Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery

I had to read something light after The Zenith so I decided to read Anne of the Island! This is the third book in the series and follow’s Anne as she moved away from her home to go to university.

I’m going to be very upfront and say that a big part of why I read this was to find out how Anne and Gilbert’s relationship would develop. And if you’re like me, well, the first half of the book doesn’t really touch on that but the second half does.

(My heart broke a bit before I read the end though)

Something I thought interesting about the book was it’s description of university life! Well, there weren’t much details but it seems somewhat similar (if less rowdy) than university today. I almost forgot that Anne was living about a hundred years ago when I read about her house hunting, living with housemates, etc.

There are also quite a few new interesting characters. The most memorable one was Phil - this seemingly scatter-brain and indecisive girl. I actually thought she was going to be annoying when I first met her in the book, but like Anne, I realised that she has her charms and all you need to do is treat her normally.

That said, I felt the lack of Diana, Marilla, Davy, and even Mrs Lynde quite a bit. While Anne does go home for the holidays and Diana even gets married (how time flies in the books), the bulk of the action still takes place away from Avonlea. Oh, and I must say that Dora, Davy’s twin became more entertaining in this book. In the previous book, she was basically a doll but here she gets a bit more space to be herself.

To be honest, given this book’s happy ending, I’m really scared of picking up the next one. The characters are simply growing up to fast and there are so many new ones in each book! What if some of the older characters get replaced or worse, die? Two characters in book one have already passed away and I’m not sure if I want to read more. But, I have been assured that it's worth it so I'll return to this series soon.