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Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira
Bookishly Ever After
Ever After (Book 1)
Literature, Teens, Contemporary, Romance
Spenser Hill Contemporary
January 12, 2016
Paperback, Kindle
350
In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably one filled with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary.
Everything changes when Phoebe learns that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her. So, Phoebe turns to the heroines in her favorite books for inspiration, but becoming as awesome as her book characters isn’t as easy as it sounds. When another girl nets Dev for herself right out from under Phoebe’s nose, she’s crushed.
And, to up the suckage, she gets assigned as his co-counselor at a sixth grade camp and has to spend an entire week tied to the hip with the one guy on the planet she wanted to avoid. Can she make it through the potential danger of romantic bonfires and nature walks, or will her counseling career end in emotional disaster? Can she ever go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?
Find out if Dev makes Phoebe forget all her book boyfriends in this first book of the Ever After Series
Finally, a book that understands the bookworm…
I really enjoyed Bookishly Ever After, book 1 in the new Ever After Series by Isabel Bandeira. I liked this unique tale that celebrates the quirky, shy, slightly awkward, yet lovable bookworm because it reminded me so much of my oldest daughter. 
Though stories that showcase an extroverted heroine; who was chosen by destiny to save the world with nothing but her handsome love interest, special abilities, and perfect hair (I believe most of us enjoy imagining ourselves as that character once in a while), aren’t bad. This book is a refreshing change. Sometimes book heroines are characterized as book-lovers, yet never seem to touch more than two books throughout the story, odd right? Thankfully, the heroine in this book is truly a bookworm and never without her paperback friends.
It is Isabel’s artistry as a writer that makes this story flow so well, from book world to real world. Her writing is quirky and easy to relate to, as well as greatly amusing. More than once I found myself laughing out loud at her witty, unique, and reference filled humor.
You could tell Isabel fully understood the life of a bookworm; the late nights, the fandoms, the swoon-worthy hunks, the obsessive reading behavior, the struggle of rationalizing your behavior to non-book lovers, and the high of completing a good story. But where she really nailed it on the head was with the introverted, book-loving Phoebe’s interactions with the real world. It was fun seeing her behave a lot like my daughter and I do when it comes to our favorite characters; thinking “what would (insert favorite book character here) do or say?” in this real life situations.
While this is a great YA book for anyone 13+, adults will find the teenage hormones, teenage drama, dating advice from pre-teens, knitting, and pure unadulterated book-fandom to be entertaining as well!
Tanya’s love for books has been a lifelong passion that she likes sharing with others. Reading is also the thing that relaxes her after a day of juggling the many responsibilities that come with being being wife to an amazing man, mother to four great kids spread around the world, business manager, and farm hand on their place in southwest Missouri; home to Akaushi cattle and a menagerie of pygmy goats, horses, chickens, dogs and cats.
