With the release date for Isla and the Happily Ever After right around the corner -- only a little over two weeks left! -- there's been no better time to revisit the first two books in Stephanie Perkins' swoontastic series, Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door.
Even though there's enough love to go around for both Anna and Lola, I'm pitting sister against sister anyway. Paris or San Francisco? St. Clair or Cricket? MACARON OR PIE?! The only way to settle these gut-wrenching, soul-searching, heartbreaking questions is with SCIENCE! So step into the FYA laboratory -- and don't forget your fire retardant protective gear, because GUYS CONTENTS MAY BE SCORCHING HAWT.
(Spoilers ahoy, obvs. If you haven't read both or either of these yet, check out our roundups of Anna and Lola content instead, and proceed no further than the image of #ReadISLA swag below.*)
*Which 1) is actually an international giveaway for the pins that ends tonight (July 28th), and 2) can also been seen on Stephanie Perkins' Tumblr, OMGGGGG.
THE HEROINE
It took me a while to get on board with Anna. Even though getting uprooted and sent away to boarding school in your senior year is understandably upsetting, it's like, DUDE, YOU'RE IN PARIS. Fortch, Anna got with the program quickly, and she won me over soon afterwards.
With Lola, there was no need for convincing, 'cause I was ready to hand her a BFF charm right from the start! Not only for her talent and ambition -- both of which I respect the shizz out of -- but she's just so uniquely, geniunely her. And I've desperately wanted to invite myself to her BFFdom with Lindsey Lim ever since I met them.
THE CITY
I haven't been to Paris yet, but it's practically synonymous with romance, no? Even though I love San Francisco, that old world elegance gives Paris a slight advantage.
THE SWOON
While St. Clair is quite the charmer, I can't even think of sweet Cricket Bell without a massive SIIIIGH, which is why he's in the pantheon of my YA boyfriends.
I also prefer Cricket's boy-next-door-reemerges-in-Lola's-life to St. Clair's boy-who-has-a-girlfriend-but-is-way-into-Anna-anyway. Yeah, it's totally a double standard, since Lola was initially in a relationship with someone else, too. But Max was a terrible boyfriend, and being inside Lola's head def. helped make her sitch of being in the middle of a lopsided barely-a-triangle more sympathetic. Also: CRICKET BELL.
THE FOOD
I love French food, but in a battle between macaron and pie? At least until I try macarons with ice cream, this isn't even a contest. So I'll just leave this here.
THE EXTRAS
Oof, this one is a toss-up; both books are peppered with so many other delightful details. Anna has a boarding school with an awesome acronym (School of America in Paris = SOAP), a Nicholas Sparks caricature in Anna's dad, and a l-o-o-o-n-g game by introducing Isla and Josh. Lola's world has an exceptional supporting cast: the aforementioned Lindsey, and, of course, Lola's dads, Andy and Nathan. And both books feature characters pursuing their passions: Anna and movies, Lola and fashion, Cricket and inventions, and Calliope and figure skating.
THE VERDICT
For me, it has to be Lola. It was the first Stephanie Perkins novel I actually read, and I've been in love with her writing -- and Cricket Bell, obvs -- ever since. (Now, Lola or Isla... THAT'D be a Sophie's Choice, FER SHURE.)
What say you, fellow scientists? Record your data in the poll, and present your theses in the comments!
