To All the Boys I've Loved Before Book Review

Book title: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a popular novel that has even been recently adapted into a movie. The story follows Lara Jean, a half-Asian half-Caucasian girl with two sisters and her widowed father. Lara Jean is extremely close to her family, so much so that when her eldest sister Margot plans to go off to college in Scotland, Lara Jean is left scrambling to fit into her new role of the “oldest sister”. And when Margot breaks up with her long-time boyfriend Josh, whom Lara Jean’s had a crush on FOREVER, Lara Jean has to reevaluate her feelings. Thankfully, Lara Jean has a way to write out her emotions through love letters. She writes one to every boy she has ever had feelings for, from her middle school crush Peter Kavinsky, John Ambrose from Model UN, Josh, and a few others. Once she’s written a love letter, she places it in the teal hatbox her deceased mother gave to her. If any of the letters got out, Lara Jean would be embarrassed beyond imagination.

Unfortunately for Lara Jean, that is exactly what happens. When Lara Jean finds when Peter confronts her, she is mortified and confused as to how the disaster occurred, but Peter Kavinsky (recently dumped by his long-time girlfriend) on the other hand, sees the benefits that could come from pretending to have a relationship with Lara Jean — primarily that he’ll be able to make his ex jealous and date him again.

Although the relationship starts off as fake, as Lara Jean spends more time with Peter, she finds herself wondering which parts of their relationship are real and which are pretend.

Verdict: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is a sweet book about a shy girl being forced to come out of her shell when some of her deepest secrets are revealed. The part I liked most about this book was seeing how Lara Jean changed. At the beginning of the book, she was scared of relationships and afraid of depending on someone only to have them disappear. Her interactions with Peter introduced her to new friends and made her realize that it’s okay to rely on someone.

SPOILERS BELOW, PROCEED WITH CAUTION

SPOILERS: The only part about this book that I didn’t especially like was the way Lara Jean’s letters were let out. In the book, her younger sister, Kitty, gets mad when Lara Jean teases her and subsequently mailed out all the letters to get revenge. First, this made me dislike Kitty’s character, and secondly, I thought that Lara Jean’s family was very close-knit — it made no sense that all it took for Kitty to emotionally hurt her sister were a few teasing words. I thought the movie handled this aspect better and portrayed Kitty in a nicer light. Rather than sending the letters out of spite, the movie version of Kitty sent them because she wanted Lara Jean to have a better high school experience and knew that Peter was interested in Lara Jean.

Overall, this book is a fun read. If you have time, read the book and then watch the movie with friends!

Reviewed by: Siri Palreddy'20