And they lived Happily Ever After

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Pages: 375

Publisher: Usborne 

Source: Bought

Rating: 5/5

Good Reads // Amazon

Summary (from Good Reads): 
Love ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last?

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.  

I finished this book a few days after it had come out however have been avoiding writing this (and all the other reviews of books I've read..) since. I don't know why, considering you should all know by now that I absolutely love all 3 books by Stephanie Perkins, it's no secret how much I adored Anna and the French Kiss!

Isla and the Happily Ever After is the perfect conclusion to the Anna and the French Kiss trilogy. Although I still can't decide which book I enjoyed the most, it's most definitely a tie between Anna and Isla.

I can't express to you how happy I was to finally get my mitts on this, neither can I express to you how much I enjoyed this book. There were so many different elements that I enjoyed - the starting location of the book which then moved to Paris and then from there to a few places. I enjoy planning my travels and reading about travel in books so the way this was incorporated was something that I really enjoyed and felt like it added another dimension to the story. 

One thing I can't understand, is how Perkins creates such dynamic and great characters. I really just don't get it, but I love it. I feel like I can really connect to the characters in Perkins' books, and Isla is no different. I particularly like the fact that our main male character is Josh who we were originally introduced to in Anna. Having been introduced previously to this character and already knowing some things about him, I felt that this book was interesting because it really formed Josh and helped us to see his background, which I thought was a great idea. If you've read Anna and Isla, you've probably also noticed that Isla is featured briefly in Anna, so seeing how Perkins has done a crossover between the stories is a great feature!

I absolutely loved Isla, the pace was perfect, there was just enough of everything from romance to comedy. Oh, and that ending! The ending was really perfect for me. I couldn't believe what I was reading but it really brought the story to a close and left me feeling satisfied. I am sad that the trilogy is over, but knowing that there is a short story out by Stephanie Perkins (My True Love Gave to Me) does ease the pain!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme featured over at The Broke and the Bookish.

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday is Ten Authors I Own the Most Books From. I may have to shorten this one down, as although I really enjoy reading and owning books, I actually don't have that many, surprisingly, with most of the authors below, I actually own 2-3 of their books, so in a way I feel like I'm cheating!

So, in no particular order…

1. J K Rowling
2. John Green
3. Stephanie Perkins
4. Leigh Bardugo
5. Suzanne Collins
6. Rainbow Rowell
7. Emmy Laybourne
8. Veronica Roth
9. Cathy Cassidy

I couldn't manage 10 I'm afraid! However I did manage to list 9 authors that I own more than one book by! 


Do you own any books by any of the authors above? Are there any authors that you would recommend I check out?

The View: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Pages: 338

Publisher: Usbourne

Source: Bought

Rating: Amazing

Good Reads // Amazon

Summary (from Good Reads): 
Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

It's been no secret that I absolutely loved Anna and the French Kiss, so it was kind of a given that I had to read Lola and the Boy Next Door. I have to admit, I wasn't as into it as Anna, but that doesn't mean to say that I didn't still enjoy it.

Stephanie Perkins has such a great writing ability, and she really knows how teenagers speak, and think, which is great. I feel that this really enables me to connect to the characters and story as a whole, which I love being able to do with books as then I feel truly invested in the book. Perkins writing is also special to me as I feel like I'm reading the story of a real life person, instead of a fictional character. Perkins just makes everything sound so real.

The story itself was pretty good. The first few chapters, I was itching to know why Lola had such a strong disliking for the Bell twins, but that was revealed pretty quickly, which is good as it really helped the story progress into better things! I liked the feature of Lola having two dads, as I think this really added to the story, especially since having two dads or two mums is not uncommon! I also liked following Lola's story and her relationships with people such as her boyfriend, Cricket, her best friend, her mother and her dads. 

Now let's talk about Cricket..what can I say? Another great boy that Perkins has made us all swoon over! Stephanie Perkins has a seriously good ability to create and build on characters. I just don't know how she does it, but Cricket was honestly so sweet and a quirky character that it was fun to meet. I enjoyed the scenes that Cricket was in, and I feel that he really added something to the book. Plus I loved the connection between him and Lola - their difficult friendship was interesting to see, as at times, it seemed to be a bit come and go!

There were parts of the book that made me cringe a little, but then there were other parts that were so nice that I loved. I liked all the characters within the book, apart from Max. He was just such a douche bag, even from the very start, and I just wanted to slap him in the face. I also wanted to slap Lola a few times, because she just seemed so whiny at small points in the book.

Oh, and can we also mention the inclusion of Anna and St. Clair?! Oh my gosh, how perfect? I was so happy to see that Perkins had connected the two books together the way she did! Great job, Stephanie!

As I said at the start, I didn't like this book as much as Anna. With Anna and the French Kiss, I was constantly trying to sneak in time to read it, and although I did still do this with Lola, I don't feel like I was as attached to it in comparison to how much I was with Anna.

Lola and the Boy Next Door was an enjoyable read for me, and I enjoyed being able to experience Stephanie Perkins writing once again. I couldn't wait for Isla and the Happily Ever After before I read this, but now I'm looking forward to it even more!