Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna and the French Kiss, book #3
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: August 14, 2014
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.

Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain to please fans old and new.

It felt like we all waited ages for this book. The release date got pushed a couple times I thought. You would think I'd have read it right away.... but nope.. I didn't read it until almost a full year from release. I do that lot. I crave a book, buy it when it comes out, and then it sits forever. I still have Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey on my kindle. For shame! I loved the Fifth Wave and needed that book like immediately. Pathetic I tell ya. 

I considered doing Audio with Isla, but changed my mind because some the the reviews on Audible didn't speak too highly of the narrator, so I went with the kindle version. 

I liked it. I would almost say I loved it, but not as much as I had hoped I would. I adored Isla's character back when I read Anna and the French Kiss. We didn't see much of her back then, but I was intrigued and very excited when I saw she would be writing a book involving her. 

It didn't hold the magic Anna held though. You see, Anna and the French Kiss was the first YA Contemporary I ever read. So it's like my first love. Nothing else compares. My favorite part about Isla was the cameo's all the previous characters made towards the end. 

Now I'm not saying Isla and the Happily Ever After is a bad book. It's really quite good, but it's my least favorite so far of Perkins. While there were some really sweet swoony things, I didn't find Isla's relationship with Josh very realistic. Or even healthy at times. She was kind of obsessed with him to the point of creepy. I was cheering for her though. I had a huge crush for my last two years in highschool, and we finally hooked up once after graduation. It was awesome and disappointing all at the same time. lol. But mostly awesome because I always wondered. But anyway, I kinda knew how she was feeling when he finally saw her. ya know? 

Overall, it was cute. Even if Isla was annoying sometimes. I will still read anything Perkins writes, because she popped my literary contemp cherry. :) 

About the author:

Hi, there! I'm Steph, and I wrote ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, and ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I also edited (and contributed a short story to) a romantic holiday anthology called MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME. My next YA novel will be horror—a teen slasher published by Dutton.

Find Stephanie:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads

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Labels: Dutton, isla and the happily ever after, reviews, stephanie perkins

SYNC Summer 2015: Week 12 #sync15

Can we put summer on pause, please? It's going by way too fast. But with summer comes the SYNC Young Adult Listener Program. They recently announced the list of audiobook pairings up for grabs this summer, and today kicks off the 12th week of the program for 2015. Here's what you can grab through Wednesday of next week...for free!


This week's YA title is March by Geraldine Brooks, performed by Richard Easton for Penguin Audio.

As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history. From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May’s father—a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In her telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through. Spanning the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott’s optimistic children’s tale to portray the moral complexity of war, and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism—and by a dangerous and illicit attraction. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks’s place as an internationally renowned author of historical fiction.

This week's classic title is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, performed by Kate Reading for Listening Library.

Little Women is one of the best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg’s joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo’s struggle to become a writer, Beth’s tragedy, and Amy’s artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louise May Alcott’s childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth- century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.

I lovedlovedLOVED Little Women when I read it as a girl…what seems like eons ago. :P It ranks up there with Anne of Green Gables as one of my favorites. I've never actually listened to it, though. And I never went past the first book. :( I also didn't know that a story about the March patriarch existed, so I'll definitely be grabbing both of these audiobooks from SYNC this week.

Will you be picking up either of these titles? Remember, they're only available through Wednesday, and new titles will be put up on Thursday for download. To download this week's titles, just click here to be taken directly to the SYNC download page.

I hope you take advantage of this program. I've been doing it for the last few years, and I've had the opportunity to listen to a ton of great audio for free.  If you've never tried audiobooks before, it's a great opportunity to do so without the obligation of buying one that you might not enjoy.  And if you love audiobooks, well, it's a great time to stock up on some titles you may have missed or discover new ones.  Win/win.  =)

Happy listening!

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Labels: 2015, audiobooks, classics, freebies, promotions, summer, sync

Waiting on Wednesday: The Forbidden Orchid by Sharon Biggs Waller

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's WoW selection is...








's Pick:



Title: The Forbidden Orchid
Author: Sharon Biggs Waller
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Viking
Publication Date: February 2, 2016

Staid, responsible Elodie Buchanan is the eldest of ten sisters living in a small English market town in 1861. The girls' father is a plant hunter, usually off adventuring through the jungles of China.

Then disaster strikes: Mr. Buchanan fails to collect an extremely rare and valuable orchid, meaning that he will be thrown into debtors' prison and the girls will be sent to the orphanage or the poorhouse. Elodie's father has one last chance to return to China, find the orchid, and save the family--and this time, thanks to an unforeseen twist of fate, Elodie is going with him. Elodie has never before left her village, but what starts as fear turns to wonder as she adapts to seafaring life aboard the tea clipper The Osprey, and later to the new sights, dangers, and romance of China.

But even if she can find the orchid, how can she find herself now that staid, responsible Elodie has seen how much the world has to offer?

I've had this book on my Goodreads TBR since I first discovered it was a thing…so, over a year ago. And now it has a spectacularly beautiful cover and synopsis to entice me further. Not that I needed much persuading, considering how much I loved the author's debut. Her take on the suffragette movement and the exquisite girl-power vibe she imbued the novel with…I'm still kind of in awe. Which is obviously why I don't want to wait any longer than I have to before getting my hands on The Forbidden Orchid. Plus, good girl realizing there's more to the world than just being responsible and doing what's expected? Yeah, that's my kind of story. :)


What are you desperately waiting for this Wednesday? Let us know in the comments or share a link to your own WoW post!

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Labels: beautiful covers, historical fiction, penguin, sharon biggs waller, the forbidden orchid, waiting on wednesday (wow)

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorites Featuring Diversity

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the awesome ladies at The Broke and the Bookish. Apparently, they are overly fond of list-making and love to share their bookish lists with the rest of us book nerds.  =) We're game.

This week's topic is the Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters (example: features minority/religious minority, socioeconomic diversity, disabled MC, neurotypical character, LGBTQ etc etc.):

Jen's Picks:

My picks for today's Top Ten feature gay characters struggling to find their place in the world, minorities (whether in our world or theirs), interracial couples facing racial prejudice, those with class differences, characters with disabilities and those with mental challenges. But of all of my picks, I'll Meet You There is probably my favorite. It features a series of characters who either struggle with socioeconomic issues, mental issues, disabilities, or a combination of all of those. It is raw and earnest and just so, so beautiful.

Honorable mentions:

Will Grayson, Will Grayson
The Immortal Rules
Black Iris
Love in the Time of Global Warming
Proxy
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Clockwork Angel
The Wrath and the Dawn


Which novels made your list? Be sure to share a link to your TTT post so we can visit!

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Labels: diversity, favorites, lgbt, top ten tuesday

The Weekend Update - 7.18.15

So, since my end-of-the-week post isn't just about what I got in my mailbox or on my Kindle each week -- though that is a big part of it, I won't lie -- I decided to change up the title and intro a bit.  I might tweak the format a bit over the next few weeks, but for the most part, it'll contain the same stuff: stuff I got, stuff I did, and stuff that's coming up on the blog.  Plus, I get to use the awesome GIF you see here and blow kisses to all the people who sent me lovely books and bookish things.  Oh, and I've started linking up to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews since I'm not using a specific meme title anymore.  April's also doing her own Stacking the Shelves posts on Sundays.  Stop by and say hi!  =)

That's right, today is the first day of my staycation! And you know what I'm doing? Nada. Sure, we're heading to Austin later in the week, but until then, I'm parking it on the couch and catching up on my reading. =) I wish it was cool enough to hang out in the hammock, but alas, I live in hot, humid, unbearable-in-summer Texas.

Things have been a little quiet around the blog lately. I haven't taken a break from blogging, I'm just backing off, if that makes any sense. Not forcing myself to post and put up content every single day. Only posting what I feel like posting. Re-reading instead of pushing myself to read books I received for review. It's been nice. I needed this. Some days, it does seem like it'd be easier to just call the whole thing off -- and I know April agrees -- but I'd miss it too much. :(

It was a slow book mail week, too, but I needed that, as well. My review TBR is taking over, and I have so many other things I want to read just for the sake of doing so. I'll take this brief respite, thanks. :P

Anyway, here's what I did score this week:

For Review:

I don't think I received a single review book this week. That used to would have made me sad, but the emotion I'm feeling right now is more akin to relief. Go figure. :0)

Traded/Gifted:

I've got a few trades in progress, but nothing new arrived this week. If you're interested in trading books with me, check out this post. =)

Library:

I actually didn't pick up anything from the library this week, either. Go me!

Purchased:



My preorder of Burn finally arrived, which was screech-worthy, let me tell ya. And in the middle of my re-listen of the Throne of Glass series, I realized I don't own the audio for Heir of Fire yet.

Freebies:

I wasn't super interested in this week's SYNC audiobooks, but you can find out more on how to download them for free yourselves here. :)


So, that's my haul. :) How about you? What did you get this week?

The Week in Review:

Reviews:

No reviews this week. I've been doing too much re-reading -- not that I'm complaining -- and April just hasn't had the time to review what she's read lately.


Current Giveaways:

I'm thinking of doing a big grab bag box giveaway kind of like Jamie of FictionFare did on Instagram recently. Any interest in that? It'll be the books from my #booksfortrade list.


Promotional/Discussion Posts:  

• My Latest Obsession...Fell From the Sky, in which I discuss my new-found appreciation for The 100
• #WoW - The Skylighter by Becky Wallace
• SYNC Week #11 featuring Crows & Cards and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• We Have Decks, in which April shows off where all her money's going...and it's not toward books :P

Jen's Currently Reading/Listening To:

Well, Burn is in my hands now and I'm even more eager to finish my re-read so I can start it. Even if I never want this series to end. Gawd, I love these books! Rafa + Gaby FOREVERRRR!!!

My sis is reading this series for the first time, and she keeps talking about it, and it was on my list to re-read, so I decided to start the audiobooks, beginning with The Assassin's Blade. That was on Monday, I think, lol.

Upcoming Reviews:

Um, who knows? I've been doing a lot of re-reading and mood reading lately, so this is kind of up in the air, especially as I seem to actually be caught up on reviews. GASP! But I have tons of ideas for discussions... ;0)

Like honest reviews & giveaways?  Be sure to follow us on Bloglovin' so you never miss out!

Like pretty pictures of books and bookish things? Follow me on Instagram! I also host IG giveaways from time to time. :D

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Labels: in my mailbox (imm), stacking the shelves, the weekend update