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Isla and the Happily Ever Afterby Stephanie Perkins. Dutton Books for Young Readers. 2014. Library copy.

The Plot: Isla is starting her senior year at her boarding school in France. She's had a crush on Josh for ages and ages, but he didn't even seem to know she was alive. (Considering how small her school is, that seems impossible.... and yet.)

But this year... this year may be different. Isla may be getting her happily ever after.

The Good: ajdlkjas;djs;ldjf;sd

That's not a type.

Yes, this came out last year, but I was saving it. Saving it for when I needed it.

And oh, I'm so glad I did. This is a companion to Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door; it's a true stand alone. I confess, I remembered Josh from Anna; but I didn't remember Isla at all. I need to reread....

I also need to go to Paris, right away. Like, yesterday. So any advice on super cheap airfare, and super cheap yet still nice places to stay?

Oh, right, topic. So Isla. Isla is a middle daughter, a good girl, a top student. She has one best friend. And she's been in love with Josh for ages. Even though he's a slacker, and doesn't seem to care about the rules, and had a really, really serious girlfriend the previous year.

And what is beautiful and wonderful about Isla and the Happily Ever After is that it's about Josh and Isla seeing each other and falling in love.... In Paris. I'm so jealous I could spit.

He's a bit of the bad boy to her good girl, or at least that's how some see them. But really, he's the boy who isn't sure he even wants to be there, and she's the girl who does as expected. So he gets detentions and she gets As. And the main tension I felt, as this sweet, wonderful, love story unfolded is the fear of just what Perkins was going to do, what was going to be the problem that stopped Isla from getting her "happily ever after."

I feel compelled to say the next thing because it was a fear I had (and I'd avoided spoilers so...): NO ONE DIES. And there is something which separates these two, something out of their control. And what does one do, when there is a barrier to one's happily ever after? Do you go over, under, around...or do you quit?

Bonus: because this is at the same school as Anna, and Josh was friends with Anna and Etienne, there are a ton of references to them. And a couple, also, to Lola. And when Anne and Etienne do show up, just, sigh. Lovely. A wonderful end to the book and to the series.

Also? I really liked Isla's approach to sex, a mix of common sense and love.






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The heart of Young Adult Fiction descended into picturesque Charleston, SC on November 7, 2014 as 60 Young Adult authors, including 37 New York Times bestsellers, joined together for the 4th Annual Charleston Young Adult Book Festival (“YALLFest”).

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There are so many books published this season that quickly made it on my To-Be-Read list and I’ve had the opportunity to read a couple of them already. Most of the authors represented here have written books focused on relationships—friendships, romantic, and familial—and how they develop or change as the characters do.

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Lola and the Boy Next Door Stephanie Perkins

Lola believes you should never wear the same outfit twice. Clothes are a costume. She's dating an older guy, a musician, and her dads don't like him (that's the worst part about having gay parents-- you get TWO overprotective fathers!) But everything comes crashing down when the Bell twins move back in next door. Lola and Cricket's weird relationship that may have been friendship, may have been more comes crashing back. Lola's birth mother shows up and moves in. And everything, everything is just wrong.

CRICKET BELL HAS DISPLACED GILBERT BLYTHE FOR MY NUMBER 1 LITERARY CRUSH.

That is all.

Ok, it's not all, but seriously CRICKET BELL OMG!

So many things done so well! I love the sense of place to the point where San Francisco and the Mission are almost characters, the same was Paris was in Anna and the French Kiss. I love that Anna and Etienne are minor characters in this book (Anna and Lola work at the movie theater together, Etienne is in school with Cricket.)

I loved the character of Calliope-- Cricket's twin sister and famous figure skater. I loved the look at how her career has overshadowed and driven her family's life. I loved how close they were--Cricket's the greatest brother ever and even though Calliope can be a bit evil, she obviously truly cares for Cricket.

I loved Lola's crazy clothes and the crisis she has with them and how it resolves.

But really, I just love Cricket Bell *sigh*

Book Provided by... my local library

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Publisher: Dutton (September 29, 2011)
ARC: 338 Pages
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Stephanie Perkins's Website | Blog | Twitter

From Goodreads. Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded 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.

Review by Kate
LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, by Stephanie Perkins, is the adorable companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss. Lola is a girl with an intense eye for fashion, two gay dads, and a twenty-two year old boyfriend (Lola is seventeen). If her life wasn't full enough, her former best friend and crush, Cricket Bell, moves back into the house next door along with his ego-centric figure skating twin, Calliope. Their parting years ago stuck with Lola but with Cricket back in town, can she handle the rekindling of a former flame?

I had a great time reading this book. Lola was adorable, fun, and quirky. I loved her interesting style and her family dynamic with her two dads. She seemed to have a pretty stable head on her shoulders, minus the whole 'dating a guy in his twenties'-thing. From the beginning I really disliked the relationship between Max and Lola. I felt the same way everyone else did in the book in that dating someone five years older than you works later in life, not when one of the parties is a teenager. I found Max controlling and very insecure in turn suffocating Lola. On the other hand, I loved the history between Lola and Cricket and I yearned for them to get together! I liked how Perkins slowly revealed their past together and I think the idea of loving the boy next door is classic and romantic.

Along with a bunch of new characters, Perkins brought back Anna and St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss, so I think fans of that book will definitely be pleased. Anna and St. Clair had a larger role than I expected but it was nice to have some connection between the books.

Without spoiling too much, I just wanted to say that this book is definitely one to add to your list before the year is out. Once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down. Lola is a well formed character and one that I think teens can relate to. She is not 'the popular girl' but she does what she wants and what makes her happy. I loved her crazy fashion sense and it definitely plays a role in each aspect of her life. I give this book a thumbs up and I you will enjoy it too!

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We have received word that resister Stephanie Perkins is spreading propaganda against the cure. She is calling it ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and trying to tell teenagers that falling in love is a good thing, treating the warning signs of the deliria as a necessary building block to true love. The tale stirs up too many emotions and will have law-abiding citizens second-guessing the cure. This blatant attack on our regime will not be tolerated.

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Anna and the French Kiss Stephanie Perkins

Ok-- this is just as scrummy as everyone has been saying it is.

Anna's not happy about being shipped off to Paris for her senior year in high school. She recognizes that yes, she should be excited about. PARIS! BOARDING SCHOOL! PARIS!

But... she misses her brother and her friends and the guy that she was almost dating-- the one that she would be dating if she hadn't moved across an ocean as soon as things started to heat up. Plus, you know, she doesn't speak any French.

Paris, though, is PARIS. Parts of school are challenging, but she quickly finds friends, learns to enjoy coffee, discovers French pastries, and finds many, many, many movie theaters to visit. PLUS there's Etienne St. Clair, her new best friend. The one that has a girlfriend. The one that Anna is totally hot for (not that she'll admit it, but she is.)

While it's an overall light book, there's a lot there that I really enjoyed-- I loved the dynamics of Anna's new group of friends-- dynamics that Anna doesn't always get because she's a new comer. I thought the hole that Ellie's graduation created was really well handled. I also loved how much had changed at home when Anna was away and how hard that hit her.

My second most-favorite thing about this book (first being St. Clair. YUMMY!) was that Anna's father was so clearly based on Nicholas Sparks. And the part where Anna compares her father's works of love and death with Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto? And how both stories in Kitchen "are about heartaache and mourning, but they're tinges with this... simplicity and romance." PERFECT.

I also just loved Anna's voice in general (but not her love of Lost in Translation.)

Overall, a perfect romance without too much self-invented drama.

Plus, PARIS! BOARDING SCHOOL! PARIS!


Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

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Alethea and Kimberly discuss Anna & The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. It's our first podcast, so take it easy on the comments! :D But please, do leave a comment.

This one is spoiler-free... Still working on editing the spoilerific one. Enjoy!

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I still haven't read Matched, and I don't know how I will like it, because everyone keeps saying it's so much like Delirium, and you know who much I love Delirium (Just look at the button on my left sidebar). But I've got to read it, because most of you say it's great.
One thing I love about it is its green cover. So peaceful looking. And then, we're hit with this cover:

Aaaaaaandd, I like it. I do. I just wish she were in a different position, the foot on which she's balancing herself looks like it might sprain. I'm also not so big a fan of the turned over R. But the colour's great, and they continued with the theme of the series, so yay!

Last year I read Anna and the French Kiss, and I fell in love with Étienne, and Paris, and macaroons. Especially with Stephanie Perkins' writing. Now we can finally see Lola's face. And it's a-dorable! Just look at it! Purple hair! Me wants! I need a copy of Anna (read the ebook), and now I can't wait for Lola to arrive!

So cute!

xo,
Ella

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Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins on Goodreads

Release Date: December 2nd, 2010
Publisher: Dutton
Age Group: Young Adult
Categories: Contemporary, Romance, Paris, Friendship
Overall: One Hundred Monkeys. Yep.
Interest: Romance! Paris! Boys!
Read on January 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

Annais looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris —until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.
As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna —and readers— have long awaited?

My Opinion: