Published: 14 August 2014 (print)/14 August 2014 (audio) 
Publisher: Dutton/Books on Tape
Pages: 339/8 hrs and 37 mins
Narrator: Grace Experience
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Romance
★ ★ – 2 Stars
Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.
Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.
I can’t really complain, it does what it says on the tin, it is a happily ever after. It’s a book of a perfect romance and a perfect love. Can’t really argue with that.
But I am still going to.
I disliked it from quite early on. I don’t know whether it was Isla’s voice or when I realised it was all falling into a perfect set of circumstances. I know it’s a romance, but even the romances I have read don’t lay it on so thick.
It is saccharine and aside from that technically there was nothing wrong but it felt uneventful. Isla and Josh have always loved each other, they get to be together, everyone is ok with it. The minor issues are barely issues and are overcome, and nothing bad ever happen. So much so something has to be fabricated to have some kind of conflict but it felt hollow. Like Perkins needed to have something bad before she wrote a book that sounded like a fairy tale romance. But even a fairy tale romance has some kind of real drama to overcome.
So we put up with this everything is perfect for the first half of the book, and by now I am begging for something to happen. Not dire, but some real conflict or consequential plot. I ended up skipping chunks, even the promise of cameos from other characters in the series wasn’t enough to keep me going. They are a blink and you’ll miss it moment so they may as well not be there. I ended up skipping through a lot of the second half of the book. Which from what I’ve read is more of Isla being utterly obsessed with Josh and their relationship and having no other personality.
I’m pretty sure I liked Josh on his own, but I needed him to stop treating Isla like a perfect and innocent person. Isla even does it herself by mentioning how she shocks people when she swears because no one expects someone so petite to swear. What does that even mean?
I did like how Isla and Kurt’s friendship was demonstrated. I liked how she fought for him, and stood up for their relationship. I also liked how she took him for granted, it gave some realism to the story about how knowing him for ages meant she sometimes became selfish and overlooked his needs. It was a nice break from the lovefest. I needed more of Kurt in the book though because Isla was exhausting and Josh and Isla together were exhausting.
Having someone knocked up on pain meds is a great way to break through the shyness barrier and have your characters confess things to each other, but the story needed to bring itself down to earth for the rest of the story. Even though the ending was ok, I didn’t have any interest in them because of course everything was going to work out for both of them. Everything was fixed and they were living their best lives. At least there was a small amount of growth you could point at.
You can purchase Isla and the Happily Ever After via the following
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