Showing posts with label stephanie perkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stephanie perkins. Show all posts

14 May 2015

Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: August 14th 2014
Source: ebook
Pages: 352
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #3
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.

REVIEW

Having read the other 2 books in the Anna and the French Kiss companion series, I was super excited to read this but man this had to be my least favourite in the whole series.

The writing was of course amazing, in true Stephanie Perkins fashion, I was completely drawn into the story. However, the plot was very boring and predictable and after the first 50% my patience ran thin and I just wasn't as invested in the story as I wanted to be.

I did not like Isla. She doesn't think before she speaks and she was just way too immature for my tastes. Also, she was very insecure. Obviously this is realistic and normal in real life but she doesn't seem to realise that she is insecure and try to work on it. Instead, she just says the first thing that comes to her head and blames the guy for everything. This is why guys think girls are crazy bitches :P

Josh was sweet and cute but he was rather immature too. I mean if you knew that your girlfriend is insecure would you really show her drawings of your naked girlfriend!?!? Anyway, I didn't really feel like I knew him at all so I couldn't connect with him. They were just apart too much that we didn't really get to see that much of Josh.

Kurt was such an interesting side character but he was so horribly neglected it was so sad. Also, he was completely abandoned by Isla when she got together with Josh. This is not how you treat friends. This issue was brought up but it felt like there wasn't a real conclusion to this, adding to my frustration with Isla.


The romance wasn't ship worthy. I didn't really feel like their relationship progressed from the puppy-love stage and they could've easily solved their argument/issues by simply communicating rather than wallowing in self pity and attempting to seek revenge. Meh. Also, they were SUPER DUPER DRAMATIC about everything UGH no just stop. They had to be separated for 2 months and they behaved like someone was dying or that they were gonna be apart for 20 years. The relationship was just very juvenile and I was laughing and cringing at all the silliness. 

VERDICT

Aside from the writing, there was really nothing much going for this book and while it was cute and fluffy, the characters and romance was very juvenile and seriously got on my nerves.

This series just went downhill from Anna and it is a real pity because I had such high expectations for Stephanie Perkins.

Recommended for anyone that wants to complete the series, if you've not read any of the books in the series, you might just wanna read Anna and stop at there.

Plot: 2.5/5 
Pacing: 2.5/5
Originality: 2/5 
Writing style: 4/5
Characters: 2.5/5 
Feels: 2.5/5
Enjoyment: 3.5/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall rating: 

31 January 2015

Stacking the Shelves #4 (Jan 30th)

Stacking The Shelves by Tynga's Reviews is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!


I know this blog has been kind of boring with only review posts but I was focusing more on a new layout. I will try to switch things up a bit so do let me know if you have any fun memes to recommend! :) I will most probably be doing a Top Ten Tuesday next week. Now on to my book haul!

EBOOKS:


   
Allegiant: It has been 3 years since I started this series. It is time to end it. This came out during my extreme lull in book reading so I kind of missed it but better later than never! :P
The Jewel: Gave this book 3 stars! It was a decent read, book review will be coming up next week.
The Winner's Curse: Heard great things about this, can't wait to read it! Also, after seeing the covers side-by-side, The Jewel and The Winner's Curse kind of have the same cover concept? Is this a thing now? Their dresses are gorgeous though!
Isla and the Happily Ever After: Enjoyed the first two books so much, really looking forward to Isla! Kind of bummed that this is the last of the series :(

PAPERBACKS:


    
Amulet #1 - The Stonekeeper: Read this yesterday and absolutely loved the art and the story!
Amulet #2 - The Stonekeeper's Curse: Can't wait to know more about the world and to go on more adventures. :) I may review these in small batches.
Cinder: Yep this was in my previous STS post as an ebook but after reading about 1/3 way in, I was absolutely hooked and I decided to just get a paperback because I will most likely continue with this series. :) Check out my review here.
Scarlet: This is a sequel to Cinder in the Lunar Chronicles series and I did not like it as much as Cinder but it still deserved 4 stars! Review coming up in a couple of days, stay tuned!

Leave a comment if you have read any of the books and let me know your thoughts on it! :)

5 April 2012

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton Books
Published: September 29th 2011
Source: ebook
Goodreads | Amazon 

Summary: For budding costume designer Lola Nolan, the more outrageous, 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 move back into the house next door.

When the family returns and Cricket—a gifted inventor and engineer—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:  I loved Anna and the French Kiss so obviously I had to check this one out and I didn't regret one bit!

WWW Wednesdays #1 (4 April 2012)

WWW WEDNESDAYS from shouldbereading 
What you’re currently reading: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
His writing style takes some getting use to, could be the translations. He describes things in such detail that sometimes I think its really important but turns out to be nothing at all. Kind of confusing for me, takes awhile for me to get into it every time I pick the book back up to continue reading. 
Maybe after 600 pages of 1Q84 I am just not ready for another Haruki novel. (Btw, I still have 400 pages of 1Q84, its currently on hold)