Book Review of Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love

Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love is far from my normal fare. It is grittier than some of my favorite YA "issue books," set an an ultra realistic (and ultra depressing) place, and it deals with experiences to which I thought I would never be able to relate. But, I like to stretch myself as a reader because, occasionally, those stretches outside of my comfort zone pay off more than I could've ever predicted, teaching me about the world and myself, and introducing me to a book so wonderful that it almost defies description. So, that notion, combined with the intriguing jacket copy calling Lola the protagonist "an unforgettable woman who combines the genius and ferocity of Lisbeth Salander with the ruthless ambition of Walter White" and the description that, while Lola appears to be the submissive girlfriend of gang leader Garcia, she is actually the one pulling the strings, I was interested enough to give it a try. Also, the cover is just brilliant, and features gorgeous texturing and debossing which isn't evident from the picture, but feels great in your hands.

It is marketed as a thriller, but it doesn't feel like one. Instead, it is a study in character, a tour through the landscape of a South Central LA neighborhood where a new washer and dryer might breed suspicion or envy, a look at how gang turf warfare isn't simply the endless string of gunfights Hollywood has made it out to be, but can be as strategic as a chess match, a constant examination of personal ethics as the ideal versus a practical situational response, and a breakdown of what it is like to exist as a woman who has the power so often reserved only for a man... just as long as her power is kept a secret. I didn't read Lola (all in one sitting, staying up several hours past when I'm normally in bed) because I wanted to know how it ended, I kept reading Lola because I wanted to spend every last page I could inside her head.

So, don't read Lola because you enjoy gunfights, because you are always on the lookout for the next incarnation of West Side Story, or because you hope it will get your adrenaline pumping. Read Lola because Melissa Scrivner Love has crafted a character so strong, so strategic, so astute, and so compellingly realistic that you wouldn't be surprised if you ran into her at the grocery store. Read Lola because this is a book about what living in a man's world costs a woman, and what she stands to gain by embracing the invisibility that status confers upon her and using it to her advantage. Read Lola because this is a book about a woman who scrubs floors on her hands and knees for people who have treated her worse than an animal, a woman who pretends to defer as she serves coffee and cookies to men who think they call the shots, but a who is actually just pretending to be meek and servile until the time is right. Lola might just be the most unconventionally feminist character I have ever encountered, and she is unforgettable.

Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love comes out on March 21.

(P.S. As a sidenote for all of my fellow Kiki Strike fans out there, I'm pretty sure Lola was who Kiki Strike wanted to be when she grew up. You know, when she said, "Dangerous.")

I received a copy of Lola from the publisher via Shelf Awareness in exchange for my honest review.