My expectations for this book were absolutely through the roof after hearing so much buzz and the excited laughter on Hypeable's BookHype podcast. So maybe I need to give this another shot, but I didn't love it. Read the whole thing in one long day, because I knew I couldn't spread it out/it would distract me if I had to go to work without it finished.

I think I'll wait about six months to a year and get all three books on audio and re-experience them.

Isla herself was a less-developed character for me. I really only knew that she was smart, petite, and sometimes a little sassy. Her desire to learn about herself was painful but honest and real, but it sort of felt like she wasn't distinct because she hadn't figured it out yet. Very different than Lola!
I almost would have preferred the point of view to be Josh, because he was a character I'd liked from the first book and he seemed much more interesting. He had an artsy bad boy sort of vibe without it being too emo or cliche, and I think a major component to that being successful was that he was also a politician's son and had a whole section of the book where he was sort of this totally different guy. However this made me more wary of him/ made me wonder if there was more to him than met the eye and if we could not totally trust him.
I also didn't really understand his graphic novel--maybe it would have been much more powerful to have examples of "Josh's" artwork in the book, because I think the descriptions of his art could have been supported by images.
I didn't love how Isla broke up with Josh. I mean, I saw A breakup coming considering they got together so early on in the book, but I read through that section too fast to understand. And then had to suffer through a hundred pages of depressed Isla because they're broken up and she's upset. That was no fun.
One of the things that I enjoyed so much with Anna and Lola was the wonderful tension that built up slowly and was excruciatingly delicious to read, and while I think it was good to try something different than that pattern again, I would have almost liked to read that pattern (over I&J getting together so quickly) because Perkins does tension so well. I think there was more... evolution to this story. I don't know how to say it--just that the story was perhaps more mature? I want to give it another try some day.
Also, I agree with one of the other reviews I've read: in Anna and Lola, pretty much all the side characters are fleshed out/we care about them/they feel important (if not to the reader, then at least to the girl). I didn't care about Isla's family or Hattie, and Kurt was okay but could have been more.

I also sort of felt side-swiped on the "reason" that Isla broke up with Josh. She comes to the conclusion that she deserves love. I did not see this coming and did not understand it. Did I even read this book???

2nd read through:

Overall I still agree with my first review: Isla seemed less developed/independently interesting when compared to Anna and Lola. She would have a lot of internal dialogue about being insecure and feeling unworthy, but all her aloud dialogue was banter-y and on point.
I understood the breakup better this time through--she was afraid Josh would lose interest or someday break her heart, so she sort of preemptively broke it off. I still did not understand why she felt that she was unworthy of love? This is sort of a very personal thing I can relate to, wherein every once in awhile I have a bit of self doubt about my own value and self worth, but I did not feel that this Isla was present throughout the book.
I liked Kurt better this read-through, but wanted better resolution with Hattie--she is presented as sort of an enemy, but is perfectly ready and willing to be conciliatory and grateful to Isla within one conversation?
I also did not like the audio book narrator's voice, which was a bit throaty and gave Isla weird inflections.