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

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Page Count:  288 pages, Hardback
Date Published: April 15th 2014
Find it on Goodreads: To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Source: Purchased Online

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.

When this book came out, something about it just made me need it. Like, every time I walked by it in the bookstore, I took it and read a few pages, wanting to buy it right then and there, but knowing I had a copy coming soon in the mail. I was in such desperate need of a cute, cheer-me-up romance with a concept that wasn't one we haven't seen a million times before, so hellooooo, this is the one. Plus, I was super excited about the fact that there is a diverse protagonist, who is SHOWN ON THE COVER, (and what a cute cover that is!) HECK YES!

I will just say a couple of things: When I first started reading, the writing kind of threw me off for a bit. I felt it to be a little awkward and that it didn't really flow too well at the start, but I got used to it after a while. Also, while I did like Lara Jean, there were some things that she did that made me want to pull my hair out, especially to do with Josh, her sister's ex-boyfriend. But overall, I enjoyed this book. After I got past the writing style and some of Lara Jean's little things, it was an enjoyable, cute book that didn't just focus on romance, but family and self-discovery as well. I loved the sister dynamic of this book and their protective relationship with their father, as well as the fact that there were conflicts in their family and they didn't just have the perfect family with nothing happening, because that's just not reality.

I was an idiot and left this review unwritten for a long time after I finished the book, so now I'm kind of blanking on what to say, but I will just say that while Lara Jean's somewhat immature voice did irk me, I found this to be a great book to read on one of those days when my mind couldn't really handle anything super literary and intense. I liked the love interest, Peter, a lot, and can't wait for the sequel to this one to see more of him, since the ending is a bit vague, although unlike many others, I really loved how this ended. I thought the ending was really cute and fit with the story, though I know many others didn't like it at all.  Anyway, I'm just going to leave it at this because if I say anything else, it will probably be just a big blurb of nothing, considering I have a headache and can't remember a lot in this book anymore. So... yep!

Happy reading!
~Kristy