Novel Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss, #3) by Stephanie Perkins

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Dutton (Penguin)

Release Date: August 14, 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

The Cover:

I really like this cover. Of course, it drives me crazy that it doesn't match the previous books on my shelf, but I still think it's really pretty. It's simple, modern, very pretty to look at. The background represents the setting in the book (which is significant to the books), as well as giving a kind of understated love story feel. The physical books also have that odd (rubbery?) finish on them that I think fits. I think it's lovely.

Quotes:

• "My mouth is painted red. Maman once told me to place the boldest color where I want people to look.” (Hardback, pg. 76-77)
• "'For a certain type of person, high school will always be brutal,’ the head says. ‘The best advice that I can give you is to figure out what comes next, and work toward that.’” (Pg. 221) [The head, as in the principal of the school.]
• "'And it started these ideas in my head about how maybe I wasn’t the person that I thought I was. Maybe I’m not a city girl. Maybe I was only thinking about Paris versus New York, because nothing else seemed real, somehow. Like, everywhere else just seemed like something—‘
  ‘You’d read about in a book.’” (Pg. 298)
• "'Artists are inspired by blank canvases.’ […] ‘A blank canvas,’ Josh continues, ‘has unlimited possibilities.’” (Pg. 329)

Review:

This book was pretty much everything I wanted it to be. I mean, I don’t think anything can beat Lola and the Boy Next Door, but this one was just as good as the first. I loved it. It was everything I hoped it would be.

Isla has been in love with Josh for about four years now, but she’s barely talked to him, and is pretty sure he doesn’t even know she exists. Her best friend, Kurt, has autism, and they’re pretty much loners. But then Isla runs into Josh while high on Vicodin, and thus starts her budding romance with him.

I liked Isla, a lot. She’s shy, clumsy, and doesn’t know how to really make friends. She does some growing up, though. She’s a little angsty over Josh for a while, but not in a way that bothered me even a little (although, I don’t know, maybe it will some people?). But she realizes that she’s her own problem, and she needs to put herself out there and grow. I think I actually related to Isla the most of the three so far. Kurt was great, too, and it was nice to see them grow apart while still being best friends.

Josh is great. I really like that both characters have to do a lot of growing up, together and apart, and that they realize this. Josh has to grow up about his parents and his life, and he has to learn to look at his comic with at least some objectivism.

Similar to in the previous book, the characters realize that they need to know who they are as a person, on their own, before they can really be in a committed relationship with someone else, but that they can also learn and explore who they are with someone else. That’s important, and I like the focus it had.

The writing was great, and the book went by much too fast. The pace was perfect, I think, not too little or too much time on anything. The only reason I would have wanted more would be to have more time with the characters. There were cameos from the other characters, and I loved that. I always want more time with the previous characters (always), but we got enough of a glimpse to really see them, see how they’re doing, along with a very nice update on two of them.

The humor was perfect—I’m always smiling and laughing while reading Perkins’ books. The romance was also very good, with a lot of swoon, a lot of cute and sweet scenes. The ending was fantastic.

Overall, this book was everything I wanted it to be. I’m perfectly happy with it, and of course excited for anything else Perkins publishes next.

Review: Die for Me (Revenants, #1) by Amy Plum

Rating (Out of 5): ~4 (Maybe 3.5)

Publisher: HarperCollins (HarperTeen) [Maybe also Little, Brown/Atom?]

Spoilers?: Some, minor-ish

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

Review:

I'd heard that this book was really good a while ago, but then I read an interview-thing with the characters around Valentine's, which got me really interested, and is what made me finally go get it. And it didn't take me too long to get into it, either, which is a little surprising (since I tend to put books off for way too long). And I totally agree with all the hype, because it was really good.

The Revenants series is about Kate, who's parents have recently died and so she and her older sister move to Paris to live with their Grandparents. It's been a few months, but she's still depressed about their deaths, and a little close to nightmares because of how it happened. And then she meets Vincent, seeing that she's caught his eye and he catches hers, and she's opened to the world of otherworldly creatures.

I liked Kate. She's smart and likes reading (and is actually seen with a book several times throughout the book, as well as going to bookstores, and going to cafes and reads just to say she's been out of the house) and goes to museums for fun. She's actually showing that she likes these things, instead of telling us them (which happens way too often). And she's also has an actual reason for not wanting to get close to Vincent; her parents, who she was close to and has fond memories of, died and she hasn't gotten over it yet, and it's even left her a little scarred because of how they died (which I don't believe is fully explained; or was it just a really bloody car accident? Either way, it was bad and left her with terrible images). I felt that, at times, it felt a little off with how much she didn't want to be close to Vincent, but she did have legitimate reasons.

I liked Vincent, too. He was genuine and cared for her, and wanted to try something different to stay close to her, and he was sweet. They did start having feelings for each other upon first noticing each other, but Kate was wary at first, and they did go on an actual date (had a couple date-like outings, even) before much else happened. Kate even turns him down at one point! I don't think I've ever seen that before, not when there was so much obvious attraction, and when neither of them was denying their feelings all that well. I mean, Kate was trying to take things slow, but she didn't avoid the fact that he liked her or that she was liking him back, all that much. Oh, and they both have some previous experience. Vincent's been in maybe love before, and Kate has had some little flings before. Which is pretty awesome, since usually at least one person has had no prior experience.

A lot of the book showed Kate and Vincent getting closer, and just hanging out and finding things out about each other, which was nice. If you didn't like the characters, then maybe not so much, but I did, and so it was nice to see them just talking and doing things together. Usually, in these types of books, it just jumps into stuff and sometimes skips showing the reader that the characters actually like each other and spend time together and can joke around with each other, so it was nice to see that.

When it did get to the more exciting parts, which were near the end of the book (well, mostly), it was also rather exciting. I was afraid at one point that Kate was going to pull a, um, Bella (maybe?), and go to the danger, but [Spoiler?] instead it came to her, and she dealt with it rather well, which was nice. She didn't suddenly become amazing, and someone else didn't come and show up at the very last moment. Well, someone kind of did, but with a kind of plausible reason. Kind of. But that's alright.

The reverants were really interesting. They kind of live forever, as they die when they take someone else's place in death, only to come back alive several days later, at the age they originally died at. They age like normal people, only every time they die they go back to step one (meaning the age they first died at). (Sorry if that was a little confusing. Just go read the book!) There are a handful of them with Vincent, and they were all pretty cool, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. As well as getting to see how things work with what Vincent is planning to do to stay with Kate.

I'm kind of unsure of Kate's sister. She knows stuff, even though she shouldn't, and I guess that's nice for Kate. But I'm hoping that does good and not bad in the next book. And I'm hoping we'll get to see more of Charlotte and Charles (right?) in the next book, or some time soon.

Also: Paris. I'm not always all that interested in the scenery in books, but it was really well done in this one. So much so that it made me want to see the things she was seeing, that Vincent was showing her. It all sounded so very pretty and mesmerizing; and it was kind of nice that the Eiffel Tower was only mentioned, I think, once. Usually that's the main thing people talk about, about Paris, and it wasn't here. And I was glad that Kate didn't mind living in Paris, and moving away, like most characters are. She'd been there before, was (relatively) happy to be with her Grandparents, and mostly focused her sadness on that she couldn't go back to her parents.

So, I enjoyed this book, a lot, and I'm glad. The next one is out next month, I believe, and so I'm excited to read it, for whenever I decide to get it.