anna and the french kiss | Lost in a Good Book

Isla and the Happily Ever After (#3) by Stephanie Perkins

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

QBD | Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

Lola and the Boy Next Door (#2) by Stephanie Perkins

Published: 1 June 2011 (print)/11 October 2011 (audio)
Publisher: Usborne Publishing/Books on Tape
Pages: 384/8 hrs and 59 mins
Narrator: Shannon McManus
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Romance
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

I am well behind the hype for Perkins’ series, though I did experience all the Anna hype at the time, it took me a few more years before I got a chance to read it. But then I never continued with the series. I’m not sure whether Anna didn’t drive me enough to want to keep reading, or it was one of those ‘one day’ books and then suddenly years have passed. The important thing is, I was not a fan.

I don’t think enough was put on the fact twenty one year old Max got together with Lola at sixteen. I know Lola is our perspective so it’s not going to be balanced but I didn’t like it. By the time the story starts Lola is seventeen, Max is twenty two, and they’ve been dating a year was a surprise, I thought it was relatively new. I couldn’t understand why a guy in a band, who tours the country, old enough to drink and be in bars would be ok dating a sixteen year old. One still in high school, with all the childish drama, and be happy with that? It’s not like he was eighteen or nineteen. Are we meant to think it was because he really cares about her? It adds another level when he starts calling her Lolita and all the red flags already raised are suddenly waving around.

Lola’s parents do the best they can in her situation – making Max have weekly meals with them, keeping track of what they’re doing in a non-invasive way. Lola admits that they know if they enforce anything harsher or make them stop seeing each other it would only push them closer. It doesn’t stop her lying and sneaking around though despite the trust they’ve put in her.

Her dads were great characters, and I really enjoyed their scenes and their relationship with Lola and one another. They were fun and interesting and supportive. The Norah element was interesting and spread nicely through the story. You can definitely see Lola being burned before by her birth mother and being the selfish person she is having little understanding of what it means beyond her own feelings.

Aside from the Max thing, the actual story was fine. Lola is a quirky girl who goes to extreme effort in her outfits and how she presents herself. It’s amazing she gets away with it at school, but it is a creative hobby for her.

The whole story arc with Cricket and his family was interesting and I liked how it naturally came together by the end. I can see how everyone thinks it’s sweet and it is, but at the same time Lola doesn’t deserve Cricket. He’s too nice for her.

So much of the praise for this book goes towards Lola and her relationship with Cricket, which isn’t for most of the book. She’s angry at him, wary of him, slowly comes to be ok with him all while still dating Max. Her issues with him are valid, though her absolute fear at them returning was a tad over the top.

Once the story focused more on Cricket and Lola’s friendship the story was better, with a title like this you know how it will end, I just wish there’s been a better way to get them together without having to read about creepy Max. There was enough hurt feelings and history to build on where we didn’t need to normalise that kind of relationship.

You can purchase Lola and the Boy Next Door via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible