Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Release Date: August 14, 2014
Pages: 375
Rating:💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on Josh since their first year. And, after a chance encounter in Manhattan over summer break, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they start their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to face the possibility of being apart.


What a disappointing ending to this trilogy. Okay, so it wasn't terrible but was definitely worse than Anna and far worse than Isla. It had a completely different feeling from the first two books, as if someone else had written it.

I've always felt like I could connect to the main girl in some way but I just couldn't relate to Isla. The first time we see her she is so drugged that her personality is completely changed. She goes 'Hey, love me, I'm quirky' for a chapter and then that personality disappears for the rest of the book. I also found it hard to connect with her because she couldn't speak without a hundred other words coming out of her mouth. I know that some people suffer from this (myself included) but I've never met anyone who couldn't have a single conversation without word-vomiting.

Isla's friendship with Kurt was a also a major disappointment for me. I loved Kurt, and it was great that he represented people with autism. However Isla didn't really seem to understand him at all and even ditched him when she got close enough to Josh which was not cool Isla! However Kurt was one of the things that saved this book for me because he was so innocently sweet and deserved better than Isla.

The romance in this book was not my cup of tea. Isla was obsessive, crushing on Josh for so long that I felt like it had gone from being a crush to being an obsession. Then, when she did get with Josh, she was clingy and had no life outside him. I wasn't too happy with Josh either; he wasn't mush better that Isla as a character. I was really disappointed with his character because I loved him in Anna and the French Kiss.

The thing that saved this book for me was the descriptions of all the places Isla and Josh went. I loved the chapters that Isla and Josh spent in Barcelona; the writing was so vibrant and descriptive that it made me want to jump on a plane and fly straight there. That trip was the highlight of this book, although I also loved the parts which Isla spent in the 'Treehouse'.

I know this review made it sound this book was terrible, but trust me it wasn't. There were parts that made me happy and other parts that made me want to go travel the world. Unfortunately I couldn't get along with the characters, and because they are the driving point of this book I couldn't get along this book.