Isla and the Happily Ever After

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Oh man! So, the time has come! I have officially finished the Anna and the French Kiss (this trilogy really needs a new name) trilogy and I am so sad to be leaving all this cuteness! Stephanie always does a great job with the writing and describing Paris in such great ways. Of course, Anna did a lot of that because most of the book took place in Paris. The romance is just adorable and I really enjoyed the characters in this book. It was really nice to be back in SOAP (School of America in Paris) again as well. If you are up for a cute romance contemporary, definitely got for the Anna and the French Kiss trilogy.

Isla and the Happily Ever After takes place back in Paris (some of it is in New York) and I loved being back in Paris. (Story wise) Anyway, this story is just basically about a young couple falling in love and dealing with the stuff a normal relationship goes through. The thought of college, family, and just change in all. I though the challenges they faced were a pretty accurate portrayal of what people normally faced.

I liked Isla. She is definitely the most different from Lola and Anna. She is quiet, shy, and very unconfident. Plus, it took awhile for Isla to really trust Josh in their relationship and even after it got pretty serious she had a bit of doubt in Josh and his feelings for Rashmi, I have to admit, she bugged me just a tad bit but I still really like her.

Josh is the person we remember him to be. Still very attracted to art, adventurous, and still skipping class. I really liked learning more about him because we barely got to know him in Anna. He is just such a fun person to be around and I loved that. Of course, in order to have fun you must break rules but that is what makes things fun sometimes. Josh really brought Isla out of his shell and makes her more carefree.

This plot was probably the cutest. There was no love triangle or anything getting in the way; it was just a nice relationship. We got to see the first kiss and falling in love and it was all a very a very blissful and best of all, none of the characters were already in a relationship. That's what I really loved about this book and how different it is from Anna and Lola-it was simple. There was no other person or complications for a great period of time and I loved reading them be in such a great bliss. I just loved reading about their story, the ups and downs, and their cuteness.

Lola and the Boy Next Door 

Can I just say how cute Stephanie Perkins' books are. The romance is always so cute and I just love the fun that always comes into these books. Lola and the Boy Next Door takes place in San Francisco (WHOOOO! NorCal! :D) and I really enjoyed Lola but I think Anna has to be my most favorite book out of this trilogy. (Yes, I've read Isla by the time I'm writing this review) See the thing about Stephanie's books is that we all know how it's going to end okay? We're not here to see how these books end, we're here for the adventure and the path it took to get to the ending of the book. If you haven't started this trilogy, I definitely recommend you get to it.

Lola and the Boy Next Door is about a girl, Lola, who loves to dress up. She wears wigs and crazy outfits and they seem like the most awesomest things ever. Honestly this girl is pretty committed to this everyday-Halloween if she can wake up every morning and spend so much time to look like a different person. She has a boyfriend her parents disapprove of and her life isn't exactly perfect. Then the Bells move in next door again. They have been moved out of the house a few years ago and when they moved out Lola didn't want to see the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket again. For reason in which you will find out when you read the book.This story is basically what happens with Isla when the twins move back into the house next door.

I actually really liked Lola. I thought she was confident, kind, and just a person I would love to be friends with. Throughout the book, you see her really experience drama and she could have made better decisions but that is just the learning process. I really liked reading about the character development she went through in the book because things are changing around her and the changes she had to make within her personality was so great to read about. She become more confident (not that she wasn't already), was able to figure who she was, and just the experiences she went through really defined her talents and abilities. 

Max, Lola's boyfriend was someone I don't really like. He was a bit possessive, kind of a jerk, and definitely the jealous type. Don't get me wrong though, there were times where he got his head out of his ass for a minute and he was such a decent person at those times.

I really did like Cricket though. He was just a sweetheart. He had such great respect for the fact that Lola had a boyfriend and she was already taken. They still continued to be friends though and I really loved that. One thing I have noticed about him is he is a very shy and quiet person. Cricket's sister has been the big factor in the family. They move to different places because of her and he just goes along with it and that has caused him to become a quiet person. He never really was a person who got a lot of attention in his family so I am not surprised if he has a very introverted personality.

"I know you aren't perfect. But it's a person's imperfections that make them perfect for someone else"
- Stephanie Perkins, Lola and the Boy Next Door

The plot for this book was a great one to read about. I just loved how it had it's dramatic parts but there were fun times as well. Lola and the Boy Next Door had so many huge things going on left and right it was a book jam-packed with things going on. I didn't feel as things were moving too fast but I also didn't feel as though this book was too slow for my liking. If anything, it flowed very nicely. The ending was just so great. The book has been building up to this one event and this event really said something about Lola's relationship with *person* how good of a person this person is.

I gave this book 4.5 stars because I loved the characters and plot but I just didn't enjoy it as much as the other books in this series.

I Was Here

Author: Gayle Forman
Pages: 270
Published by: Viking Juvenile
Published on: January 27th 2015

Cody and Meg were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. Until . . . they weren’t anymore. When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question. I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss.

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We all know Gayle Forman right? You know, author of the If I Stay and Just One Day duology? Well, coming from a person who has only read the two books from If I Stay, I Was Here was very different from her other books; I Was Here was mysterious, twisted, and just surprising in general. The plot was so interesting to read and Cody, the main character, is someone I very much enjoy reading from.

The characters in I Was Here were a pretty interesting group of people. I have to say though, there weren't many people that were super important in this book. I could probably count the number on my two hands but they were all really interesting and different in their own ways. Cody was a very different person from the group of characters. She, along with Meg's family, was pretty affected by her death. They didn't see it coming and I think that really brought out a lot of emotion from everyone who was friends with Meg. Cody is someone I would want to be as my best friend. After Meg's death, she had continued to try to figure out why Meg had killed herself and she continued doing so after people told her to let it, to not pry through Meg's personal life. I really liked that, a determined person who won't give up on someone. A thing I also noticed was how secretive Meg was. No one knew or guessed she was going to kill herself and she didn't want anyone to find out that she killed herself for a unusual reason.

The plot was also a very interesting one. The thing that I really liked about this book was how mysterious it was. Since Meg died in a really interesting way, there is nothing but mystery and information to find about her suicide. Cody goes on one of those adventures and I enjoyed the storyline because there was so much mystery. Cody would get a little more information about Meg's suicide and that would keep me reading another few chapters. Obviously, Meg's suicide wasn't all happy rainbows and fluffy unicorns. The more messed up and mysterious the situation was, the more I wanted to read. ;)

I gave this book 4 stars because I love the mysterious plot and the characters that were part of this book. There is one flaw I didn't enjoy (which will not be named!).

Welcome to an interview with author of Tracked, Jenny Martin! I thank Jenny for being here today and I hope you guys will check out her new book! Enjoy!

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1. Describe your road to publication and your feelings about Tracked being published in 5 words.
Hey, watch out! Curves ahead! :D

2. Which character of Tracked did you enjoy the most write about?
Honestly, I really enjoyed writing Phee, my main character. This girl is bold, and fierce, and fearless...everything I'm not! Although I'm outgoing, I'm actually quite fearful and timid! So it was a lot of fun to step outside myself, and buckle into Phee's point of view. In Tracked, she keeps her foot to the floor (literally and figuratively), and never lets up, no matter the obstacle. At times, it was exhilarating to give into that, and let my mind run wild. In a way, I was able to live out all my daredevil dreams through her. So I'd have to say she was my favorite.

3. Do you have a favorite car? If so which one(s)?
Definitely! I'd love to get my hands on a jet black, SRT Hellcat Dodge Charger. It's all muscle and curve, just gorgeous. Sidenote: If any dealerships would like to loan me one for a summer book tour...well, I sure wouldn't say no. ;)

4. How did you come up with the names of the characters in Tracked?
For every book, I spend a lot of time researching names. I have a big book of baby names on my writing shelf, and I use online name sites, too. For me, the rhythm and cadence and connotation is most important. I say a name out loud and try it out, to see if it seems to fit. But I often consider the meanings of names as well, and it's fun to find just the right one. For Tracked, I wanted a fierce, arena-worthy name for my heroine. Phee Van Zant seemed to fit the bill. Later, Phoebe's given a circuit alias, and that was fun to pick as well. In Tracked, you'll learn that name, and you'll see Cash's and Bear's full names, too!

5. Is there a message you hope readers find in this book? (You don't have to include it in the response if you don't want to):
I hope readers connect with Phee's deep sense of loyalty and with her spitfire, never-surrender spirit. It's tempting to take the easy road in order to stay safe and adored. It's much harder to stand up for what's right, when you're cornered and threatened...when you're seemingly powerless and opposed on all sides. When you're boxed in, it's hard to keep hope alive, and keep fighting. One of my favorite quotes from Tracked is about that very thing; about not giving up or giving in, even when all hope seems lost.

"I have to believe in impossible things."

The line is plays an important part in a crucial scene, and it's something I return to, even in my acknowledgments.

6. Any last words you would like to share?
Keep dreaming when they tell you to quit. Keep reading what they don't want you to read. Keep speaking up for those who've been silenced. And as my character Cash would say, keep believing in impossible things!

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An Ember in the Ashes

Anna and the French Kiss