Book Name: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1)
Author: Jenny Han
Published: April 15, 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: YA Contemporary
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Blurb:
To All the Boys I've Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her curshes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing her all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.
Lisamentary:
OH! MY! GOD!! This book was the freakin' cutest thing ever and I loved it. Completely loved it. Like can you spell L-O-V-E loved it. That's how much! And thank God (Jenny Han) for that or else I would've been extremely disappointed since I haven't read a book in which I would read more than once in a long while. But no worries because this book is a home run!
If you read in the description, this book came out last year in 2014. However, despite my knowing how great this book would be, I saw that it would be a duology so I knew, just knew, that this book would have a cliffhanger, which I hate with a fire-burning passion. So, I patiently waited an entire YEAR for the second book P.S. I Still Love You to come out.
And boy am I glad that I waited because this book cut me off at the worst part possible. You know how on TV there's a huge fire or catastrophe or you hear a gun shot but don't know who was killed and then they, of course, CUT YOU OFF?!?!? That's exactly what happened it this book! There was a huge BOOM! Then, silence. Heart-pounding, panicked breathing silence too! Not the crickets chirping you hear from outside your windows at night. No siree!
HAHA, sorry for skipping all the way until the end, but let's get back to the beginning! Well, the beginning was a little slow, but that's expected since Lara Jean, the main character, is introducing us to her life and family and telling us what's going on in her life. After that, however, it really picked up! She started fake dating Peter Kavinsky, better known as Peter K. back in the day, and then the real drama started. You probably didn't know this but I love fake dating plots, even though they're super predictable. The shy, quiet girl always ends up winning the cutest guy in school/best athlete, but there's no happy ending without a villain in the mix to shake them out of the honeymoon phase. And this villain is none other than…(DRUM ROLL)…the evil ex-girlfriend; in this book, Genevieve.. Because, ya' know, all's fair in love and war.
Also, don't be deceived by the blurb only mentioning Josh, making you think that he'll be her main love interest in the book, because he isn't! This is a total blessing because Josh's character was kind of bland. Intentional or not? I'm not sure. What I do know is that it makes Peter look way better even though he's a dense and needy little douche. Looking at the big picture, Josh was all that significant until anyway when everything went
.
Lisamentary:
OH! MY! GOD!! This book was the freakin' cutest thing ever and I loved it. Completely loved it. Like can you spell L-O-V-E loved it. That's how much! And thank God (Jenny Han) for that or else I would've been extremely disappointed since I haven't read a book in which I would read more than once in a long while. But no worries because this book is a home run!
If you read in the description, this book came out last year in 2014. However, despite my knowing how great this book would be, I saw that it would be a duology so I knew, just knew, that this book would have a cliffhanger, which I hate with a fire-burning passion. So, I patiently waited an entire YEAR for the second book P.S. I Still Love You to come out.
And boy am I glad that I waited because this book cut me off at the worst part possible. You know how on TV there's a huge fire or catastrophe or you hear a gun shot but don't know who was killed and then they, of course, CUT YOU OFF?!?!? That's exactly what happened it this book! There was a huge BOOM! Then, silence. Heart-pounding, panicked breathing silence too! Not the crickets chirping you hear from outside your windows at night. No siree!
HAHA, sorry for skipping all the way until the end, but let's get back to the beginning! Well, the beginning was a little slow, but that's expected since Lara Jean, the main character, is introducing us to her life and family and telling us what's going on in her life. After that, however, it really picked up! She started fake dating Peter Kavinsky, better known as Peter K. back in the day, and then the real drama started. You probably didn't know this but I love fake dating plots, even though they're super predictable. The shy, quiet girl always ends up winning the cutest guy in school/best athlete, but there's no happy ending without a villain in the mix to shake them out of the honeymoon phase. And this villain is none other than…(DRUM ROLL)…the evil ex-girlfriend; in this book, Genevieve.. Because, ya' know, all's fair in love and war.
Also, don't be deceived by the blurb only mentioning Josh, making you think that he'll be her main love interest in the book, because he isn't! This is a total blessing because Josh's character was kind of bland. Intentional or not? I'm not sure. What I do know is that it makes Peter look way better even though he's a dense and needy little douche. Looking at the big picture, Josh was all that significant until anyway when everything went
.
Now onto Lara Jean and Peter! They were so cute together. It was great how Lara Jean got to experience so many new things with Peter and get out of her shell with him. I really liked how Peter's friends were so nice and welcoming to her, obviously hating Genevieve. It was even better how Lara Jean made Peter work for it in their relationship and didn't cave too easily. However, a girl can only be so strong. But it's ok! Of course, Peter got along really well with Kitty, Lara Jean's little sister, and children have the sixth sense so he must be a good guy for him to pass Kitty's test. They're one of my favorite book couples! Definitely MTB!!
Last but not least, let's talk real fast about Lara Jean! From the beginning, I knew Lara Jean would be a great character, starting from her "homely" personality to her wanting to being to referred to as Lara Jean as opposed to Lara alone. Her writing letters traditional love letters made me love her so much more because it confirmed to me that she's a true romantic, and this is hard to find with so many authors writing more about cynical, jaded girls nowadays. She many not have any kick-butt ninja skills but Lara Jean is strong in her own way. She believes so much in love and though it may be read as naiveté, it was a breath of fresh air. Her and the book both. Lara Jean is my girl and I rooted for her the whole way; when she was happy, I was happy for her; when she was sad, I felt sad too; when she felt insecure, I could understand where she was coming from. Absolutely relatable and lovable Lara Jean is. And she even bakes!!!!
Well, we can't talk about Lara Jean without talking about the people who have helped shaped her now can we? I loved how family was such an integral part of Lara Jean's life because I can totally relate. Her situation with her sister going off to college and leaving her to deal with school and life on her own is fits pretty much what I'm going to go through soon enough to a T. Kitty is so adorable and feisty. She's a wonderful character and added a lot of dynamic to the book. (I really hope that Jenny Han finds it in her heart to write Kitty her own story in the future. In the near, near future if I'm lucky.) Also, I found her dad really endearing in how much he cared for his daughter and tried so hard to make Korean food to keep his wife's heritage alive for his daughters. Kind of reminds of Full House (show in a nutshell linked here) now that I'm thinking about it. (If you couldn't tell by the cover, Lara Jean and her sisters are mixed white and Korean, although they look really Asian!)
The story was well-told and the dialogue was funny, witty, and revealed so much about the characters. The concept with the letters is a great twist on an old classic and was well written.
The writing was easy to read and I just flew right through the book in a few hours; after the intro, the book was fast-paced and scene after scene went by the made me fall in love with Lara Jean and Peter that much more. I had to stay up until 3 or 4 A.M. to finish this book because it was truly that captivating. It made me laugh, like LOL and not just mental chuckles, and pushed me to the edge of my seat until the very last word where it left me hanging.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for their next great read. It might even be my YA Contemporary Book of 2014! It's cute and sweet and a great book about first love. I loved this book so much and only hope that whoever reads this enjoy this book as much as I had. I'm signing off now. Enjoy!!
Rating:
Story: 9
Characters: 9.5
Enjoyment: 10
Overall:
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