Lola at Last / J.C. Peterson / Book Review

Lola Barnes is ready to get her old life back. Newly returned from boarding school--where she was sent because of an Incident, capital "I"--she wants her old friends, her old relationships, and her old hobbies all right back where they were when she left. But her twin sister has moved on to new friends. Her best friends are less than welcoming. And her old boyfriend (the only person she does not want back in her life) is as present as ever.

Plus, burning down her brother's boat for some attention never sets a girl's summer off on the right foot.

In order to avoid jail time for light (very light) arson, Lola is given an option: the "transformative" summer program Hike Like a Girl. Which is definitely not a part of Lola's plan, but she doesn't really have a choice, right? And when everyone around her expects her to fail, shouldn't she at least try to rise to the challenge? 

Thoughts

This book was so fun, and I didn't expect it to be. Lola might be one of the most infuriating main characters I've read... who I ultimately ended up liking. I love the trajectory of her story, the way she grows and matures, and the atmosphere of this book--all the hiking scenes!--was just great. 

Pros

• Double Standards: Lola starts out in a predicament--or in the aftermath of one. She made a mistake. Her life was disrupted. And now she's back, trying to figure out how to fit into her old life--and how much of her old life she wants back. But she wasn't the only one in the "situation" that disrupted her life in the first place, and where she had her whole world uprooted, the boy who was part of her Incident didn't. He's still living the same as ever, no worse for wear, and that comes up again and again in this book. This double standard really isn't fair, as Lola points out, and I love that J.C. Peterson decides to tackle this gendered double standard. At the same time, this thread of the plot is just an undercurrent in the story, an undercurrent in Lola's life--changing the hue but not the overall picture. And I appreciate that, too. Double standards aren't what this story is about, but they do lay the groundwork. That careful balance is important, and Peterson nails it. 

• Pride and Prejudice: Fans of Jane Austen are likely to enjoy this book not because it is, precisely, an Austen retelling but because it captures a lot of what makes Austen's writing so fun. This book is very loosely inspired by the characters in Pride and Prejudice, and the characters are what matter. There is just enough inspiration in these pages to delight fans over the references without taking it too far. Pride and Prejudice is an excellent book, the kind that doesn't really need retelling even two hundred years later. But that inspiration, that nod toward a different story, is excellent. 

• Disaster: Lola is an absolute disaster, and while that does come with some frustration (that I will go into later), it is nonetheless fun to follow a character who really just doesn't have it together. So many YA protagonists are cool and composed, beyond their years. The rest tend to be immature in an exaggerated way, a way that doesn't quite make sense with the age they are. Lola isn't either of these things. She's just kind of, you know, bad at life. 

Cons

• Off-the-Walls: As much as I enjoyed Lola being a complete disaster all of the time, there were some instances where her decisions just... didn't make sense. Not even for the character herself. Because some of her choices come out of left field, it can be irritating to follow along with her. These choices were made to up the ante, increase the drama--not because they were entirely consistent with Lola's character. And that was disappointing. 

• Exaggerated Mom: I know this is Pride and Prejudice inspired, so I know the mom here needs to be a little bit shallow. That's a very identifiable part of the original Austen character. But the mother character here feels more than shallow. She's vapid, annoying, and utterly self-absorbed. At least Mrs. Bennet seems to have her daughters' best interests in mind, even if she doesn't always listen to them. This mom doesn't seem to care about her daughters at all. All of the characters J.C. Peterson creates are definitely inspired by their P&P counterparts, but they feel level-headed, down-to-earth: i.e. like real people. Except this one. 

• Rich Rich: This is a story that really benefits from the reader feeling a close sort of camaraderie with Lola. Lola might be an annoying disaster of a person, but as long as we get a glimpse through her eyes and feel like we can see ourselves in her, the slow transformation she undergoes is beautiful. But it is hard to like a character--especially a character like Lola, who makes off-the-walls crazy decisions--when this same character is absolutely swimming in the lap of luxury. Lola needs to be relatable to the audience so the readers don't, you know, just give up on her. And the glimpses we get of her country club living really don't help in that cause--or reflect the Pride and Prejudice inspiration, for that matter. 

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

8/10

Fans of Joan F. Smith's The Half-Orphan's Handbook will enjoy this summer-activity-with-a-wholesome-twist type of story. Those who enjoyed Karen Bischer's The Secret Recipe for Moving On will love Lola Barnes's comeback. 

Details

Publisher: Harperteen
Date: February 28, 2023
Series: N/A

Add to Goodreads
Buy It HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.