Welcome to Rhea’s Neon Journal! Today I feature Danielle Younge-Ullman’s Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance and let me tell you something: It Was Fantastic ❤ Another thing that’s fantastic? The giveaway below! Follow the rest of the Lola tour here!
Lola Carlyle is lonely, out of sorts, and in for a boring summer. So when her best friend, Sydney, calls to rave about her stay at a posh Malibu rehab and reveals that the love of Lola’s life, Wade Miller, is being admitted, she knows what she has to do.Never mind that her worst addiction is decaf cappuccino; Lola is going to rehab.
Lola arrives at Sunrise Rehab intent solely on finding Wade, saving him from himself, and—naturally—making him fall in love with her…only to discover she’s actually expected to be an addict. And get treatment. And talk about her issues with her parents, and with herself. Plus she has insane roommates, and an irritatingly attractive mentor, Adam, who’s determined to thwart her at every turn.
Oh, and Sydney? She’s gone.
Turns out, once her pride, her defenses, and her best friend are stripped away, Lola realizes she’s actually got a lot to overcome…if she can open her heart long enough to let it happen.
Review
“Celebu-spawn” Lola Carlyle is afraid of nothing and no one. And so she checks into the spa-like Sunrise Rehab, with the intention of helping Wade Miller, the love of her life, and hanging out with her best friend Sydney.
Except, Sunrise Rehab isn’t a spa, it’s a rehab and Sydney is long gone. So now, Lola’s stuck with Mr. Mentor – Adam, a duo of unpredictable roommates and a massive craving for chocolate.
So, so many times during the first 15% of the book, I wanted to give this book up and not want to look at it again. Lola’s voice felt immature and silly to me and it was pure stubbornness that helped me push through the beginning of the book. And God damn, I am so glad I managed not to DNF the book. Why? Let me tell you.
Lola is immature, whiney and downright clueless. But what I realised after some chapters into the book is that not only was she 17, she was also the daughter of a successful director and a soap opera actress. She’s been born into money and literally does not know the hardships of life. And it’s stupid to fault a person for something they do not know about. Which is why, I simply decided to immerse myself into this book without giving too much thought to the whys and the buts and let me tell you, it was awesome!
Lola is witty and smart and you cannot help but fall in love with her! Her life is the antithesis of what she pretends it is, and her relationship with her parents is as good as non-existent, but she always maintains a brave face and pretends to be the happy-go-lucky girl she really isn’t. I thought that there was a sadness inside this girl that I found to be really crushing and it did help me understand this girl a bit better.
I love the unique setting of this book—simply because it’s very unique in YA to have an entire book set in a rehab. Amongst the characters, Adam was my undeniable favorite. He made me swoon and laugh and pout in all the right places and OMG there was some real chemistry with these two. Lola tried constantly make his life living hell by breaking all the rules and skipping therapy sessions and doing everything that was against the rules. But Adam had the patience of a saint considering he showed nothing but hope that Lola would change.
I’d say this book is the definition of a coming to age novel, because I really saw Lola change. She went from this bratty, rich girl who didn’t give a fuck, to a responsible girl who not only stood up for herself but also became sensitive to the needs of others. And that was the most important message that I think a reader would pick up from this book—that the moment Lola opened herself up to change and allowed the programme to help her, it really did. She may not have been an addict of a certain substance or a habit, but she definitely had a different type of addiction.
As for the Adam-Lola-Wade triangle, let me tell you that there’s just one clear winner here. It was clear from the start, the distinction between whom Lola wanted and whom she needed and thank you God, the person she needed managed to get his head out of his ass to see it too! I’m recommending Lola to EVERYONE in need of a smart, funny narrative and protagonist with a heart of gold with a message to give 🙂
GIVEAWAY
- Open to US and CANADA ONLY.
- Contest open until 3rd June, 2015.
- Please do not try to game the system. Cheaters never prosper.
Up for Grabs!
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Rehab Survival Kit
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Danielle Younge-Ullman is a novelist, playwright and freelance writer. She studied English and Theater at McGill University, then returned to her hometown of Toronto to work as professional actor for ten years. Danielle’s short story, Reconciliation, was published in MODERN MORSELS—a McGraw-Hill Anthology for young adults—in 2012, her one-act play, 7 Acts of Intercourse, debuted at Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival in 2005, and her adult novel, FALLING UNDER, was published by Penguin in 2008. Danielle lives in Toronto with her husband and two daughters.
I was provided a free eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. This did not in any way, however, influence the content of this review.
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