overall, I would not recommend these books. I don’t feel like they portray healthy relationships. They’re not books that I would let my daughter read. Not because there’s anything inherently bad about them, but just because I didn’t feel like they’re worth reading when there’s so much out there that’s better. In every sense of the word.
Overall Rating: 2 (both)
Violence: None (both)
Language: Moderate (brief, strong language in both)
Sexual Content: Moderate (mentioned in both, not explicit)
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate (Lola), Mild (Isla)
What's She Reading? 