Review: Losing Lila by Sarah Alderson

Title: Losing Lila (Lila, #2) 

Author: Sarah Alderson 

Rating: 3.5 Stars 

I think this is going to come off as really strange, but I was so skeptical about reading Losing Lila. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to – because I did – it was simply that I was wary of what I would find within its pages. I wasn’t exactly a fan of Lila, or her whirlwind romance with Alex, in the previous novel and I was dreading another bout of this underdeveloped love story, but I needn’t have worried. I liked this story much better than Hunting Lila and fans of the previous novel – and even non-fans – will really enjoy this sequel.

I’ll cut straight to the chase – I couldn’t stand Lila. Even from the first page of the novel, I felt like smacking her. I had written this in my review of Hunting Lila and after some thinking, I think the best way to write this review is to compare it to its predecessor and prove just how much better it is. While I didn’t like Lila at all in the previous novel and felt as if she was silly and completely obsessed with Alex, she really surprised me in this story. Lila is still Lila – she still retains her humor and her die-hard lusting after Alex, but she is also incredibly mature this time. I really loved the way Alderson showed us how much the past events affected Lila, making her a character who was more focused on saving her family than her romance. In fact, I thought the romance only added to the story and improved Lila’s character which was a nice change. Plus, Lila becomes seriously kick-ass in this one, which I adored!

I’m a sucker for best friend romances, but the one between Lila and Alex felt artificial at best. Guess who fell hard for this love story? Yup, me! I didn’t think I would actually like Lila and Alex together, but somehow I really enjoyed seeing them together in this one. Not only were their moments incredible sweet and cute, they also had a deeper sense of protection and loyalty to them which totally convinced me that these two, for all their lusting after one another, cared for each other very deeply as well. In fact, my only qualm with the romance in this novel is that Lila and Alex fight over something reallysilly. I’m glad that their argument only strengthened their relationship, but I still thought it was very silly, hence the reason this book isn’t getting a higher rating. Still, it was a much better done romance than the one in Hunting Lila. 

While it is evident that they aren’t very close, although Jack loves and cares for her [Lila] dearly, I thought that Lila brushed aside her brother for Alex more than was strictly necessary or normal. THIS! This was one of the biggest issues I had with Hunting Lila since I have a brother myself and was simply mad at Lila for forgetting about her brother so much, but I loved her interaction with her brother in this novel. Not only does she really put family ahead of herself or her romance, her relationship with her brother really gets much stronger in this too which I am so happy about. It was hands down one of the best parts of this whole story.

So, as you can see, Losing Lila was faaar better than Hunting Lila ever was. It had a strong, kick-ass heroine who had her priorities straight, a caring romance, fast-paced action, and Alderson still managed to throw in some really unexpected plot twists which I loved. Plus, I enjoyed being part of this world with Suki, Nate, Key, Demos, and the “gang” really once again. I thought their personalities were fleshed out much deeper in this one too and while I’m hoping for a small novella about them in the future, I’m pleased that we got to spend so much more time with them in this installment. Overall, Losing Lila is an incredible sequel – one that is far better than I ever expected – and I’d highly recommend it to those who have read Hunting Lila. While many follow-ups and sequels wind up being immense disappointments, this one most certainly is not!(: