To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han {Book Review}

I watched all the movies on Netflix as they were released because there was such a huge hype surrounding them each time I needed to see for myself why.

In some cases, a movie or a TV show adaptation of a book is a mistake and completely misses the point that the author was trying to bring through.

In this case, I thought since the movies are pretty okay, the books should be better, right? Not so much… While the book does have stretched out scenes and dialogues, I just didn’t get the same feel for it as I did for the movie.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Book Review: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han #bookreview #jennyhan #youngadultbooks #booktwt #bookaddict #booktwitter
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Originally published: 2014

Pages: 369
Format: E-Book

Plot:

Each time sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song had a crush on a boy, she wrote him a letter but never posted it.

She wouldn’t dare tell the boys to their faces how she feels about them, instead she pours her hearts and words onto paper, keeping the letters hidden in a hatbox her mother gave her.

Her imaginary love life starts spinning out of control when the letters are mailed and people from her past and present start popping up.

Thoughts:

The book is breezy and easy to read. No hiccups with sitting still too long in one place because of not understanding a scene or dialogue. Everything is pretty straight-forward.

That being said, it’s a chick-lit/romance mix which means it’s predictable. So it’s hard to get your heart stuck in something when you know exactly what’s going to happen before it happens.

One of the predictable events.in contemporary romance is the main character going through this maturity transformation as the plot thickens and overflows, but I struggled to find that with Lara Jean. If there were any times that I felt she was in control of any situations in her life, even those she placed herself in on purpose, I couldn’t find them. Maybe as this book is part of a series, there might be some of this later on, but this book lacked much growth for Lara Jean. I think the author tried to make her come across as geeky cute but all that came through was childishness.

I really couldn’t stand Margo. Even with the few times she really makes long-term appearances in the book, her condescending attitude and know-it-all nature really irked me a lot! If I had to sum her up in word, obnoxious. I don’t care if you’re the older sibling, you can give advice and support without shoving righteousness down someones throat.

Kitty is a brat. Case closed. She is rude, and needs more parental guidance. Everyone thinks it’s so adorable but have we all forgotten what manners look like?

Throughout out the whole book, I didn’t come across any healthy relationships, within the family or with the additional characters to the story. I mean, even the plan set up by Lara Jean is as unhealthy and deceiving as can be. It has a sort of acquaintances to lovers trope going on and what it’s based on should be a red flag.

Lara Jean’s weird possession about Josh is just borderline creepy.

Overview:

Most teen/high school books come with a lesson in hand of what maybe not to do and all that, but the only real thing I picked up in this book is to not make goggly eyes at your sister’s ex, even if you liked him first. That’s a girl code lesson to carry with you, perhaps?