Review | Isla And The Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Isla And The Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna And The French Kiss #3
Published By: Usborne Publishing
Published On: August 14, 2014
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 375
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★★

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The café is boiling. The atmosphere is clouded with bittersweet coffee. Three years of desire rip through my body and burst from my lips: “Josh!” His head jolts up. For a long time, a very long time, he just stares at me. And then…he blinks. “Isla?” 
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.

In the third and final instalment in Stephanie Perkins’ Anna and the French Kiss series, we return to the School of America in Paris as Isla and Josh complete their senior year. After a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, Isla, who has had a crush on Josh since they first met, discovers Josh may feel the same way about her.

This is by far my favourite of the series. Everything about this book is perfect to me. The plot, the characters, the settings, the writing, I love everything! The best book in the series, in my opinion.

Isla is a very relatable character. In fact, I relate to Isla more than I care to admit. I spent the first few chapters of the book complaining about how annoying she was before realising I had done all of these annoying things at some point. She is just your typical high school girl with a crush.

I love Josh. I must have expressed my love for him at least a hundred times while reading this book. He is the perfect quiet, artsy guy that not everyone understands and I love it. I think him and Isla make a perfect couple and it is clear that he cares just as much for her as she does for him.

This relationship was not instantaneous. Although the relationship first started at the beginning of the book, which I thought was an interesting change from the norm, this was not an insta-love story. The retelling of their small encounters throughout their school life made it clear that the two had at least some feelings for each other for quite a while but had not realised the feelings were mutual.

The settings were great. Stephanie Perkins is great at writing the perfect settings and she did it again in Isla. I loved returning to Paris, where it all started, for the ending of the series. The scenes in Barcelona were written so beautifully I could have been there myself. And of course, New York! I love anything to do with New York so having this book partly set there was amazing.

The cameo from the previous books’ characters was perfect. The other characters making an appearance in this book was the perfect way to end the series. To have them all back where out journey began with Anna felt as though we had come full circle and I could not be happier with the way things wrapped up for all of the characters. It was definitely the perfect ending to the series.

Overall, I adore this book! Everything is just so perfect and I have absolutely fallen in love with Stephanie Perkins more than I knew was possible after reading this last book in the series. It was a great conclusion to the series and everything ended so perfectly. The amount of times I have used the word 'perfect' just sums up my thoughts on this book.

Sophie :)