Flight

Only two more exams to go and then it's finally a break from school. Although we have a lot of homework, I plan to read an review a lot more. Some days ago I finished some amazing book: Flight by Alyssa Rose Ivy. 
As you might have already read in my TBR of December, I found the book while browsing on an online book shop. I kind of fell head over heals right then and there because of the cover but I was shocked that it wasn't really known. And with that I mean on Instagram for example, I usually find thousands of tags from the books I read but this time it wasn't the case. Goodreads gave it a 3.91 out of five stars. I didn't read any reviews, I just wanted them. 


Alison flees from her ex-boyfriend and accepts the invitation of her dad. Her parents have been divorced since she was a kid and their relationship has never been really good after that. She drives all the way to New Orleans, feeling happy that she's getting an escape. 

Ever since her breakup she swore off men. No more boys that either break her heart or with who she didn't feel any sparks. She'd have a nice summer of her own without that kind of trouble. Or well, she at least hoped so... 

As in every book I read, the girl meets a guy. It's exactly how it goes down, she meets a guy and she might be a little drawn to him. She tries to fight it but the boy... he's just so mysterious, he grabs her attention, he's handsome, has an ego. Let's just stick with the fact that he's definitely something. The only question is will she be able to stay away? 

This book started going really fast. The beginning is in my point of view very fast paced but if I really minded it is another question. I can't really say it ruined the book but I do think that because of it's fast moving, it kind of took away mystery that could've lingered more. 

You just get to know things a lot sooner than some slower paced books. I swear though it wasn't fast paced the whole time! I just missed the thrill in the beginning and the longing and the feels! Talking about feels, I've got many. MANY! 

Let's start with our main female character: Alison. She's on a very good spot on the boys market, she's had relationships before but there's just something stopping her. She just broke up with her boyfriend because she didn't feel it. The sparks. She also always seemed to pick the wrong guys and mostly the ones with big ego's.
 Allie's parents are divorced, as I said before, which also leads to a constant longing for her parents. She's very close with her mother but she really wanted that her dad would spend time with her too. 

He doesn't. Her father isn't around a lot in the book either. He invited her to come and work in his hotel and even provides a room where she and a friend can stay. I was kind of irritated with the man, you let your daughter come to you for the summer but where in the hell are you most of the time? I felt the same anger Alison sometimes felt with her father. 

Another character who I really enjoyed was Allison's friend: Jessica or as her friends call her Jess. She's very exuberant and is kind of the party girl. She loves boys, she picks up multiple boys in the story but then we get to see a side of her I never thought we'd see. She's kind of keeping on a mask and somewhere in the story we see the mask shatter into tiny pieces. It was... emotional but also very interesting to see the change, I didn't expect that. 

Now my favorite character of this book: Levi. He's such a jerk! Absolutely no doubt, he has such a big ego! But then again he's very mysterious and from the description we get, he's very handsome. In a way he made me think about Daemon from the LUX-series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. If you read those books you know what I'm talking about. 

It's also very obvious something is up with him. He just acts really weird, he blows off all the girls when he's with Alison. Above that Owen and Jared are always by his side. All the freaking time! It's not that I minded them there but it obviously caused suspicion. 

Owen is more the quiet guy of the group. He listens and he's really funny once he dares saying something. I see him more of the guy that has a lot of wisdom. And more as the older brother of the group.
Jared is the complete opposite but does has some traits like Levi. He's an arrogant bastard but I did find a moment in the book that he was actually not who I thought he was. Kind of like Jess though, he's an absolute magnate to the opposite gender. 

The characters really surprised me. When you thought you knew them, you actually didn't. There'd happen something that shows you that they have another side to them. 


They just make sure you never get boring with them which I'm very fond of. It's the first book I ever read by Alyssa Rose Ivy but if all her characters are like this, versatile and exciting, I might get more books of her.

The story was as I said a little bit fast paced at the beginning but once you're into it, it 'slows down'. Other than that I really enjoyed the book a lot! The mystery will eventually unravel itself and once you get the mystery out of its blinds, you'll know exactly why I loved this book so much.

One thing that did kind of bother me was that Allison was so calm with it. I can't believe how relaxed she was and how accepting! Even when certain events happened, she was calm. Well, after she got so furious that I just couldn't stop laughing. I did understand her reaction but somehow I did think it was funny! After these things unraveled and she got mad, she got awfully calm. That kind of bothered me because most girls who find something out like that will have a little shock after, then accept it and then be calm about it. She was just calm and excited. Where's the shock? The avoiding? And then the excitement? But other than that, this was a fantastic read!

Do I recommend the book? Yes. I'd call it kind of a more 'simple' read as in, it's not as mysterious as other books, it's not as romantic as other books but if you liked Daemon you'll like Levi. In another life they might have been brother! It was something that I enjoyed and was also my genre of books... if that explains it more. 

If you're wondering if it'd be the book you'd read, I'd place it under the genres: paranormal, fantasy and shifters. And if you'd like to know more about it, here's the link to Goodreads! 

I've already got the second book in my hands and I might be having it in my hands because it's my next review to write. Now. This very evening. I finished it in a day... But I can tell you, I found it even better than the first one! The cover isn't as appealing to me as the cover from Flight but more about the story will follow  in another review!

"Sometimes you just have to take flight."

Book Feast 2015 Book Haul and update

After waiting for a week it was finally time! As every year we go to the Book Feast, it's a big place where you can find all sorts of books for a cheaper price. It's kind of tradition, together with my family and the family of my mom's sister we go pay it a visit.

Before I left I already had a goal! My friend Fien is a big fan of the Hunger Games and I never read the books. I don't know why that is really but she said I really needed to read them. When I got the advertisement of the Book Feast 2015 I saw that all 3 books were 15 euro's together. Normally each book is 15 euro's so this was kind of a very nice bargain. I had my eyes on it and I wouldn't walk out of that hall without them... or well it didn't go as planned...

©http://www.boekenmarkten.be/gent/boekenfestijn

I came into the hall and then there's this first row with all the books from the advertisement. The ones that would be a bargain or just really good reads. I walked there with my niece, they weren't there. Eventually we just walked through all the rows that could possibly be our genre, I still didn't find them!

My mother eventually went to ask where we could find them and the women said: "They're all gone. They were sold out really fast." I was ready to die right there! I just couldn't believe it and I said it before I left, that they probably would be sold out, all of them! Look who was right?! But the women said that they'd have an extension of the Feast, which is really rare, and that they might come in then. 

That obviously didn't make my disappointment go away. I really wanted those books! So with my new friend disappointment, I went on the lookout for other books. Normally all the genres are indicated but my niece and me didn't find Young Adult. Just like last year! The problem is that it didn't and never gets a big sign so people usually can't find it. 

It was next to the sign Color and Activity so obviously we thought, oh that's something we don't need to go to. Young Adult was right there though and once we knew that I took two books and didn't put them back. The first one was Finding Sky by Joss Stirling, it's in Dutch though! I didn't really mind it because the cover was absolutely stunning and the story appealed to me. I saw that it had really good rates and for that price, you can't put it back!

The second book I took into my hands was Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. It's the second book in the Infernal Devices, I know. And I don't have the first one but hear me out! You're walking on this Book Feast and look around, your eye catches this nice gorgeous glittering book. Above that it's a hardcover! You think "No, I don't have the first book. I can't take it!" but then you look at the prince and you think... It's gorgeous, stunning, a damn hardcover for this price? Who puts that down?! 

I was doubting though but decided to take it with me since I really wanted to read the series anyway and then I already have the second one. What harm is there in doing that? So we go back to our parents and walk with them, since we already saw everything. My sister walks up to me and says that the women we asked about for the Hunger Games was walking there, searching, with books from the Hunger Games in her hands. 

This is the funniest story in my life really! I didn't have glasses on so I couldn't see it, my niece couldn't see it either and my mom passes by walking after her. When the women stops, my mother stops pretending to look at something right in front of her while trying to catch what the women has in her hands. The women is back on the move and she's going faster! Right to the cash registers. And suddenly, my niece, mother, sister and I are almost running after her. It was so funny to see it happen because I was the last one! I was kind of coming behind and trying to catch up but then there were these kids that were in front of me and I almost ran them over. Sorry kids! 

And the women stops again so we stop, all four of us by stacks of normal paper. "Do we need paper? Do you know that?" then we started looking around. It was so obvious! The women returns and then stops next to us and asks politely if we were the ones that asked for the Hunger Games Trilogy. 

As nonchalantly as possible my mom says yes and asks why and the women just found the trilogy on a return table. At the end, people can just lay books on it they eventually don't want to take with them. The employees take those and go lay them on their right location so other people can buy it.  So that's the story on how I lost my friend disappointment and thanked the Book Gods for this gift! 

Also I want to thank my sister for seeing the women and the women (whose name I couldn't read on her shirt) that remembered the sad teenage bookaddict that needed those books, and wanted them that day! Without them, I would've gone home with sad faces and 'only' two books. My day was completed! 

So now I'm home with two books and a trilogy. I did find it rather disappointing this year! Normally there are so many Young Adults but this time there wasn't a lot to buy... and it was the same for the other genres. On a good period you can find all the books by Cassandra Clare and even the Maze Runner, all those books are all over the place but this year there was absolutely nothing! 

I didn't regret going though, I got what I wanted and I always love to go to the Book Feast because it's just amazing! 

Now the update! As I already said I was going to read every day one story from the book My True Love Gave To Me until Christmas, hoping that I finished it by then. Today was the day I started, just like planned. The first story is by Rainbow Rowell called Midnights. 

I so enjoyed this little story! Absolutely stunning! It's about New Year's Eve and we get a little teaser of what happens on New Year's Eve that year but then go back in time to see why this actually happens. After the flashbacks we get back to the present and see what happens next. 

I honestly fell in love with this story! I don't want to spoil more but I can only say I wish that this happened to me on New Year's Eve. 
Also I can't wait for the second story which'll be by the author Kelly Link. I'm really curious since I never read a book written by her. 




I'll try to update whenever I liked the story and stories that follow! 
12 days until Christmas!
19 days until New Year's Eve!
I'm so excited!

Walking Disaster

Yes, finally I can get a review online. As I already said in my TBR of December, I'm in the middle of my exams. I did manage to do some reading in between! Which brings me to the topic of this review: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire. As you might know it's the sequel of Beautiful Disaster but this time in Travis's POV. I was so eager to read this book! 
Which also means the story isn't different at all, of course there'll be new scenes. This because Travis and Abby weren't always together and I liked that already before I started the book. The fact that we'd be in Bad Boy Travis's head and there'd be new things about him to explore.

It’s about a boy, Travis and a girl, Abby who meet in a very awkward moment. There’s blood, a smile, a stunned expression and it all begins. She's his pigeon! They meet again and it’s pretty obvious Abby has something there for Travis. He sees it, he feels it and he won’t take no for an answer but Abby only  wants him to leave her alone.
 He promised his mother that he'd fight for the one he'd fall in love with. He swore though that he'd never just settle with some girl. Travis wanted a pigeon, someone that speaks to him without needing words. Someone one-of-a-kind. Both keep denying it until Travis finally opens up his heart. One thing is for sure, he won't go down without a battle. One he's not sure he'll ever win. But he promised... So he'll try. Will Abby be his?

After I read this book, in his POV, I did change my mind a little. Not that it was bad or anything! On the contrary, this book was even better in my point of view. The way I see it, this might be all because of Travis.

In Beautiful Disaster I was just not feeling him. I felt the same as Abby. He was a jerk to her some times and he wasn't always as nice as I wanted him to be. Yes, I got mad at him so many times for being mean. Although that didn't stop me from loving him, but I see now that he actually isn't such a bad boy. He's just a softy inside! He just falls for Abby and that's weird for him, it's new. 

He never really cared about girls and just let them out the morning after, without settling down but Abby is his weak spot. She's the one that tames him and I kind of am fan because of that. I felt like you could see and feel that a lot more in his POV. I also felt a lot more of romance and after all the hatred that I send flying to Travis while reading Beautiful Disaster... I know for sure that that actually wasn't supposed to be meant for him.

Which brings me to Abby. Now I realize that actually, she's kind of the one with a temper. As you read along in Travis' head you see that he really tries hard. When he tries, Abby kind of blows him off which obviously leads to a little crack in his heart. He isn't that bad at all, he's just... soft on the inside but hard on the outside. So I kind of changed my mind on Abby, I liked her but she kind of caused most the trouble. I still find both characters very realistic though and very intriguing! 

Because we read in Travis' POV we also get new scenes and a lot of those scenes involve his family. I can't tell you how happy that made me! Travis grew up without a mother and with 4 brothers and his dad. He had a hard time which he explains in this book. 

We met his brothers and father in Beautiful Disaster but I felt like it wasn't enough. It was a little superficial. I needed more, I craved more and my prayers were answered by the Book Gods. The author gave us a better view on the family affairs! And even more details about his mother! As a reader you get to see how his father is after being bereaved of his beloved wife. How it changed him but also how his relationship is with Travis was in the past and is now.

Also the brothers are around a lot. Some more than others which brings us to going back in time, getting more details of their childhood. Who took care for who after their mother passed away and what's left of that "hierarchy". 

Other than that the book was quite the same, with new feelings that came from Travis. I was really happy that I read this book because it just gave me more perspective. The best part in the book was the epilogue though! I can't say anything but I'll tell you I was very surprised. And happy but sad after that because then it was the end! Like really the end!

Of course I also read this book because of Travis. I kind of fell hard for that guy while I read and I fell even more in love with him during Walking Disaster. I don't find him a disaster though, maybe a very handsome mess but I don't mind that at all! If you read Beautiful Disaster, I really recommend reading this beauty because it really completes the story more.

And now I've got your attention, I just want to tell you guys that subscribing is possible! It took me a while to understand why it didn't work and finally, it does! So on your right side underneath my picture you can subscribe by mail. If you were already subscribed and don't get any mails, I'd just try again. That's how I had to do it! Thanks guys!

"Every story has two sides."

December TBR

I know I've been kind of absent for a very long time but I have a good reason: the exams. They've been taking a lot of time and when I had some spare time after studying, I tried to catch up with some reading. This brings me to my To Be Read-list of the last month of 2015! 

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

As you might or might not know, I read Beautiful Disaster some months ago. I also did a review on it which you can find here. Back then I said how much I loved the book and I couldn't wait to read it in Travis POV. 
I've got my hands on the book! So basically it's the same story but then in Travis's point of view. There are new scenes obviously because Abby and Travis weren't always together so I'm very interested in those. Mainly because I want to know what Travis did in his spare time other than going out and fight. So I'm really excited to read this book! I'm sure it will be as good as Beautiful Disaster since I adored that book and really was a big fan of Travis!

"Every story has two sides."

Flight by Alyssa Rose Ivy

My next book that I want to read this December is Flight. I find it in the recommendations when I was on a online shop for books and I also want to mention that it isn't really known. I loved the cover immediately, though now I have it in my hands I did wish the cover wasn't that dark. If there isn't a lot of light surrounding you, you can't stare at it as much as I'd like to... Now the story! It's basically about a girl that goes to live with her dad in New Orleans. It's what she needs, just a break from it all. Her parents have been divorced since she was born and their relationship after that wasn't as great. 
She meet someone. Of course! As in all the books I'm drawn to the girl always meet someone. She had sworn she wouldn't be hanging out with any guy for the summer after her breakup. But things don't always go the way you plan it. The boy is just mysterious, he grabs her attention, he's handsome, has an ego (which guy in a book doesn't?). Let's just stick with the fact that he's definitely something. 
I couldn't buy the books in Belgium or the Netherlands so I had to let them come from Book Depository, not that I minded! 

"Sometimes you just have to take flight."

Focus by Alyssa Rose Ivy

But if I decide to check in with Book Depository, I make sure to buy a few books. This due to that it just takes so long for them to arrive. And since I only can get the series from there, I decided to (why not?) just let the second book in the series come with it. It's also a book I'll be reading in the month of December! I think the cover isn't as appealing to me as the cover of the first book but that won't stop me. The story obviously builds further on Allie and her summer in New Orleans but I don't think I should tell any details now. It would only ruin the story, wouldn't it? 

"It’s just a game we’re playing.”

My True Love Gave Me by Stephanie Perkins (Editor)

It's December which means the holidays aren't that far away. That's basically why I decided to grab a book that brings me in the mood of Christmas. This books doesn't handle 1 story, it handles 12 stories. Short stories basically but I don't mind that! I'd love to try and read one story a day and start the 12th... That way I really read towards Christmas! 
As I said this story is divided in 12 stories which means 12 different authors... These writers are the ones that came up with the brilliant idea of combining their passion for writing: Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor and Kiersten White. 

My titel says Stephanie Perkins because she's the editor of the book so she kinds of needs the credit of being mentioned to in my opinion! She puts in as much work as the others. I haven't read books by all of the writers mentioned, but I am really curious. I haven't found any information about what the stories are about since I haven't even read a review. I just looked at the score it was giving and the rather short description on Goodreads.
The book should've been arrived today but unfortunately it got delayed... Damn Christmas shoppers! Ah well, they promised it would arrived the 11th so it'll be in time. 

"So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love."

World After by Susan EE

Last month I read the first one in this (beautiful) series: Angelfall. My friend Fien from mybookishrambles.wordpress.com , recommended the series to me. If you might not know it or you forgot, I'm a huge fan of books with anything that flies. ANYTHING. Angels, Fallen Angels, even books with ravens in it (and then I'm talking about a very good book series by Pt Michelle!) and this book just had my craving in it. And I was very fond of it! The book went by so fast and I was so sad that it was over because I didn't have the second book! Well... I kind of do now... Oh and I might also have bought the third and last one in the series. Whoops! 
As every second book it builds onto the first one. There's an Apocalypse and Penryn loses someone she really loves during it. Determinate to find her bereaved loved one back, she'd do anything. Even work with the enemy. Things went down in the first book, I'm telling you it's GOOD. 
I'm very curious on what the second book has for me. A quick look at the back tells me that Penryn and the enemy might get eye to eye again. If it'll be like the first book and therefore for a good cause is unknown to me. Who knows maybe the world will be fine? Maybe it's worse? Maybe, just maybe, I fall in love with the enemy... Who knows?

"The survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world."

So these are the books I really want to read this month but that doesn't mean there might not be any others on their way already. And I might start reading in those too! What is your TBR for this last month full of Christmas Joy? 

Winter Bookangels Challenge

Hello there! 

This post is going to be a little different from the other posts. Normally I write about books and then I review them, this is also going to be about books but different. As you might have already known I have an Instagram specially for photos about books, and that way I can stay into contact or find other people that are in love with books. 

Every month there are challenges that go around. You don't have to join if you don't want to but you always can. People just make their own challenge and other people can take it and do the same challenge. It sort of connects us with others! I sometimes do a challenge but I didn't this November. 

It's almost December now, only 4 days away and I decided I wanted to do a challenge for the last month of the year but also because it's such a cozy one with Christmas and New Years Eve a blink away. I didn't really find one that I was fully happy about so decided I was going to make my own challenge. I searched ideas on the internet, in my brains and I pieced together a little challenge for the month! I just wanted to post it here too since not everybody has Instagram. I think you could also post pictures on blogs if you're really interested in joining but don't have Instagram. Everybody can join if they want to! 

In the picture down below you can see the challenge that I made up and let me know in the comments (either here or on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookangels/) if you joined up. That way I can come visit your profile to see what you made of it for that particular day. :-) 

With love,

Erica

"Something about the winter just makes you want to fall in love"

Red Queen

A while ago, my mother went to England for her work with a company. I asked her to bring souvenirs because we've never been to England before and she came home and brought me... a book! Who would have thought? She brought me Red Queen from Victoria Aveyard! Which is absolutely funny because it had been on my wishlist for some months. I don't understand how it's possible that I didn't bought this book earlier though!

Basically it's about a world that's divided into two separate races: the red and the silvers. The red ones live in bad conditions, have to work all day long so they have money to support their families. Some live on the streets while others may have a house but no food on the table. Above that when a kid turns 18, they can be send as a soldier into war.
Whereas Silvers have the best life of them all. They have powers, they have money, they have a palace, they have families. For short: They're royals and are in possession of god-like superpowers while ruling over the Reds.

For Mare Barrow, a red girl that lives in poverty, it seems like nothing will ever change. Her brothers are send off to the war and she can be next. Above that there's also her best friend that can be risked going to war and she doesn't want that for him. 

All of a sudden, things start changing. She finds herself working in the Palace. Surrounded by, in her point of view, the enemies she feels something is changing. She is the change, because she possesses a deadly power of her own. It can destroy the balance of power that's on earth now. 

The Silvers find this out and hide her, saying she's a long-lost Silver princess and will now marry one of the royal princes. Mare hates that they're doing this to her and engaging with one of them is a nightmare coming true. One misstep and it would mean her ultimate death. 

She finds out more about the Silvers and that while working together with a militant resistance group: the Red Guard. They all want the same thing: bring down the Silver regime. Bring down the people that call themselves Gods. Without fully realizing it, Mare has entered a dangerous game in a world full of lies and betrayal. Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart... Who will win this game?

Let's start with the book itself. The cover is simple but very beautiful, as my teacher would say less is more. The upside down crown with red blood flowing over it... I'd say it was a reference to Mare trying to take down the Silvers with her as a Red blood. And it has feeling! As well the crown and the blood are lifted out of the cover. (Is that how I have to say such things? Sorry for my bad explanation!) The letters of the title are also red and shine when you hold it in the right angle, even the spine has this and I love books like that. Those are simple details that can bring a smile of excitement on my face!

The inside of the book has also detail in it. They're both red with white sweeps along it and in the middle there's a drawing. I don't really know what they mean or what they stand for but again it's something unique and different because I don't know any other books that have this! And a few pages in the book there's a map of the new world. I really think it's useful because the main character does talk about certain area's and then I can check it out and see where she is and where others are. It comes in very handy, if you ask me!

Now the characters! Starting with Mare, she's unbelievably strong and independent.  She'd do anything to protect her sister and her parents while her brothers are at war. It's very intriguing how she's handling the situation fearing that she might have to go to war too and leave behind her family. On the other side she's also longing for her brothers and fear that they have died. Something that I loved most about their family bonding is something I can't say because it'll ruin the moment. But there is something that will make you hate the Silvers for sending off people to war. 
The Silvers were the absolute villains when I first started reading it, but during the changes as explained in the description of the book, I started having mixed feelings for certain Silvers. I do think others are still the devil and I'd kill them with my own hands if I could but I can't! I also won't go into the characters any further because I don't want to spoil any more.

The plot was very interesting, I didn't see it coming. Some parts during the books I was like 'aha! I knew it!' because it was a little obvious or because I was paying very closely attention to certain details in previous chapters. You get the 'aha!'-feeling more in the beginning of the book than at the end really because the end... The end was breathtaking? Mysterious? Betraying? Lies? I've had many feelings during the endgame nearing. The 'aha'-feeling was totally gone and I did not, absolutely not see it coming. It didn't left me unmoved or emotionless, I had all sort of emotions and I was really longing for the next part in this series. 

You're so into the world of Silver and Reds that you feel like you're Mare. You hate them but then things change and people start changing because you know them more. Other people are like you expected them to be. The world is totally different there and it kept you reading the book. As a reader you felt what Mare felt, you'd say 'go girl!' and the next moment you're like 'Oh no you didn't!' towards an enemy.
It's as much as an exciting  read as a thrilling one, especially when the end is just pages away. You've get your own suspects, you create your 'own lies' with the main character and that's the most thrilling about it. We're in a world of betrayal and lies and it's shown throughout the book. She's playing a very dangerous game.

However I did have one little complaint and that may be because of me. My mother tongue is Dutch and for me it was really hard to get into the first few pages because I found it really difficult. I had to keep my head in the game when I read because otherwise I wouldn't get it. But as I said, it can just be me because English isn't my main language and then something switched during the following chapters which made me understand what was happening. It may either be the language or be the fact that I wasn't paying attention enough. 

Other than that I really enjoyed this read, especially the end that left me wanting more. The second book in the series is coming though! It's called Glass Sword and seems even more thrilling than the first one. Normally it'll be released on the 9th of February 2016 which is still 3 months away but it's closer than ever since I've read this book in the summer. And more exciting news is that these series is going to get another 2 books! I'm so happy about that! I need to know more especially because I had all sorts of boys in the first book that I wanted to ship with Mare. I want to know how and where they end up and if I ever see my ultimate ship leaving to the Bahamas. Doesn't that sound romantic in a world of war and two races that hate each others guts? 

"Power is a dangerous game"

Isla and the Happily Ever After

Some weeks ago I posted my reviews on the first two books in a series by Stephanie Perkins. Those books were Anna and The French Kiss (Review) and Lola and the Boy Next Door (Review) but there's a third and last part and it's the book I read first in the series: Isla and The Happily Ever After. As I said in the review of Lola's story, yes you can read them as a standalone but both Lola and Isla contain spoilers that refer to or the story of Anna or Lola or Isla so I recommend reading them in the publishing order. That aside, let's just talk about this book because out of all three Isla and Anna share a spot on 'my fav in a series'

Remember the school Anna went on? School of America in Paris? We're back there but this time with Isla who has a crush on the young artist Josh. She had her eyes on him since day one but they never really talked for hours. Maybe a quick hello but even that was sometimes hard for the shy but hopeless romantic Isla. But things change over the summer when Isla sees Josh in a coffee shop in Manhattan and they have there first long interaction. They grow closer with every page you turn but what they didn't know about their relationship was that it is forced to face uncertainty about their futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. Next to that they get into fights over their past and that doesn't make anything easy for them. But every relationship has their ups and downs and many ups might follow outweighing the downs. It's a story set against the stunning backdrops of New York, Paris and even Barcelona. Don't forget it's the conclusion to Stephanie Perkins's beloved series.

I can't really place my finger on what exactly it was that I enjoyed the most in this book... But the romance was definitely there. Actually all the feels where there! Because as I said every relationship has it ups and it downs and I, as a reader, felt all those feelings when everything was up and when everything was down. 

I could identify with Isla because she is shy and a hopeless romantic but also with the actions she does. As for Josh I just loved him. I guess it was because he's an artist and we get to see more about what he does because it's something special he's doing, believe me! And we also get to see the environment of an artist in the book. Whereas, if I have to compare Josh to Cricket, we can see all the things that make Josh Josh. In Lola's review I said that I wished we saw more of Cricket's inventions and the author made sure we now saw more of Josh's art, which is a bonus point . It's not only his art that we get to 'see' but also museums, this because he's really interested in the whole art thing. I can't spill too much, I don't want to ruin the fun so I can't say how or why we see museums but it's pretty much worth the read!  

What I loved most were all the different places we saw. Well only three and through the story of Anna we also saw a lot of Paris so nothing's really 'new' there but we also saw Manhattan. I've been dreaming to go to Manhattan for a really long time so it's cool to see some of it, even though it's through the eyes of someone else. It does give the same effect as in the story of Anna, where you just want to go visit that city because it's explained so well in the book that you can visualize it. It really wants to make you go there and I had that feeling even more when the story went to Barcelona. Just the way they go there, how they do it all and what they do, it's absolutely adorable! Again, I can't spill anything but let's keep it at: I enjoyed this book so so much! Another reason that I loved this book is that it's more realistic than the others, I guess. The feelings in the book seemed more real to me, probably because I could relate a lot during the book. Might also be because it gave a realistic picture of what a relationship is.

So conclusion: if you haven't read the book, go read it! But beware as I said in the beginning of this review this book will contain spoilers about the other previous books. So if you plan on reading them all, please read them in order. I'm begging you, I just want you to have the full experience without being spoiled.

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