Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

 

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 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 the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

(Goodreads description)

I was so excited to finally read this book. I absolutely love Jenny Han’s writing and this book was no different. It was fast paced, had a whole lot of drama but also a strong family dynamic throughout this book which I liked.

I have mixed feelings about the characters though. I would have hoped that there would have been much more personal growth by the end, but that didn’t happen. Maybe that will happen in the second book though!

Lara Jean struck me as very naive and innocent from the start and remained that way for much of the book. While she did mature a lot, I feel like she still has some growing up to do. Kitty is the youngest child and she was just such a brat and very clearly used to being babied and getting her own way. She was extremely annoying at the beginning but she did get better towards the end.

Margot was the eldest sister and basically the one who held the family together after their mother died. Unfortunately I did not like her character and my dislike only increased as the book went on. When she left home, it felt like her family was now at the bottom of her priorities. Then when she came home for the holidays she didn’t like that things weren’t the same as they were before she left. She almost seemed upset that her family did actually manage to cope without her.

I also feel like the whole premise for the book, the love letters being sent out to all the boys, wasn’t really a main part of the book at all. They were sent out and Lara Jean was upset about it at first, but then that’s not mentioned much at all throughout the book. It is revealed who sent the letters out in the end, but even then that was just swept aside like it didn’t matter anymore. It just didn’t seem very realistic to me, that Lara Jean wouldn’t try harder to find out who sent them in the first place (and it really isn’t that hard to work out), and then in the end just say “Oh well, never mind.”

Now onto the love triangle. To be honest, I didn’t really think much of either of the boys. Peter was such a complete jerk for much of the book, except for those very few and brief moments where he could actually be a decent and caring person. What really annoyed me about him was that he was clearly still not over his ex-girlfriend, and the fact that he didn’t stand up for Lara Jean when his ex-girlfriend was spreading rumours about them and everyone was talking about them.

Josh was the nice guy that everyone likes, but what completely ruined him for me was the fact that he had dated Margot. What guy likes someone, then dates their older sister for two years, and then when they break up, suddenly realised that he never stopped liking the younger sister. Then there’s also the thought of kissing someone and doing other things with him that he’s done with your sister. No. Just no.

But despite all of the problems that I had with this book, I still loved it and could not put it down. That chapter with all the Harry Potter references! Amazing! Loved it! Ultimately, it was Jenny Han’s fantastic writing that made me absolutely love this book and I still had to give it a 5/5 rating.