I had a difficult time connecting to Lola. The plot was predictable and so slow I just couldn’t get excited about the story. Although I hope everything turns out well for Lola, unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me.

This book pulls no punches, with the requisite gun violence, buckets of blood, and language that will make your ears burn. But, in truth that is pretty standard stuff in modern crime novels. However, this book goes well beyond that, by exposing a horrific display of misogyny, sexual assault, pedophiles, and graphic descriptions of drug use, which really is difficult material to digest no matter how jaded you are.

When I heard this book featured a young woman who was a drug lord, hiding in plain sight, I was intrigued. The story is of Lola, who pretends to be the girlfriend of the assumed gang leader for the Crenshaw 6 drug gang. Instead, it's she who calls the shots and handles the decisions for the business, including who to punish or get rid of when they become inconvenient. An expansion opportunity goes wrong and she is outed as the one in charge. The clock starts to count down from that moment for her to right her mistake or die.

The writing is strong and episodic, and she clearly knew what she was planning with her plot.

I thought the book was an ok look at what could happen if a woman ran the show. However, there was a considerable bit that I wasn't entirely comfortable with regarding the racial components in the gang, including Lola being Mexican-American and the author being a white woman, whose bio says she was the daughter of a cop and a social worker. The assumption is that she has an awareness of the milieu, but I don't think that gives enough background for my perspective. It would have been just as interesting if she had been a white woman dealing drugs without the racial component at play.

A thrilling tale from the underside that turns such stories on their head by being told from the perspective of a rising narcotics femme-fatale. The concept is fascinating....the execution, less so.

This book wasn’t for me. I decided not to review it on my site or any of the major retailers/Goodreads.

This was a unique story initially and was interest grabbing but interest waned quickly as the plot became predictable the author shows promise and will likely try the next book.

There were definitely aspects of this read that were so fantastical it took away from the story just a bit for me, but overall Lola was an intriguing read that transports you into East LA and the challenges of a world that is very unique from my own. I felt it was a portrait that could help stir compassion and understanding from those who may judge someone like Lola on the street. I appreciated getting to know her history and the complexity of her circumstances that would lead her to act in the ways she did. She is a super tough-girl heroine you have to appreciate. Worth the read!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

Just not my cup of tea. Early on, I thought that I would enjoy the book but I just could not relate to Lola and the gang culture. Perhaps it would appeal to young readers. There is a lot of violence so beware. Lola is a strong female character but I just couldn't connect.

Lola is at times an uncomfortable read. The main character, Lola, shadow-leader of the Crenshaw Six, is extremely ruthless and this makes that you're immediately hooked. And as things start to spin out of control, Lola will take even more cruel decisions.

But, back to the start. Lola, secretly the leader of a small gang in Los Angeles, makes a bad decision that put her and hers right in the middle of two battling cartels. While now her life is in immediate danger she to a level likes it because this is the moment for her to step out of the shadows and stop being underestimated.

It was a surprisingly good book. I'm usually not really into books about gang/drug wars, but Lola's story was very good. I liked her connection to Lucy, but her conflicted relationship with her brother didn't feel real to me. If you do not like to read about violence, mutilation, rape, murder and the like, this probably isn't the book for you. Otherwise, it's a very compelling read.

Thanks to the publisher and Blogging for Books for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Published by Crown on March 21, 2017

Novels that focus on gangs and inner city crime are trendy, but Lola stands apart from the crowd by focusing on a 26-year-old woman who sees the gang from a female perspective. The woman, of course, is the titular Lola. She has a secret that is revealed in a surprising moment about 50 pages into the story. Without spoiling the secret, I can say that it causes the reader to rethink the nature of the central character.

Garcia belonged to Kim before, but now he’s Lola’s man. Garcia is regarded as the top man in the Crenshaw Six. Lola used to date Kim’s older brother, back when he was the top man, but she moved on to Garcia after Kim’s brother was murdered. Lola understands that playing a subordinate role is the key for a woman to survive in the world of gangs, but she’s too smart to be content.

Garcia is offered an opportunity to move the Crenshaw Six to a considerably higher place in the gang hierarchy, but at considerable risk, particularly to Lola, whose life (according to the enforcer who offers the job) will be taken as retribution if the gang screws up. It is when the mission doesn’t go well that we learn Lola’s secret.

After that, the story is about Lola’s quest to score the $4 million she needs to save her life, and about a series of unfortunate encounters with rival drug gangs, a powerful drug cartel, the police, neighborhood nuisances, and Lola’s mother. Each event in a sequence of unfortunate events places Lola in an even more precarious position. Balanced against that plot is Lola’s confrontation with the expectations of affluent white society as she tries to rescue a neighborhood girl from a life of abuse.

A key character is Lola’s brother Hector, who has been having sex with a girl whose brother is in a rival gang. Hector has a decency that some of the other gangbangers lack, and while he is Lola’s brother, it is Lola’s job to enforce order when that decency prevents Hector from doing his job. The complexity of the family and gang relationships is one factor that sets this novel apart from most gang stories.

Police officers in Lola are generally portrayed as decent people, not as stereotyped heroes or villains, although a couple of bent cops add new twists to the plot. Even rich white people, for whom Lola has little sympathy, are portrayed sympathetically. Lola perceives “every stranger as a fatal struggle” but is often surprised by their lack of malicious intent.

The novel is written in the third person, but generally allows the reader to see the world from Lola’s perspective. Lola’s past is tragic, her environment is horrifying, but it is the only life and environment that Lola has, and while she shows no inclination to leave it, she is determined to conquer it. She is smart, cunning, and resourceful. Lola’s insight into the gang members and men in general contributes to her efforts to control them.

Parts of the novel, primarily the parts that discuss child abuse, are sad, but the sadness contributes to the novel’s power. The discussions are never graphic, but they are not hidden from view, so particularly sensitive readers might not be a good fit for the novel.

The narrative tends to overdo statements like “Lola wonders whether she will be alive tomorrow” or “Lola wonders whether she will ever eat another pizza.” Occasional references to Lola’s concern about her future are fine, but we don’t need to be reminded on every page that Lola’s future is precarious. Lola also tends to overdo her fretting about her position in the world. Still, those are my only complaints about a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The surprising complexity of shifting relationships gives the story greater depth than it appears to have on its surface. By most standards, Lola is not a good person, and some readers will dislike the novel for that reason. By the standards that define her existence in “a world that doesn’t want her,” Lola might be a better person than most. Readers who are open to that distinction will probably like Lola as a person and as a novel.

RECOMMENDED

Lola is unlike any character or any book I have ever read. A strong survivor, Lola is as near to a good person as is possible for her, considering her "childhood".

Throughout the book, she struggles to conceal both her intellect and her control, because she knows she can be more successful if she is seen as just another gang leader's woman.
But she is not just another gang leader's woman. She is a gang leader who has some scruples, and a kind of moral compass, but one who doesn't hesitate to be brutal when necessary.
There are a few very graphic scenes in this book, especially the scene where Lola deals with Lucy's mother, so be warned.
I loved this book, especially the characters of Lola and Lucy. I hope we see more of Lola.
Recommended.

I read about 50 pages and found the writing engaging, the story intriguing. However, I just didn't find that the story drew me in enough to continue reading.
Thank you for the opportunity to try reading.

This book follows Lola, the undercover leader of the Crenshaw Six rival gang. From the outside, everyone except the members of Crenshaw Six believes Lola's Boyfriend Garcia is the leader.

This book had some very good depth to it. All the characters were well thought out. I would've liked to read a more in depth ending of what happens to the characters. All in all a very good book.

This book wasn't for me, but I'm sure it will thrill many people interested in grit lit!

The writing is fine, but I just can't get into it right now. I'm going to try to read it again some other time because I do want to know what happens, it's just my own life is too stressed right now.

I found this hard to read. It could have been helped by a good editor. Stories are not consistent your characters wear one thing and in the next paragraph she is wearing something completely different. I found it hard to enjoy

LOLA
Melissa Scrivner Love
Crown Books
ISBN 978-0-451-49610-2
Hardcover
Thriller

I’m in love with LOLA. This fine debut thriller by television screenwriter Melissa Scrivner Love has something for everyone. It’s barrio noir with feminist overtones navigating through its tough subject matter without sacrificing itself on the altar of political correctness. Lola, the tough, pragmatic protagonist of the title, demonstrates contradictory but not conflicting sides to her personality throughout the narrative and is one of the most complex and compelling protagonists that you are likely to encounter this year.

Lola is the keep-it-on-the-downlow leader of the Crenshaw Six, a small neighborhood gang in South Central Los Angeles. Her boyfriend Garcia, is the figurehead leader who presents himself as the operator of the gang and its limited sphere of influence while Lola makes the coffee. A Mexican cartel has the Crenshaw Six tapped for bigger and better things, however, which leads to the Six being tasked to determine who is attempting to steal away Darrel, the Cartel’s best wholesale buyer. The price of success will be greater territory and influence for the Six. The price of failure, however, will be Lola’s execution. The cartel, unaware of Lola’s true status in the Crenshaw Six, thinks that the consequences will motivate Garcia to put all of his effort into the clandestine investigation. What it actually does, however, is prompt Lola to take matters into her own hands. Things go badly wrong, however, when the Six infiltrate a drug buyoff between Mila, Darrel’s representative and his girlfriend, and the mysterious seller. By the time the dust settles and the smoke clears, Mila is dead and the drugs, as well as the dealer’s money, have disappeared. Lola now has Darrel and the cartel after her. She is given seventy-two hours to recover the cartel’s property. The price of failure isn’t just death; it’s a long, drawn-out painful one. Lola, in the meanwhile, has multiple pressures to deal with, not the least of which is Maria, her junkie mother, and the care of Lucy, a very young girl who is being horribly exploited by her respective parent. Lola displays an extremely pragmatic worldview, one tempered by sensitivity sparingly but wisely. It’s not a world that she has made but it is a world that she understands, but only to a degree. There is one particularly touching and excruciatingly painful vignette in LOLA, wherein Lola attempts to enroll Lucy in a private kindergarten. She knows how to do it, but...I won’t give it away, but if you read LOLA just for that one scene, your time will be awarded. LOLA is much more than a barrio coming of age novel, however. It is full of twists, turns and surprises that jump and sizzle out of the pages among incidents of sudden and explosive violence which you will not soon forget.

Love’s extensive screenwriting experience --- even casual viewers of series’ television will be familiar with her work --- shines through in LOLA, which utilizes a present tense narrative to move things along quickly and to keep the pages turning as quickly as possible. Life in LOLA isn’t pretty, but it’s real, and it’s played out in the neighborhoods and areas that you instinctively skirt out of some innate instinct of survival. Read LOLA and see why, Recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2017, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Lola belonged to a gang in South Central Los Angeles. Everyone thought that she was just a member, but the reality of it is that she leads them. Because of society's way of thinking, it's assumed that her lover Garcia is the leader.

Then there's little Lucy. Her mother is a drug addict and Lola is determined that Lucy doesn't end up like her and has a better life than she ever did.

This was a fantastic book with a strong female lead. There's tons of action and twists to keep you riveted. Melissa Scrivner Love has written a wonderful novel everyone will enjoy.

Lola is an interesting, kick-ass female character. She protects those who need it & understands dynamics of people & the business. The book was exciting and had me wanting to read quickly to find out what happens next. This book does deal with some heavy themes, but it was so worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.