Best of the Bunch Award: September

 

October is almost here (can you believe how quickly September went by??) and that means it’s time for Best of the Bunch again! Best of the Bunch is a monthly award ceremony that was started at Lyrical Reviews and gives bloggers a chance to gush about their absolute favorite book they read during the month. You can learn more about it here.

Without further ado, my Best of the Bunch pick for September is...

LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR!!

By Stephanie Perkins

Description:

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 ad 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.

Why I chose it:

I actually didn’t read as much in September as I normally do (it was a busy Real Life month for me), but this pick would have been a no-brainer no matter what. I’d been anticipating this novel for months and months, and when I won a signed copy from Stephanie through a Twitter contest I almost wet myself with excitement. No joke. I LOVED Anna and the French Kiss (read my review), and I was so excited to see what amazingness would come from the companion novel.

And since I had a hard enough time making my review coherent and not just a jumbling mess of happiness, I’m not even going to try to find new words to describe my love for this book. I’m just going to share a paragraph from my review as my explanation for why I’m choosing Lola this month:

“It’s not that I don’t love my paranormals, but sometimes you just want to read a story that could actually HAPPEN. A story where you can shamelessly insert yourself into Cricket’s arms and know that it could be real life. Something sweet, painful, romantic, awkward, heartbreaking, and totally swoonworthy. The joy in reading this book isn’t in the mysterious and brooding love interest, the main character discovering she is a (insert supernatural creature here), or the shocking twist at the end, it’s in the sweet little moments that make you smile and sigh with happiness. It’s in bridges built between windows and conversations with the moon. And it has completely stolen my heart.”

If you’re interested, you can read my full review here!

Honorable Mention this month goes to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, which is just incredibly trippy and amazing. My review will be up soon.

What was your favorite book from September? I’m so interested to hear what everyone else has been loving.

Happy October, everybody! :)