Book: To All The Boys I've Loved Before
Author: Jenny Han
Pages: 369
Read On: Kindle
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days
Plot Summary: What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?
Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.
General Thoughts: I have had this book on my Kindle since 2014. Since the year it came out and I for some odd reason hadn't read it yet! Inspite of all the buzz, hype and rave reviews this book series has garnered I STILL hadn't read it! Ridiculous! One night as I couldn't fall asleep, I went looking through my Kindle and came across this book and started reading it and I was HOOKED! I could not put it down. I honesty can't believe it took me this long to read it.
Things I Loved:
1. I LOVED this book. Let's just get that out of the way. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. And I don't even really read romance books. Rom-coms as a genre is not something I am drawn to very much. It has been years since I properly read a romantic novel. So this is a big deal for me. To love this book as much as I did.
2. The writing was lovely. Simple and easy and breezy and very engaging.
3. I really liked Lara and Jean and really related to her in a big, big way. She is shy, quirky. whimsy and old-fashioned and really quite lovely. I loved spending time with her.
4. I loved that this book unlike so many other YA books just doesn't do away with families. Teens have families! You can't have a whole book without showing their families. It's annoying how so many YA books have teens with an absent family! This book has so much family in it and a family I loved. Lara Jean's sisters and her father are such wonderful people to spend time with. I loved seeing their lives and interactions. I also loved the diversity in this book. Lara Jean being bi-racial is handled so well.
5. Now on to the love. Ah! This book, kinda, sorta pits one boy against the other. Josh- the nerdy, kind, literal boy next door and Lara Jean's long time unspoken about love interest VS. Peter- jock, popular, way too handsome and not too smart (academically). I honestly was team Josh in the beginning and knew I would never like Peter. WRONG! Peter comes out of nowhere and wins your heart. I loved that in the beginning when Lara Jean is taking and thinking about Peter it's in pretty unflattering terms- which makes sense because she doesn't love him or even like him at that point. So when Peter comes into the story, I kept thinking there is no way in hell that this guy is a love interest. No way, no how! I loved that his role in this book took me by surprise. I was like 'Man, I like this guy so much better than Josh. I hope she likes him!'
6. The letters themselves are so fun. Honestly, I am a sucker for books with letters in them!
7. I loved that pretty much all the guys who received the love letters had such a mature reaction and not a total 'high-school' reaction to it. No one threw a fit or made a scene. So much more realistic.
8. The love that develops between Peter and Lara Jean was so slow, gradual, yet had history and was so believable. I also love when characters that have the potential to be caricatures turn out to be so much more. Peter is so much more than just a dumb jock as are his friends.
9. I was smiling the whole time I was reading the book. Like seriously, I was smiling and was in the best mood. It's a perfect read if you need a little bit of cheering up! :)
10. The book ends on a cliff hanged and normally I'd hate it but since I had the next book waiting for me I didn't mind. Plus, even if I didn't I still like how the book ended- with the promise of a new letter.
Rating: 4/5
I loved, loved, loved this book and I cannot wait for the film to come out. I had no idea about the film adaptation till someone kindly told me on Instagram about it. Now I cannot wait!
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