I have a particular weakness for Stephanie Perkins. Her books do not pretend to be more than they are: well-crafted, deeply felt contemporary YA romance, set in beautiful places, populated by teenagers who are articulate about their feelings in the way real teenagers often are not but wish they were. I find them thoroughly comforting. Isla and the Happily Ever After is the third book in the loose companion series that began with Anna and the French Kiss, and it is my favourite of the three.
Isla Martin has been in love with Josh Wasserstein since the ninth grade. Josh — charming, artistic, slightly disastrous, the kind of beautiful that Isla has always assumed puts him in a category she doesn’t qualify for — has never noticed her. Until, suddenly, one summer in New York City, he does.
What Works
Perkins is exceptionally good at writing the early stages of falling for someone — the specific, almost painful awareness of another person, the constant calculation of whether they feel the same, the way an ordinary conversation becomes enormous because of who you’re having it with. Isla captures this better than the previous two books because both protagonists are fully realised from the start. Josh is not a placeholder for romantic feeling. He’s a person with his own complications, his own particular flavour of mess, and his own reasons for why Isla matters to him.
The Paris setting, which featured centrally in Anna and the French Kiss, is revisited here with enough freshness that it doesn’t feel like recycled scenery. Perkins clearly loves this city and conveys that love in specific, lived-in detail.
Isla
Isla is a character I connected with more than Anna or Lola — partly because her self-doubt is quiet rather than loud, the kind that sits in the background and does its damage without announcing itself. She’s spent so long constructing a private world around Josh (including years of careful observation that she won’t call stalking) that when he actually appears in her life and is interested in her, she doesn’t quite know how to be.
This is not a trivial problem, and Perkins treats it with the seriousness it deserves. The mid-book section, which tests the relationship in ways neither Josh nor Isla is equipped to handle, is more emotionally complex than these books usually attempt.
Josh
Josh is the most interesting love interest in the trilogy. He is creative and passionate and also — and this is the thing — actually somewhat flawed in ways that matter to the plot. His decisions in the middle of the book are defensible and also damaging, and Isla holds him accountable without making him a villain. This is character writing, not just love interest assembly.
Why YA Readers Will Love This
For readers who loved Anna and the French Kiss and wanted more of that world: this delivers, and then some. Anna and Étienne appear briefly, as do Lola and Cricket, and the cameos are earned rather than gratuitous.
For readers who want romance that doesn’t pretend relationships are obstacle-free once the initial getting-together happens: the second half of Isla is specifically about what happens after you get what you wanted, and how two people who are both slightly broken have to figure out how to fit together. It’s honest in a way that feels unusual for the genre.
For readers who have never been to Paris and want to want to go there badly: Perkins will accomplish this. She always does.
Read Anna and the French Kiss first — not because you can’t understand Isla without it, but because starting with Anna and finishing with Isla gives you the full shape of what Perkins built across three books.
Published: August 2014 · Genre: YA contemporary romance · Series: Anna and the French Kiss, companion novel 3
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Isla and the Happily Ever After about? Isla Martin has been in love with Josh Wasserstein since the ninth grade — and one summer in New York City, he suddenly notices her. The review describes Perkins as ’exceptionally good at writing the early stages of falling for someone — the specific, almost painful awareness of another person, the constant calculation of whether they feel the same.’ Isla is described as the author’s favourite in the Anna and the French Kiss companion series: ‘both protagonists are fully realised from the start, and Josh is not a placeholder for romantic feeling.’
What makes Isla a distinctive protagonist among the Anna and the French Kiss companions? Isla’s self-doubt is described as ‘quiet rather than loud — the kind that sits in the background and does its damage without announcing itself.’ She has spent years constructing a private world around Josh before he ever notices her, ‘so when he actually appears and is interested in her, she doesn’t quite know how to be.’ The review credits Perkins with treating this ’not as a trivial problem but with the seriousness it deserves.’
How is Josh Wasserstein written differently from a typical YA love interest? The review calls Josh ’the most interesting love interest in the trilogy — creative and passionate and also actually flawed in ways that matter to the plot.’ His decisions in the middle of the book are ‘defensible and also damaging, and Isla holds him accountable without making him a villain.’ This is described as ‘character writing, not just love interest assembly — his complications are genuine rather than the shallow confidence fictional antagonists sometimes use as a stand-in for character.’
What does the second half of Isla and the Happily Ever After do that distinguishes it from comparable romance novels? The review notes that the mid-book section tests the relationship ‘in ways neither Josh nor Isla is equipped to handle — more emotionally complex than these books usually attempt.’ The second half ‘is specifically about what happens after you get what you wanted, and how two people who are both slightly broken have to figure out how to fit together.’ This post-getting-together focus is described as ‘honest in a way that feels unusual for the genre.’
What reading order does the review recommend for the Anna and the French Kiss series? The review recommends reading Anna and the French Kiss first ’not because you can’t understand Isla without it, but because starting with Anna and finishing with Isla gives you the full shape of what Perkins built across three books.’ Cameos from Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket are described as ’earned rather than gratuitous.’ The Paris setting is revisited ‘with enough freshness that it doesn’t feel like recycled scenery.’
Further Reading from Authoritative Sources
- Isla and the Happily Ever After — Wikipedia’s Isla and the Happily Ever After article provides publication details and series context, helping readers understand the novel’s place within the Anna and the French Kiss companion series.
- Stephanie Perkins — Wikipedia’s Stephanie Perkins article provides biographical and bibliographical context for the author, helping readers understand Isla and the Happily Ever After within her broader writing career.
