Jenny Han - To All The Boys I've Loved Before.

Jenny Han - To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Welcome back, day two of my little journey and I am so excited. My whole day was spent thinking of what posts I could write and what thoughts I want to put out into the world. Today I wanted to tell the world about what I thought of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. This is a title many are familiar with from it’s movie adaptation on Netflix, a very accurate adaptation if anyone was interested in either the book or film. Again, if you haven’t yet read or watched this story and don’t want spoilers, please come back to this article after you have read it. I’d hate to ruin the experience for you.

TATBILB follows teenage Lara Jean and her love of romance and love stories. We are told very soon on that Lara Jean loves HARD. She feels her crushes more intensely than any character or person that I have heard of. To manage her feelings and emotions she writes everything down in a letter to each of the five crushes she has had in her life and then packs the letters away in case she ever needs to re-read them. These letters she has no intention of ever sending. But that doesn’t go to plan, in dramatic book fashion. The letters are then sent to all five of her crushes. One of which is her sisters ex-boyfriend Josh. OUCH. This leads to Lara Jean starting a fake relationship with another recipient of one of her love letters, Peter, so that Josh doesn’t think Lara Jean likes him. Is anyone else sufficiently confused yet? Me too! Am I showing my age or is this confusing to anyone else? I am a sucker for a bit of drama though, so I read on. Predictably Lara Jean and Peter develop real feelings for each other, despite each of their complicated pre-existing relationships. The book ends with Lara Jean and Peter sharing their true feelings and beginning a real relationship.

I love a Young Adult/Teen novel as much as the next person, however I felt that this book was too cutesy and cheesy even for me. But this is okay, as it is clearly loved by so many younger audiences. And a small part of me secretly loved reading about the teenage drama and the happy ending. If you’re looking for something heart-warming, here it is.

Lara Jean and her cheesy optimism got me. She is the typical teenager, who believes in true love and happily ever after without complications, and her letters reflect that, as well as the giddiness that comes when a young person develops feelings or a crush for a new person. As an adult (VERY YOUNG ADULT) this is something that I don’t think goes away, you just learn how to manage feelings in a mature way, but it did allow me to reminisce about how strongly you feel things as a teenager.

This story is cute, and happy but also displays the importance of honesty and speaking your feelings rather than writing them in hidden letters you have no intention of sharing. Lara Jean wrote a love letter to Peter when they were children, and when he found out, they ended up together and happy, so what might have happened if she had told him sooner? SEIZE THE MOMENT. You never know what’s going to happen. We all have this fear of rejection that is off putting when it comes to putting your feelings out there, this book subtly encourages younger readers to be truthful and honest about how they are feeling as their desired outcome is never too far out of reach. Take that leap!

What did I love about this book? Besides the aforementioned cuteness and subtle messages to be honest? I love how the characters are each developed. Kitty for example, Lara Jean’s younger sister, she isn’t just ‘the sister’ character, we know her personality, she is feisty and observant. Even characters that aren’t directly part of the story, such as Lara Jean’s late mother are included and described and built into 3D people and not just background names. I felt a part of the story all the way through and like I knew every character. I also loved the portrayal of a teen relationship. It isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, the rain is there. And the positive example used of honesty being a way to solve these relationship problems, whether those be family relationships, friendships or romantic relationships.

This book rated a 6 out of 10 with me simply because I found it predictable and cheesy. Not to be misunderstood with bad. If I was in the mood to read a book like this, if I needed a bit of sunshine in my life or to read something fundamentally good at heart then I would definitely read this, and I recommend anyone who is a sucker for romance to give it a go, it may not have the twists and shock turns that you are looking for but it will make your heart full.

There are two books that follow this one, PS I Still Love You, and Always and Forever Lara Jean, both by Jenny Han, that have the same kind of feel to them, I will discuss them on a separate post in the near future hopefully, I encourage you to give them a read, who knows, you might love them.

Stay Curious!

J x