Isla and the Happily Ever After: Review

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Usborne Publishing

Pages: 375

Genre: YA Contemporary

Summary:  Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on brooding artist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And, after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer break, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to face uncertainty about their futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Set against the stunning backdrops of New York, Paris and Barcelona, this is a gorgeous, heart-wrenching and irresistible story of true love, and the perfect conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series (Via Goodreads.)

Review: The main issue for me when it comes to writing a review for a Stephanie Perkins book is trying to sound articulate when all I want to do is squeal and gush and basically scream at people to read the damn book because ohmygod itsogood ohmygod ohmygod.

Isla is the third and final (gross sobbing) book in the Anna and the French Kiss series and it focuses on Isla and Josh – secondary characters from the first novel and it takes a slightly different route than it’s predecessors in that Isla and Josh get together pretty early on in the book so the plot focuses more on the ups and downs of their relationship then them trying to get together and it was beautiful.  Josh and Isla are so cute and so sweet and so incredibly perfect together, it’s basically cavity inducing!

In the sense of fluffiness, cuteness and squeal-ness inducing Isla is a very typical Stephanie Perkins book but the characters are quite different o their counterparts. Isla unlike Anna and Lola doesn’t have a single shred of confidence and this is a major obstacle in her relationship with Josh and unlike Anna and Lola she has no idea who she is and what she wants to go once she graduates. This, in my opinion, makes Isla a tad bit more relatable, because let’s be honest at eighteen most of us do feel a little lost! At times I will admit Isla was a tad bit annoying – but in a way that made her feel very real. I really did love her character and I really hope she makes a cameo in some future Perkins book!

Josh too is a lot different than Etienne and Cricket, he’s a lot more introspective, a lot more passionate but very lonely and sort of isolated and it’s nice to see something different. However he is still a Perkins boy so he is typically swoon worthy – like seriously swoon worthy. 

I can’t really find a fault with Isla. I definitely enjoyed her more than Lola and I think the reason for that is that Isla begins the same time as Lola. So there are no cameos from other characters to distract you from the main plot line, so you become invested in Isla and Josh and Kurt and Hattie as you should. When the Anna, Etienne, Lola and Cricket do appear at the end of the novel, it’s perfect because you now love every one of them and it’s sweet and it’s cute and ugh it made me so happy – especially that little surprise! (People who have read it know what I’m talking about!)

Overall Isla was sweet, cute, fluffy and chock full of adorableness that will keep me happy for a long, long time and it definitely hurt to close it.

A book and a series I would recommend to everyone. Stephanie Perkins is the YA Contemporary Queen.

5 Stars.

Anna and the French Kiss: Review

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton

Summary: Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris–until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all…including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? (Via Goodreads.)

Review:

I don’t know how to talk about this book without gushing. It was just perfect.

I read this book shortly after I booked a trip to Paris which made everything so much better for me! This book has made Paris better in my eyes a feat I did not think possible given how much I love the city but it did it. Every setting of this book, from the Pantheon to the cinema to the cemetery is now on my list of places to see and I couldn’t be more excited!! (See: Extra exclamation mark means I’m really excited.)

But back to the book! Let’s start with the characters! The main characters are Anna and the utterly perfect Etienne St. Clair (Who has been added to my list of fictional husbands. Just so dreamy.) and I adored them. They were well rounded and portrayed as typical teenagers with typical problems namely their parents and being separated from them and they dealt wit these problems perfectly and authentically, so just amazing. The secondary characters of Meredith, Josh and Rashimi were also wonderful and I do wish we got to see more of them. Thankfully, Josh makes his return in Isla and the Happily Ever After!

The romance, however, is the best part of this book because it is described perfectly (You’ll notice that perfect is coming up a lot in this review.) The love story between Etienne and Anna is fluffy and cute but it’s also hard and awkward and everything I wan’t in life! (No really, find me an Etienne St. Clair universe!) This book perfectly captures what it feels like to be in love and I’m so sad it had to end. (The book not the romance.) Thankfully, I believe these two make an appearance in in Perkins follow up novels so yay!

I would recommend this book to everyone even if you’re not a love story kind of reader. I’ve actually recommended it to a few people already! It’s so adorable and wonderful and I am gushing again. See? I said this would be a problem!

I want to give this book 5/5 but I’m giving it 4.5/5 instead for two reasons. 1) I really wanted to see more of the secondary characters especially Rashimi and Bridget and Matt, hopefully they make a few guest appearances in future books and 2) Because Etienne St. Clair does not exist. (Ugly Crying.)

4.5/5

Now all I need is Isla and the Happily Ever After and Lola and the Boy Next Door to magically appear on my bedside table!