Scan barcode
A review by natiesreads99
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
4.0
I loved the book! All of Stephanie Perkins' books are really quick and face paced and thats what I enjoy about it, however Lola and the boy next door still is my favorite. I thought in the beginning of the book Isla and the happily ever after would be my favorite but then I continued and we got to the "conflict" and I realized that Lola had won.
I really really loved how we jumped into the romance quickly and it was a beautiful one too, it was light and artistic and really cute. I really liked that they told each other things they never told their friends/family before and how well they clicked together and were so easy around each other but yet still a little shy and clumsy, that's what makes it real. In real life things dont always go the way you plan in your head and Stephanie Perkins does a great job at doing just that.
The art. THE ART. THE ART. I really loved the art in this book, just the fact that Josh paints and they visit places they both like that involve art or museums and you see exactly how dedicated Josh is to painting/drawing and wanting to draw and paint everything that he finds appealing. I loved that scene where Josh said he wanted to paint on her, that scene was one of the most beautiful scenes to me. And it kind of reflects how later on Isla says shes just a blank canvas but then again Josh painted on her, maybe a metaphor that he fills her up. (that's what I got out of it though)
The characters.
I LOVED JOSH!! At first I didn't even realize it was Josh from the first book but then Isla mentioned his tattoo and I was like OHMYGOD THAT JOSH!! But I really liked that Stephanie wrote a love story about him, I liked him a lot in the first book and now I love him even more. He's so artistic and really nice. I like how he tries not to care but then again he does care he just has to hide it because of the things he went trough that he doesn't feel comfortable talking about. I love how you get to see that he was a bit in the shadow of St.Clair because every girl falls head over heels with him but with Isla she told him that St.Clair was just "Alright." And I feel like that made him feel the special that he is. I also liked when we got to read his book and he showed tiny bits and pieces of how he wanted to act like St.Clair and wanted to be more charming, because things like that DO happen in real life where a friend feels a shadow to their friend and doesn't feel as if they're good enough.
Isla was an okay character, I liked the way she tells the story and the things she goes trough but the way her mind works frustrated me most of the times because..well WHY. The conflict that happened in the limo I was SO mad at her because she just wanted to pick a fight just to pick a fight. There was no fucking reason for her to pick a fight that night. She started doubting herself because she was only in 8 pages of the book. I thought that was really stupid and really selfish of her. To claim that Josh didn't really love her was a horrible thing to say because she's not the one to decide that and she completely threw a fit over really stupid things which pissed me off about her. I did love her relationship with her sisters, finally she opened her eyes and realized things at the end and really did go out of her way to fix them. In this book you can clearly see that the biggest enemy was Isla herself and a part of her mind that was way too hard on herself which also happens a lot in real life but I just feel that that scene in the limo was really unnecessary.
Kurt was alright too, I did get all defensive when he said "I was named after a guy who committed suicide." Because I really do love Kurt Cobain. I understood the role he had in this book but I didn't love him or really connect with him, I'm glad he was introduced in this book and that he was a good best friend but at times you could see that he had difficulty adapting to the fact that Isla has a boyfriend and has to get used to it. But in the end he did manage to make other friends that weren't Isla and I was happy for him because you could see that some people felt uncomfortable around him just because they didn't really get the time to get to know him better and I'm glad that Stephanie introduced this kind of issue in this book.
SPAIN!!
I LOVED THE WHOLE SCENE OF SPAIN. From the moment in the train till when they rush back. I think that was really when their relationship was at its utter best because it was just them and no one else around them and it was just what they felt for each other. It was really cute that they went away like that for a while (it kinda sucked that they got busted but it was bound to happen).
THE PROPOSAL.
When St.Clair proposed to Anna I was so happy for them and that everyone was there supporting them was amazing. The fact that Stephanie kept bringing her old characters back into the new book was something that I really enjoy and I loved seeing Calliope as well.
Overall a great book and I do recommend it if you want a quick read.
I really really loved how we jumped into the romance quickly and it was a beautiful one too, it was light and artistic and really cute. I really liked that they told each other things they never told their friends/family before and how well they clicked together and were so easy around each other but yet still a little shy and clumsy, that's what makes it real. In real life things dont always go the way you plan in your head and Stephanie Perkins does a great job at doing just that.
The art. THE ART. THE ART. I really loved the art in this book, just the fact that Josh paints and they visit places they both like that involve art or museums and you see exactly how dedicated Josh is to painting/drawing and wanting to draw and paint everything that he finds appealing. I loved that scene where Josh said he wanted to paint on her, that scene was one of the most beautiful scenes to me. And it kind of reflects how later on Isla says shes just a blank canvas but then again Josh painted on her, maybe a metaphor that he fills her up. (that's what I got out of it though)
The characters.
I LOVED JOSH!! At first I didn't even realize it was Josh from the first book but then Isla mentioned his tattoo and I was like OHMYGOD THAT JOSH!! But I really liked that Stephanie wrote a love story about him, I liked him a lot in the first book and now I love him even more. He's so artistic and really nice. I like how he tries not to care but then again he does care he just has to hide it because of the things he went trough that he doesn't feel comfortable talking about. I love how you get to see that he was a bit in the shadow of St.Clair because every girl falls head over heels with him but with Isla she told him that St.Clair was just "Alright." And I feel like that made him feel the special that he is. I also liked when we got to read his book and he showed tiny bits and pieces of how he wanted to act like St.Clair and wanted to be more charming, because things like that DO happen in real life where a friend feels a shadow to their friend and doesn't feel as if they're good enough.
Isla was an okay character, I liked the way she tells the story and the things she goes trough but the way her mind works frustrated me most of the times because..well WHY. The conflict that happened in the limo I was SO mad at her because she just wanted to pick a fight just to pick a fight. There was no fucking reason for her to pick a fight that night. She started doubting herself because she was only in 8 pages of the book. I thought that was really stupid and really selfish of her. To claim that Josh didn't really love her was a horrible thing to say because she's not the one to decide that and she completely threw a fit over really stupid things which pissed me off about her. I did love her relationship with her sisters, finally she opened her eyes and realized things at the end and really did go out of her way to fix them. In this book you can clearly see that the biggest enemy was Isla herself and a part of her mind that was way too hard on herself which also happens a lot in real life but I just feel that that scene in the limo was really unnecessary.
Kurt was alright too, I did get all defensive when he said "I was named after a guy who committed suicide." Because I really do love Kurt Cobain. I understood the role he had in this book but I didn't love him or really connect with him, I'm glad he was introduced in this book and that he was a good best friend but at times you could see that he had difficulty adapting to the fact that Isla has a boyfriend and has to get used to it. But in the end he did manage to make other friends that weren't Isla and I was happy for him because you could see that some people felt uncomfortable around him just because they didn't really get the time to get to know him better and I'm glad that Stephanie introduced this kind of issue in this book.
SPAIN!!
I LOVED THE WHOLE SCENE OF SPAIN. From the moment in the train till when they rush back. I think that was really when their relationship was at its utter best because it was just them and no one else around them and it was just what they felt for each other. It was really cute that they went away like that for a while (it kinda sucked that they got busted but it was bound to happen).
THE PROPOSAL.
When St.Clair proposed to Anna I was so happy for them and that everyone was there supporting them was amazing. The fact that Stephanie kept bringing her old characters back into the new book was something that I really enjoy and I loved seeing Calliope as well.
Overall a great book and I do recommend it if you want a quick read.