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

Release Date: April 22, 2014

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Pages: 368

Received: Barnes and Noble

Star Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★









Summary:
                        What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them... all at once?

Lara Jean Song 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 pours out her heart and soul and says 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.

My Thoughts:

------------------------ no spoilers

After I read, The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han, I knew instantly I would pick this up. Jenny Han can write like no other and it speaks to my young heart. The way she incorporates family and high school drama is spot on! I am absolutely sure she is my favorite young adult-contemporary writer. Her capability to write such genuine, realistic characters is evidence of her expertise. This new duology was everything I was expecting and more.

Lara Jean Song has been, a middle child, living in a house with her 2 sisters and dad. The three Song girls embrace a special bond: they are daughters without a mother. Now that their mother has left them too suddenly, they have to look at each other for moral support and more than sisterly advice. Their personality traits shine through the whole book and anyone can spot it out.

It was more of Lara Jean's disposition that left me wanting more. She had always had hopeless, romantic fantasies. Lara Jean had written love letters to boys she had been in love with, but it was more of a part of herself when it was sent. The letters were never intentional to being mailed to those boys, so when the time came, the mess is chaos.

The humor of the book was refreshing and comes up a lot in the story. The relationships between Lara Jean and the boys are unforgettable. There is one boy in particular that has so much charisma, it's not right. But you end up loving him. 

The development in the characters are undefinable and well thought out. Jenny Han has written a story that is genuine like no other. It feels you're reading a love letter yourself. It constitutes all the qualities that will allow any reader to fall in love with young-adult contemporary. Jenny Han has originated this story and frankly deserves high praise. I'm picking up the last book in the dulogy in 2015, P.S I Still Love You, nonetheless.

5/5 STARS