Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date Release: April 15, 2014
Author: Jenny Han
Goodreads Rating: (4.05/5)
Heart Score: ♥♥♥ (3.48)
Whistle Scale: (8/20)

Summary: Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her, these are the ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved - five in all. When she writes she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until one day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control.


Upon reading, I was quite surprised how much I was enjoying the story. To All the Boys I've Loved Before is typically a book I would read as a last resort, something to get my reading blood pumping. It helped, truly. And was thoroughly entertaining. More so in the way of me laughing at the certain situations Lara Jean got herself into and how she handled them. Besides the crazy, the story did deal with some heavier topics: familial bonding, self-discovery, and dealing with separation - death and distance. While all the good was there, there some flaws I just couldn't look past. But I think the good will out way the bad this time.

*Spoilers may occur*

What I LOVED:

• The beginning: Like I said, when I first started reading, I was honestly surprised how much I was already liking the story. The beginning of the book talks about Lara Jean's sister's boyfriend Josh, who every person in Lara Jean's family loves. I thought that was really sweet. It not only introduces a minor character, but it kind of sets up some Song-Covey background.
• Kitty: Kitty is Lara Jean's younger sister; she was possibly my favorite character. I think it was because of her sassy attitude, and how no matter what, she always had something to say. Her sass kind of reminded me of myself, how I still am today: I don't tolerate people's shit. Neither does Kitty. Despite the fact, that she's only 9 years old.
• Sister bond: What I really really loved about this story was the strong bond between the three Song sisters. Even though Margot, Lara Jean and Kitty's older sister, is moving away to Scotland for college, in the beginning, it was really nice seeing how glued the sisters were to each other. But when Margot does officially leave, Lara Jean is the one who has to step up and take care of her family, since Margot took over the role as "mother", raising both Lara Jean and Kitty, after their mother died, with their father, who juggled being a good dad as well as full time doctor. The lingering bond between the sisters also causes Lara Jean to grow up a little. Not as much as I would have liked. Though slowly but surely she makes a slight change in the way she sees herself.
• These quotes:
• 'Your sister suffers from the delusions of grandeur."' '"She is the fanciest of the three of us,"" Margo agrees.'
• 'Anyone looking at her would think she was fine. Because Margot is always fine, even when she's not.'
• 'It's like she said: when she's done, she's done. I wish... I was more like Margot. Because sometimes it feels like I'll never be done.'
• 'I've never known Margot to chicken out before, but I suppose in matters of the heart, there's no predicting how a person will or won't behave.'
• '...it's a lot of responsibility to hold person's heart in your hands.'
• 'It feels strange to have spent so much time wishing for something, for someone, and then one day, suddenly, just stop.'
• 'Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That's part of the risk.'

My PEEVES:

• Lara Jean: This is one of the few times where the narrator has irritated the crap out of me. Not that there weren't moments when all I wanted to do wash hug LJ, but most of the time I just wanted to splash freezing water in her face and tell her to WAKE UP! Within the first few pages, I realized how childish Lara Jean sounded. Grant it, this a 16 year old girl. But she sounded like a 10 year old in my head. And throughout the entire story I tried to give her a more mature sounding voice. It was hard. The struggle was so real in this situation. While I loved how Jenny Han wrote the story, I just wish she would've matured Lara Jean's thought process, portraying her less naive, so she could at least convey some kind of common sense throughout some of the story.
• Peter + Lara Jean = Disaster: Honestly, I found Lara Jean and Peter's "relationship" the most entertaining part of the book. Mainly because they're so awful for each other. However, they want to "make it work" for certain reasons that would save the other's ass. With that being said, I hated how Peter treats Lara Jean. He knows how naive she is, yet he takes advantage of her way more than I thought necessary. He doesn't have any boundaries when it comes to what's good and bad; how his actions will affect Lara Jean in the long run. I wanted to slap Peter and I definitely wanted to slap Lara Jean. But I guess I can cut her some slack cuz she doesn't really know any better.
• Letters... What letters?: I mean the summary insists we're gonna read about the consequences of Lara Jean's love letters being sent out, but really, we just watch Lara Jean freak out for a few chapters after she discovers her letters are sent in the first place, then the last 65% of the story becomes about Peter and Lara Jean's relationship. It was like the letters weren't even a big deal in the first place. We were tricked. If I was Lara Jean, I would've gone all CSI, trying to find out who could have that much nasty motive to do something like to me. Then I'd probably torture them for a few months. Revenge, for me, is always so therapeutic.
• Blown way out of proportion: The reason Lara Jean even agrees to be in a "relationship" with Peter in the first place is because she doesn't want Josh to think she's still in love with him. Since 1. He's Margot's "property" and 2. She thinks she doesn't stand a chance with him. My problem with all of this was, if Josh already knows Lara Jean has/had feelings for him, why take the whole thing to entire level that doesn't even need to be jumped to. Lara Jean could've easily insisted her feelings for him were just young and hormonal. Not kiss the one boy who would take complete advantage of her naivety
• Cliche's: This book was completely dripping with cliches: Quirky girl gets with popular boy, finds out he's not as bad as everyone thinks (when really he is), they fall in love, blah blah blah. And if you hadn't already figured out who in fact sent out Lara Jean's letter's, then maybe you should rethink some things. Because it was pretty damn obvious who sent them: Kitty. Why you might ask? Oh, because she was upset  with Lara Jean for making fun of her crush on Josh.... Like seriously? How boring. That is seriously the dumbest, as well as weakest, reason to betray your sister like that. I don't know, the cliches were like little mosquitoes I admit, but in the end they just made the story that much more entertaining.

I could go on and on about more of my peeves, but really if you've already read the book, then you'll know what I'm talking. And right now I suppose it may seem like I didn't enjoy the story. I did though, I truly did. But not every story is perfect. There are most likely to be more flaws than good things when it comes to contemporaries. Because, we as humans, always want to see the rainbow-unicorn side of things, no matter how unrealistic.

I am glad I picked this book up. It kept my mind of some things, and entertained me during my day off. So for that, I thank Jenny Han for gracing me with Lara Jean Song to keep me company.

Hope you guys enjoyed this review.

More to come, I swear.

So until next time, kiddies.

Hugs and Candy,

Lyric♥