Book Review: TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE by Jenny Han

Book:  To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Author:  Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Genre:  Young Adult Romance

“If people knew you, they would love you.”  He sounds so matter of fact.  Josh, you break my heart.  and you're a liar.  Because you know me, you know me better than almost anybody, and you don’t love me – Lara Jean

Synopsis via Goodreads:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed.

But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh.

As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all

My Summary:

Lara jean has never had a relationship.  Although she has loved a few boys, she has always done so from afar. One of them is Josh, her closest male friend and neighbor who is also her sister Margot's boyfriend.  

She never told anyone how she felt, no one knows except for the sheet of paper she wrote her love letter on, addressed and kept in her mother's hat box, believing this letter, along with a few others would never see the light of day.

Then an old friend and crush, Peter, confronts her about a letter she wrote for him...a letter from the hatbox...which meant only one thing... That by some mistake all the letters are finally going to reach their addressees.

Knowing she still has feelings for Josh and fearing the consequences of her letter, Lara lies to Josh and pretends she is seeing Peter.  Peter jumps into the fake relationship with much gusto since he also needs Lara Jean's help to get over his recent ex.

Lara is confident that she will never fall for Peter and vice versa, since they're such opposites in everything.  But there's more to Peter than what she thinks she knows, and eventually, she may have to let go of her fear of finally falling in love....

My Review:

If you've read Jenny Han's best selling The Summer I Turned Pretty series, you'd know that Han is an emotional writer.  By that I mean that you can't help but fall helplessly in love with her characters and thus be emotionally involved with what they are going through.  This is certainly true when I read To All The Boys I've Loved Before.

The relationship of Lara Jean's family captured my heart.  The love between the siblings ring true, especially the attachment and respect Lara has for her older sister Margot.  This is the very reason why, as soon as she found out about Josh's feelings for her sister, she tried to let go and forget her own feelings for the boy she loves. Her relationship with their youngest Kitty is also interesting and sweet.  Though they tease each other a lot, it is obvious how much they love each other.  This sibling love is a huge selling point for my attachment to the book.

Now on to Peter and Josh.
Josh is the typical boy next door you wish would fall in love with you.  He is sweet, loyal and loving.  The perfect boy to bring home to the parents. 

Peter is the jock one can only love from afar.  Popular, very handsome and a bit selfish.  But there is more to him than meets the eye.  He is loving to his family, especially his mom, plus he takes care of Kitty.  He is easy to fall for.  And though he is not the most intelligent of men, he has what counts.... He is innately a good person.

I love how Han shows the flaws of Peter before the good parts that make the man so lovable.  And she does it so smoothly.  Without even noticing it, I stopped rooting for Josh and caring about Peter more.  Han has a way of making you see, understand And even like the flaws of each character.... Characters that we can relate to because there is a bit of them in all of us.

I just wish that Han wrote a definitive ending for it felt quite abrupt... Though on a hopeful and positive note. Or maybe that's just me liking in-your-face matter-of-fact endings that's basically spelled out with a kiss.  Yah, the obvious matters to me, unfortunately.

I do highly recommend this book.  It is another story beautifully told by Jenny Han.

Great News!!! Jenny Han is coming to Manila!  Her book signing is on June 21st and 22nd, 2014 for National Book Store.  Check out their facebook page for more details.  Don't miss this event!

Photos have been lifted from goodreads.com and National Book Store.