Lola Barnes’s summer is not off to the best start.

Fresh off a scandal that tanked her social status, Lola has somehow managed to also alienate her twin sister, lose the friends she thought she had, and put a . . . fiery end to the first party of the summer.

(The boat was barely on fire, for the record—and all the partygoers were just fine.)

Lola is given an ultimatum: jail time, or spend the summer with the nonprofit Hike Like a Girl.

Everyone seems to expect Lola to fail. But even as Lola encounters bugs, blisters, and bears (oh my!), she finds something greater that she’d been missing all along: unexpected friends, a sweet romance, strength she didn’t know she had—and herself, Lola, at last.

Peterson knocks it out of the park again with her companion novel, Lola At Last. As with Mary, the Austen fandom has softened up on Lydia Bennet slander because she was sheltered, un-parented teen girl who was shamed and stuck with Wickham at the end. She was attention-seeking, but she’s also sixteen, so her ending seems mega-harsh. Peterson agreed and in this contemporary retelling, she seeks to give Lydia or in this case, Lola, her happily ever after.

Which is a lot of work.

While she is a teenager, a lot of the terrible consequences are Lola’s own fault. She’s attention-seeking, impulsive, and doesn’t see past the present. Also she’s very wrapped up in herself. Much like her mom and her crap ex, Tully.

Readers will be very frustrated with Lola’s progress. She is selfish and self-absorbed for a good two-thirds of the novel. Even her best attempts at change are sabotaged by her lack of listening skills. She has a lot of backslides.

However, you come to also feel for her, and understand her frustration. Not just with the hiking program which sounds like the worst. Even as Peterson shows Lola’s gradual shift into a nature lover, and feeling proud of pushing her body, omigod I feel the sweat and ugh. . . hiking.

Back to characterization- No one seems to believe she’s capable of change. Twist her intentions, and her words to the worst possible interpretation. She’s the victim of low expectations and when no one believes in you, it’s hard not to fall into self-pity, and then fulfill it. Also the slut-shaming and double standards applied to women when they make a mistake (or twenty) are relevant here too as douche-bro, Tully, walks off with no consequences for most of the book.

It doesn’t help that Lola is chasing what she had before she was sent off to Paris, and that she can never get that popularity or old friendships back. That is another gradual shift in perspective Lola has to contend with. Her old life wasn’t as wonderful as she thought it was. Same with her personality. Change can make you better.

As usual, Peterson is a delight in exploring the contemporary Bennets, and it’s interesting to see them from Lola’s perspective. She’s a lot closer to her mom, and twin sister, Kat, which we read little of in Marnie’s book. It completely changes the dynamics. I was dying to know how Lola and Kat would fix their formerly close twin-bond, and even Marnie’s surprising pep talks were good way to show their relationship as well as how Marnie has progressed from her own story.

As for Lola’s love interest, Ezra, and hiking friends. . . they were nice. Peterson gives enough that they are distinct and have their own lives outside of Lola’s perspective, but it made for a really, really bloated cast. Ezra was more developed than Whit, and I liked the push-pull conflict between he and Lola as the former nerd and the popular girl and how they both let their insecurities seep into their relationship problems. Guess they were having trouble seeing past their impressions of themselves, and how others thought of them.

But it goes back to the main problem of the book with the bloated cast that some plots like Ezra and Lola felt less important than Lola and her relationship with the hikers, but those girls felt less developed than he. Lola and her family had the best pacing and growth.

4 stars.