Book Review :: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, by Jenny Han

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
ISBN: 1481417754
Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1
Also in this series: P.S. I Still Love You
Published by Simon & Schuster
on 2014-04-15
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 357
Goodreads

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?

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.

Last updated on 14 October 2023

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What is To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han about?

Lara Jean has been in love five times. There was Josh, Peter, John, Lucas, and Kenny. To try to get over her love for them, she wrote them a love letter, and put it in a hat box in her room for safekeeping, never intending to send them or to have the boys read them. But then one day, the letters get out, and suddenly they all know that at some point in her life, Lara Jean loved them.

The story follows LJ as she battles with her feelings for Josh (who has actually been dating her sister Margot), deciding to get Peter to be her fake boyfriend, looking after her dad and little sister Kitty after Margot heads to Scotland for university, and dealing with high school drama of the usual kind.

“When someone’s been gone a long time, at first you save up all the things you want to tell them. You try to keep track of everything in your head. But it’s like trying to hold on to a fistful of sand: all the little bits slip out of your hands, and then you’re just clutching air and grit.”

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My thoughts on To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Like many of the books I’ve read, I picked up TATBILB when I discovered that Netflix was releasing a movie adaptation. It had been on my list for a while, but I hadn’t got around to picking it. Funny how the promise of a movie makes you pick up the book faster, isn’t it?

I loved this book (which makes me annoyed that I didn’t read it sooner). While the themes were similar to that of many other young adult fictions – high school, pretend dating to make exes jealous, crazy best friends (when is the heroine going to actually BE the crazy best friend?) – I really liked the idea that Lara Jean wrote out her thoughts in letter form. While she was an absolute nutter to put the boys’ actual addresses on them, the way she got over them and got her feelings out was writing them down, and I get that.

Occasionally I’ll write out a long email or a message with all my thoughts, just to get them out of my system. The difference between Lara Jean and myself (among many other things) is that I wouldn’t put the person’s email address in the To line, or get the paper ready to send. That’s asking for trouble.

“Life doesn’t have to be so planned. Just roll with it and let it happen.”

The characters were a mixed bag in this book; I really liked Kitty but didn’t especially like Margot. Josh was annoying, but Peter was fun. Chris was crazy but I kind of liked her, and Lara Jean’s dad was brilliant, especially for a man raising three girls on his own.

While there were things that were a bit iffy, on the whole I really enjoyed it and will definitely be reading the next two books in the series, P.S. I Still Love You, and Always and Forever, Lara Jean. The movie was great you guys, but you’ll have to tune in to Rants and Reviews to find out more!

Have you read To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before? What did you think?