anniesmusings 's review for:

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

3.0

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I loved Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door. I love Stephanie Perkins' writing. But I did not love Isla and the Happily Ever After. In Anna and the French Kiss & Lola and the Boy Next Door, the main characters had distinctive personalities. Isla didn't. She has no defining qualities except for the fact that she has a crush on Josh. And then they date and that's her defining quality. *rolls eyes* I get that she's still figuring herself out and while that's ok and makes her realistic,(Many real people, myself included, are still figuring themselves out) it makes her hard to connect to. Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door featured beautiful relationships that took time to develop. Isla and the Happily Ever After did not. Isla had a crush on Josh from the beginning and they knew each other for only a little while before getting together. I believe they love each other but that love is not interesting to read about. In fact, it's boring. So boring that I finished 2 Harry Potter books before finishing this book. I don't hate this book. It's entertaining enough, and the cameos from characters that were in previous books is great. But it's not my thing. And I only gave it 3 stars because I continue to love Stephanie's writing and the characters she creates and for the Anna, St. Clair, Lola, and Cricket cameos. I will read any other books she writes in the future but this one wasn't for me.