To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
First in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy
3.5 stars
Lara Jean loves to love. She has a secret box filled with the letters she has written to every boy she’s fallen in love with. The problem is that these secret letters have been sent out and now her sister’s boyfriend (now ex because she’s relocated to Scotland for college) who she has loved all this time knows. To make matter worse, the most popular boy in school thinks she is in love with him. Lara Jean has to juggle drama like in one of her romance novels and being in love is not at all what she expects. I love the audiobook for this. The narrator is fantastic and I really connected to Lara Jean. I loved her character, her family, her baking, and her antics. I had so much fun immersing myself into the world of Lara Jean and the love life drama was so much fun. This novel isn’t incredibly complex and it won’t blow you away unless your main jam is contemporary. I’ll be honest I’m not much a contemporary romance reader, but the listening experience made it fun and I know that it helped me connect to otherwise ridiculous characters. Han is a fantastic writer who is able to create characters with depth and charm that make the drama fly by.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4
Narration Scale: 5
Lara Jean is a fantastic female character. She leads the cast with vigor and flair. She knows who she is and what she loves (or who… well, maybe not so much). She’s passionate and her love for her family is one of my favorite things about her. I felt like I was a Covey family member and I loved the integration between Korean and American culture. Some of my favorite passages were Lara Jean’s introspection on being half-Korean and what that meant for her through stereotypes or people’s expectations.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4
The love triangle here is no triangle for me. Josh is a character who I could do without. He annoyed me to no end and I just wanted Lara Jean to have a genuine friendship with him without the love because for me it felt like she didn’t love him, but the idea of loving him because she knew him so well. However, I’m all about Peter Kavinsky. He stole my heart, but he also needed to be smacked because he was still so hung up on his ex and it made no sense to me because he was treated so badly. Anyway, I shipped them hard.
Swoon Worthy Scale: Josh-1 Peter: 4
The Villain- I was so annoyed with how this letter thing was handled. There were NO CONSEQUENCES. None. That just doesn’t seem realistic to me in the least because most of the women I know would still have grudges against a family member if they did this. Also, it was obvious who sent the letters out. Plus, the extra mean girl stuff went way too far and I forget how crazy some girls are when they are high school to get revenge when they feel they’ve been wronged.
Villain Scale: 2
I loved the characters. The nursing home residents, Chris, Lara Jean’s dad, Margot, and Kitty. I just loved the dynamics of all the relationships. The characters were wonderful and the best thing about contemporaries are the great relationships that the reader gets to witness and become apart of.
Character Scale: 4
I was a fan of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. It has its issues in predictability and frustrating plot lines, but it is so much fun. This is just fun and when I don’t look beyond that and just appreciate it for what it is, I find myself smiling giddily.
Plotastic Scale: 3.25
Cover Thoughts: Iconic, but not a favorite.
First in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy
3.5 stars
Lara Jean loves to love. She has a secret box filled with the letters she has written to every boy she’s fallen in love with. The problem is that these secret letters have been sent out and now her sister’s boyfriend (now ex because she’s relocated to Scotland for college) who she has loved all this time knows. To make matter worse, the most popular boy in school thinks she is in love with him. Lara Jean has to juggle drama like in one of her romance novels and being in love is not at all what she expects. I love the audiobook for this. The narrator is fantastic and I really connected to Lara Jean. I loved her character, her family, her baking, and her antics. I had so much fun immersing myself into the world of Lara Jean and the love life drama was so much fun. This novel isn’t incredibly complex and it won’t blow you away unless your main jam is contemporary. I’ll be honest I’m not much a contemporary romance reader, but the listening experience made it fun and I know that it helped me connect to otherwise ridiculous characters. Han is a fantastic writer who is able to create characters with depth and charm that make the drama fly by.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4
Narration Scale: 5
Lara Jean is a fantastic female character. She leads the cast with vigor and flair. She knows who she is and what she loves (or who… well, maybe not so much). She’s passionate and her love for her family is one of my favorite things about her. I felt like I was a Covey family member and I loved the integration between Korean and American culture. Some of my favorite passages were Lara Jean’s introspection on being half-Korean and what that meant for her through stereotypes or people’s expectations.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4
The love triangle here is no triangle for me. Josh is a character who I could do without. He annoyed me to no end and I just wanted Lara Jean to have a genuine friendship with him without the love because for me it felt like she didn’t love him, but the idea of loving him because she knew him so well. However, I’m all about Peter Kavinsky. He stole my heart, but he also needed to be smacked because he was still so hung up on his ex and it made no sense to me because he was treated so badly. Anyway, I shipped them hard.
Swoon Worthy Scale: Josh-1 Peter: 4
The Villain- I was so annoyed with how this letter thing was handled. There were NO CONSEQUENCES. None. That just doesn’t seem realistic to me in the least because most of the women I know would still have grudges against a family member if they did this. Also, it was obvious who sent the letters out. Plus, the extra mean girl stuff went way too far and I forget how crazy some girls are when they are high school to get revenge when they feel they’ve been wronged.
Villain Scale: 2
I loved the characters. The nursing home residents, Chris, Lara Jean’s dad, Margot, and Kitty. I just loved the dynamics of all the relationships. The characters were wonderful and the best thing about contemporaries are the great relationships that the reader gets to witness and become apart of.
Character Scale: 4
I was a fan of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. It has its issues in predictability and frustrating plot lines, but it is so much fun. This is just fun and when I don’t look beyond that and just appreciate it for what it is, I find myself smiling giddily.
Plotastic Scale: 3.25
Cover Thoughts: Iconic, but not a favorite.
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Second book in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy
3 stars
Lara Jean never thought she would fall for Peter Kavinsky. Now that they are official life should be great, but things keep coming up and Lara Jean isn’t sure she can trust Peter. Even weirder is the fact that John Ambrose McClaren has shown up and Lara Jean isn’t sure the love she wrote of in her letters is a thing of the past. At first, I was loving this, but I quickly got frustrated. If I’m being honest, this is a great example of a second book that was written because there needed to be loose ends tied up. Half of this book was filler to cover all those loose ends that could’ve been fixed in a first book. Not only that but I found myself getting annoyed with the characters I once loved. Han’s writing is still sweet, but it wasn’t enough to make a weak plot carry on. All the characterization in the world can’t save a story that is based off of loose ends from a previous novel struggles to makes its own plot through another love triangle. The narration was still good, but I found my frustration with the characters made it harder to enjoy the story and my listening experience.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 2.5
Narration Scale: 4
Lara Jean lost her charm. She became that girlfriend without a trusting bone and it turned into obsessive and petty fighting. I don’t have time for such antics. Don’t even get me started on her chasing after John Ambrose. It was ridiculous and it reminded me of those stories about girls who chase after the first thing they see after a bad breakup. That was what John Ambrose McClaren was for me and it made the whole storyline just uncomfortable and I was ready to move on. Also, she is too wishy-washy. I realized that Lara Jean doesn’t know what she wants and even in the final chapter I wasn’t convinced that she was really choosing anybody because she will probably fall in love with some random stranger, she sees in a coffee shop four months down the road from the end of this novel.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2.5
I was frustrated with Peter, too. Not as frustrated as I was with Lara Jean but I was annoyed with him because he doesn’t fight hard enough. He’s the type of person to give up on the wrong people and fight for the toxic ones. I don’t have patience for that either. This is the problem with reading about high school drama when you are an adult, it becomes annoying and frustrating. John Ambrose McClaren can just get out of the way. He’s nothing but a petty plot hole that easily could be written out of this whole narrative. He’s character is also uninteresting. He would speak and I could feel my eyes rolling into my head. Over it.
Swoon Worthy Scale: Peter- 3.5 John Ambrose- 1.5
The Villain- I’m over mean girl drama. The whole reason was just so petty and I’m happy that Lara Jean finally stood up in the right way in the end instead of carrying on with silly games.
Villain Scale: 3
I still loved the Covey family and they are hands down the best thing about this whole book. I loved the lady at the nursing home, whose name I can’t remember, she was the epitome of old lady sass.
Character Scale: 4
Overall, I’m disappointed with this follow-up. I wasn’t impressed and it left me feeling a bit sad because I really loved To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Hopefully, I’ll enjoy the final book in this trilogy.
Plotastic Scale: 3.25
Cover Thoughts: Lara Jean has the cutest outfits.
Second book in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy
3 stars
Lara Jean never thought she would fall for Peter Kavinsky. Now that they are official life should be great, but things keep coming up and Lara Jean isn’t sure she can trust Peter. Even weirder is the fact that John Ambrose McClaren has shown up and Lara Jean isn’t sure the love she wrote of in her letters is a thing of the past. At first, I was loving this, but I quickly got frustrated. If I’m being honest, this is a great example of a second book that was written because there needed to be loose ends tied up. Half of this book was filler to cover all those loose ends that could’ve been fixed in a first book. Not only that but I found myself getting annoyed with the characters I once loved. Han’s writing is still sweet, but it wasn’t enough to make a weak plot carry on. All the characterization in the world can’t save a story that is based off of loose ends from a previous novel struggles to makes its own plot through another love triangle. The narration was still good, but I found my frustration with the characters made it harder to enjoy the story and my listening experience.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 2.5
Narration Scale: 4
Lara Jean lost her charm. She became that girlfriend without a trusting bone and it turned into obsessive and petty fighting. I don’t have time for such antics. Don’t even get me started on her chasing after John Ambrose. It was ridiculous and it reminded me of those stories about girls who chase after the first thing they see after a bad breakup. That was what John Ambrose McClaren was for me and it made the whole storyline just uncomfortable and I was ready to move on. Also, she is too wishy-washy. I realized that Lara Jean doesn’t know what she wants and even in the final chapter I wasn’t convinced that she was really choosing anybody because she will probably fall in love with some random stranger, she sees in a coffee shop four months down the road from the end of this novel.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2.5
I was frustrated with Peter, too. Not as frustrated as I was with Lara Jean but I was annoyed with him because he doesn’t fight hard enough. He’s the type of person to give up on the wrong people and fight for the toxic ones. I don’t have patience for that either. This is the problem with reading about high school drama when you are an adult, it becomes annoying and frustrating. John Ambrose McClaren can just get out of the way. He’s nothing but a petty plot hole that easily could be written out of this whole narrative. He’s character is also uninteresting. He would speak and I could feel my eyes rolling into my head. Over it.
Swoon Worthy Scale: Peter- 3.5 John Ambrose- 1.5
The Villain- I’m over mean girl drama. The whole reason was just so petty and I’m happy that Lara Jean finally stood up in the right way in the end instead of carrying on with silly games.
Villain Scale: 3
I still loved the Covey family and they are hands down the best thing about this whole book. I loved the lady at the nursing home, whose name I can’t remember, she was the epitome of old lady sass.
Character Scale: 4
Overall, I’m disappointed with this follow-up. I wasn’t impressed and it left me feeling a bit sad because I really loved To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Hopefully, I’ll enjoy the final book in this trilogy.
Plotastic Scale: 3.25
Cover Thoughts: Lara Jean has the cutest outfits.
Are you a fan of the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy? What is your favorite book in the series? Did you love the movie or hate it? Are you excited to possibly see a sequel? Are you a Peter Kavinsky or a John Ambrose McClaren girl? Do you think I'll like the last book? Let me know down below in the comments!
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