I
just finished Stephanie Perkins’ Isla and
the Happily Ever After, and need to wipe a tear or two from my face as I
type. I loved this book! It tugs at every emotion humans can feel. I don’t know
how I can possibly do it credit with my much more meager writing skills.
Isla is the third book in a connected trilogy. Each book follows
a different couple, but in one way or another the couples are inter-connected.
When I finished reading Anna and the
French Kiss, I was afraid to read the next book, Lola and the Boy Next Door, because I knew it would be a let down
after the joy that was Anna. Boy, was
I wrong! I may have loved Lola even
more. But Stephanie Perkins saved the best for last. Isla was more than worth the wait. <wipes tears>
Main
characters, Isla and Josh, who were introduced as minor characters in Anna, attend the School of America in
Paris (SOAP). Juniors during Anna, we
knew that Isla was crushing on Josh, who was involved in a PDA-filled relationship
with a fellow student that just about ripped out Isla’s heart. Now, a year
later, Josh is free and Isla’s crush has hit an all time high after a late
summer serendipitous meeting back home in New York. Their sweet, poignant
relationship with its highs and lows is the story of Isla and the Happily Ever After. It is filled with insecurities,
fears, moments of pure joy, and the newfound ability to take risks. Of the
three books, Isla shows the main
characters go through the most growth, as they come to know themselves and
their place in the world.
Obviously,
I read a lot of YA. There are different authors I love for their various
talents that shine in their books. But I can’t think of anyone who more fully
develops characters than Stephanie Perkins. As I read any of her books, but
especially this one, I come to feel like I actually know the characters, care
about them, and boy do I root for them. I become a senior in a high school in
Paris with a heart-wrenching crush on an adorable, talented guy. I’m right
there with Isla as she finally navigates the waters of a long wished for relationship
with the boy she’s been in love with for three years. Perkins is a master at
tugging those heartstrings.
Some
of that heartstring tugging comes in a subplot involving Isla’s relationship
with her younger, and ever annoying, sister Hattie. I don’t know if I cried
more over the Josh/Isla moments, or one particular Hattie/Isla moment, but I
challenge anyone with a sibling to get through that scene dry eyed! And Isla’s
relationship with her best friend since babyhood, Kurt, is a reason all by itself
to love this book.
I
discovered Stephanie Perkins the way I’ve discovered several of my favorite YA
authors: I saw her at two Portland events. First, I saw her at LeakyCon2013,
where I fell in love with her before I even knew she was someone! Dressed like she could be a Disney character, (cutest
outfit ever!) I saw her charming a small group of people, and then heard her speak
on a panel. A few months later she was at Portland’s Wordstock with her
adorable husband on her arm and she impressed me again as she participated on a
YA panel. I knew then that I had to read everything she had ever written. She
hasn’t let me down.
If
you love love, exotic romantic places
like Paris and Barcelona, and tales of friendship and longing, you will love Isla and the Happily Ever After.
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