Isla and the Happily Ever After

Anna and the French Kiss was dreamy and I liked it very much (*cough* Etienne *cough). Lola and the Boy Next Door was cute and I enjoyed. But Isla and the Happily Ever After was amazing and I looooooove.

Goodreads

Isla as a character was perfectly-written. She felt real and ordinary and completely relatable with her shy yet strong willed personality and all her little flaws. She was a teenager, surviving through highschool and hormones. And I can safely say, she was exactly that.

The book was written only from Isla's perspective but even though we're looking from the outside, Josh as her love-interest was as thoughtfully constructed as much as she was. He was perceived as untouchable - the hot bad boy that seems to always get away with anything. Yet as their interactions increased and deepened, he turned out to be an adventurer, a hopeless romantic, and of course, an artist with vulnerabilities as the rest of us, that added depth to his character. (Josh and Etienne are fighting for #1 now. Look what you did, Stephanie.)

Their love story wasn't the fluffy and cringe-y kind. It was grounded and real. Every trial Josh and Isla underwent made my heart ache for them and every blissful moment they had together made me smile like a freaking weirdo while I read this in public.

There is so much to love about this book that I can't form into coherent paragraphs so for our convenience, bullet points:

• Kurt, Hattie, Sanjita, etc. - The way Stephanie Perkins wrote their roles as supporting characters, actually justified the title. They're not just the people Isla had bad history with or was friends with. The plotline wasn't too overly focused on romance that it neglected other platonic relationships and I'm glad for that. 
• Barcelona and what happened in Barcelona 
• life lessons (ha!) - See quotes below.
• Anna and Etienne + Lola and Cricket + Isla and Josh + Meredith + in one place + at the same time = I. CAN'T. EVEN. EXPRESS.
• And of course, Etienne's little surprise. (Ultimate giddiness moment.)

I put off reading Isla and the Happily Ever After because I was scared to feel "meh" like I did with Lola (sorry, it was still nice though) It was my greatest regret. I really should've read it sooner.

I'm sad that this series of adorable relationships and swoon-worthy fictional boys and Paris is over but also glad that it ended with it's the perfect happily ever after. (God, those final moments.)

STEPHANIE PERKINS, PLEASE WRITE AN EPILOGUE OF THEIR LIVES. 

SOON. 

LIKE. NOW.

Quotes that stabbed my heart (in a really good way):

"Take a fucking risk. If you keep playing it safe, you'll never know who you are."

"I've learned that if I never leave those areas of my life that feel comfortable, I'll never have a chance at a greater happiness."