My Review : Isla and the Happily ever after by Stephanie Perkins

From Goodreads:

Love ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last?

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.
                             

                                   My thoughts:

If I could  squeeze  in all the fuzzy giggles, woozy dreamy sighing,  chocolate heartbeat flooopies.. soft cottony candy sweet nothings and every swoony things  inside a single book, then  "Isla and the happily ever after " is it!


I giggled, swooned, fell in love, cried madly , sighed audibly while reading this book. How can that even be possible to feel everything all at the same time?  The answer is simple : Because this is a Stephanie Perkins book!  I love her entire series! From Etienne and Anna...to Cricket and Lola ..and now, Isla and Josh?! I love them ,  I love them all!  The characters  will grow in you..right there, right here!  *points to my heart*  It made me  not only want to read about them  but I  wish that I was part of their story.

Boy, I would love to be Isla even for a day if it means I can have the artistic Josh for a boyfriend?! Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.  I looooove the cute  awkwardness between them. My heart pitter-patters and I swear I can see tiny   hearts fluttering like butterflies everywhere. It was just.... sooooo Gosh! Josh!!!

" Joshua Wasserstein. My crush on him is near unbearable. He looks up again, too, and I blush. Blushing.. "

  -----My thoughts (and Ms. Perkins words! )  exactly!  Nursing a 3 year old crush ..and on going? And NOW, that crush finally noticed you?   I feel you. Isla. I feel you! It was the best feeling ever!

      “Josh looks down at his sneakers, and then back up, and then back down. “You know that I like you. Right?”

My heart pounds so hard that he can probably feel the reverberations. But – for once – the words fall easily from my lips. “So stay here next weekend. Go out with me.”

-----This is just sooo cuuuuuuute!! I can clearly see that scene in my head and I just.. I just want to hug someone...something..anything cuddly and squeezy?!  But since, I was alone and reading, again, all I can do is SIGH.  Sigh.

    And there's even MORE reason to sigh-swoon simultaneously . Here's one of the best holding hands I've ever read :

“Josh grins. “Just give me your hand.”

“W–what?”

“Your hand,” he repeats. “Give it to me.”

I extend my shaking right hand. And – in a moment that is a hundred dreams come true – Joshua Wasserstein laces his fingers through mine. A staggering shock of energy shoots straight into my veins. Straight into my heart.

“There,” he says. “I’ve been waiting a long time to do that.”

Not nearly as long as I’ve been waiting.”

  Imagine , "In a moment that is a hundred dreams come true" ?!  Hundred dreams come true!? Ahhh! I can't even! I am melting. I am melting into a puddle of  sweetest goo !!!

.....And here's the moment of  TRUTH:

“Does this…does this mean you want to be my boyfriend?” My question sounds both immature and momentous. But Josh doesn’t flinch.

“Yes,” he says. “I want.”

-----Me? I died!!!! I looooooooooooove it!!  My love for Ms. Perkins grows as I moved on through the pages. I love how intense Isla and Josh felt for each other. It was like they are inside this perfect bubble  and everything around them is fairy tale- like beautiful!  I wish it never  ends.  But , sigh... at some point conflict arises.

     Nooooooooo, how can all these happen????  How can a love that intense be  fragile?!  I desperately , flipped up the pages .... tears blur my vision.. heart beating hard....until that illustrations. Josh illustrations of his entire life. The good and the ugly.  My heart swells.


    I love how the story turned out. Everything is Perfect timing.  It was Kismet. Destiny. Fate. The ending? I got goosebumps! That was so wonderful , I wanna dance and float  at  the same time! Dance. Float?!  Yup! Indescribable form of pure  elation?  Or better yet, I'll  call it, a PERFECT HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

“What are you working on?” I ask.

“The last page.” He gestures towards the table, where a pencilled sketch is being turned into inked brushstrokes. It’s a drawing of us, in this café, in this moment.

I smile up at him. “It’s beautiful. But what comes next?”

“The best part.” And he pulls me back into his arms. “The happily ever after.”

                        My Rating:

         5 SWEETEST SWEETEST STARS!