Isla and the Happily Ever After

Guys, forgive me for being a little behind the times with my reviews. I’m working my way through a reading backlog from the summer! Of course, this lag has given me plenty of time to ruminate on my endless love for the long-awaited ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. True story: I preordered this book on Christmas Day 2012. I’ve been salivating for it for years, and it was beyond worth whatever time Stephanie Perkins needed to birth this beautiful baby. I thought that ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER was basically perfect.If you remember, back in ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, we met Etienne’s best friend, Josh, and a very shy girl who crushed on him silently, Isla. Thankfully, we meet up with them in their shared home of New York City before they begin their last year at SOAP. They flirt, sort of, and it’s adorable. When they return to Paris, their hesitant friendship quickly blossoms, but Isla and Josh each have their own baggage and demons that conspire to dash their passionate romance to pieces. GASPPPPPPP!!!I just…I die. I can’t with these two, and with these books, and with the swoons and butterflies and emotions. Josh and Isla, even though they are very different people, harken back to Anna and Etienne for me in terms of being forever burned onto my brain with their love. Lola and Cricket were awesome, but they didn’t hold a candle to Anna and Etienne for me. Isla and Josh DO. They do, they do, they do.One of my favorite things about Stephanie Perkins’ characters is that they are so unique and real. Isla and Josh are no exception. Isla is shy and lacking some confidence in herself and her desirability. She’s unsure of her future, and her self-esteem issues often trip her up. HOW IS THIS NOT EVERY HUMAN. The only thing that she’s pretty much sure of after all this time is her serious crush on Josh. Josh the artist. Josh the senator’s son. Josh the rebel, the newly single. Josh is an emo, stone-cold FOX. A panty-melting, heartbreaking FOX. Sometimes I wanted to hug him, sometimes I wanted to smack him, sometimes I wanted to tackle him. I would never do that to Isla though. She’s too lovely and adorable.As much as I loved Josh and Isla separately, it’s obviously their romance that makes ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER go. Their chemistry is palpable and fun, and I couldn’t help but be caught up in the whirlwind of their feelings right from the start. It made the roadblocks they have to overcome that much more wrenching because these two together are IT. There’s so much EMOTION in their relationship that it sometimes seems like things happen really quickly, but it feels so right between them. Also, I love how Stephanie Perkins incorporated Josh’s drawing into both his own story and their relationship. In fact, there’s one scene in particular that made my butterflies FLIP OUTTT. SO GOOD.There are other relationships in ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, though. I know, I know. We all love the swoons. But there are friendships (I adored Isla’s best friend, Kurt), sibling relationships (Isla’s with her younger sister is particularly important and fraught), and parental relationships (Josh and his parents are in a not-good place). Having these other people feature prominently in their lives fleshes the story of Isla and Josh out, and adds really great dimension to their characters. They make their relationship something that they need to fight for even more. And as we know, a relationship worth fighting for is always satisfying and intense and a pleasure to read.Of course, it was AWESOME to be back in Paris again! I love Paris. It’s the perfect setting for these super romantic books. I love how Isla and Josh explore different parts of the city from Anna and Etienne, parts that are just theirs. Secret places, hidden gem places, modern weird places. It’s the best atmosphere. Plus, speaking of Anna and Etienne, it was THE BEST to see them again. THE ACTUAL BEST. I do love those two something fierce.Really, though, all of the best things about ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER orbit Isla and Josh. They’re the emotional center, and their relationship feels exactly like two people are holding each other’s hands and spinning in circles until they’re both dizzy: the world around them is a blur, they spin faster and faster, out of breath from laughing, and the only thing keeping them from falling down is the other’s grip. I just loved this book. JUST LOVED IT. Instant favorite.

Yet another wonderful book. Seriously Stephanie, whats your secret? Is there some YA writing steroids you're taking that make you this talented and amazing?Isla and the Happily Ever After was great. Perkins still manages to create such unique and interesting characters, and their relationships with each other are believable and entertaining to say the least. I especially loved that Stephanie had a character on the autistic spectrum, but you could clearly see his brilliance and his worth as a person. I also loved how Isla would always have his back when people mistreated him due to his disorder. I also loved that she had an openly bi character who was successful and accepted by her family.And of course, I love Isla and Josh. Their relationship was always funny, sweet, and at some points, heartbreaking. The use of Josh's manuscript in order to see into his head a little was so fun. I especially loved that it included Anna and the French Kiss's story line (and how Isla compared it to a soap opera). One of the best parts of these novels is how they include the characters from the previous ones. Whether important scenes or not, seeing Lola and Cricket and Anna and Étienne always cheers me up. Even hearing their names makes me smile. (Also, I won't spoil anything, but that scene with Anna and Étienne at the end? Yeah, I freaked out).Isla and the Happily Ever After was such a good book. I'm so sad to have finished this series. Overall, I'd give this series a 5, but as a separate novel, I gave Isla a 4. This is only because it isnt as wonderful in comparison to the first two, but it was still so amazing that I couldn't put it down.

Sigh. I just adore Stephanie Perkins' young adult novels. This one has taken a long time to arrive, but it was well worth the wait. After taking an American detour in the second book of the series, we get to return to France for the finale of the series. This story is told through the first person narration of Isla. And yes, I know that her name is pronounced "eye-la" not "Iz-la," but I could never make my brain think the correct pronunciation. I struggled with that through the book. Either way ... Isla has been in love with Josh from afar since her freshman year. But Josh seemed to be way out of her league, at least in her mind. So through three years of high school Josh had his group of friends and a super steady girlfriend while Isla mostly hung out with her best friend forever, Kurt, a young man with high functioning autism who is squarely in the friend zone with her. She has her own boyfriend for awhile, and when he left the picture people still believed that Isla and Kurt were an item. So although Isla sported a major crush on Josh, the two lived in two separate spheres within their school.All that changes right before Josh and Isla enter their senior year and they have a chance encounter in a New York cafe late at night. Suddenly these two have a connection to draw them together when they return to school, giving Isla a reason to push herself out of her shy awkwardness around Josh.The romance of this story seems to steam ahead very quickly. Very quickly. Josh and Isla are already a couple before the book is even a third of the way through. They seem wonderful together. What could possibly go wrong with that much time left in the book? What often happens in YA books such as this is that the author creates a thousand melodramatic moments to drive the couple together then apart then together over and over again. However, Stephanie Perkins manages to just create simple, often sweet. moments in the life of Josh and Isla that show the growth of the relationship as well as the insecurities that will create strain within that relationship. Ultimately this is the story of a girl who doesn't really believe in herself. Isla is beautiful and talented and engaging. There are so many reasons for others to love her, but deep down she doesn't truly believe that about herself. That makes a relationship with Josh seem almost unrealistic to her. How could this talented, gorgeous, superstar son of a US senator really truly love her? In her mind it makes no sense, and as long as Isla harbors these feelings of inadequacy she will never truly be comfortable in a relationship with Josh.What I really, really loved:The relationship between Isla and Josh. I didn't love it because it was perfect. It was not. Not at all. These two rushed right into the relationship with both feet. They were all in, full of overwhelming passion and desire for each other. They couldn't concentrate on much besides each other. They were deeply, madly in love ... almost from the beginning. But as much as the relationship soared from the start, it was just as quick to find itself crashing, and when it crashed it crashed hard. So no ... this relationship was not perfect. But it really encapsulated what a high school romance is like in so many ways. As we first experience those amazing feelings of love for another it can be like a blazing fire, all consuming and maybe a little suffocating (but in a good way, if that makes sense). But as quick as those feelings burn, they can be doused almost as fast, and when they do it can be devastating. That is what Isla and Josh discover. They experience the highs of first love, but along with it comes jealousy and misunderstanding and hurt. If this relationship is to endure Isla has got to realize her own self worth, independent of anyone else. Josh is going to have to find a way to handle his conflicts in positive ways, taking responsibility for his actions and owning up to his true feelings about the direction of his life. Both Josh and Isla have to grow up, and Stephanie Perkins does an amazing job at walking readers through the ups and downs of this relationship. She keeps us engaged and involved with the characters without causing us to be horribly annoyed with some of their bad decisions. This was a sweet relationship to read. Even when it was obvious that they were way over the top at the beginning of their dating, I still rooted for them to work their way through things because it was obvious that the two of them were good together.This was a wonderful finale to this series. I still think that Anna and the French Kiss is the best of the three books, but all three got five stars from me. We get to see all our favorite characters from the first two books in this one for a little bit. I haven't read the first two books in awhile, but this story made me want to go back and revisit the previous books because I love the characters Stephanie creates so much. They are definitely must read books for fans of YA romance literature. Five stars!

ingles bem facileu simplesmente sou apaixonada nessa trilogia(o melhor é o ANNA) mas esse tb é perfeitoromance mto leve mto lindopersonagem principal as vezes é insegura dmais, mas faz parte, e o final é maravilhoso(unica coisa chata é o tamanho do livro, que por alguma razao tem altura diferente dos outros dois da serie)

A perfect ending to three prefect stories. And overall paper quality is also good. No creases on the stem or the cover

La historia es muy bonita, quizá no tanto como la de Anna, pero sí definitivamente mejor que la historia de Lola. Después de haber terminado el segundo libro, no esperaba mucho de éste, pero igual lo amé como el primero. No pudo creer que ya haya terminado de leer sobre todos estos personajes. Lo recomiendo y el nivel de inglés es muy sencillo.

Nice story

I love these books! I can’t even say which one I like best, though I suspect Anna and the French Kiss will have a soft spot in my heart.Isla’s and Josh’s story was beautiful. I love how the characters are fully fleshed characters with dreams, hopes, fears and issues that they need to work through. First love stories that make you laugh and cry. So rare and beautifully written.