Book: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before book #1) by Jenny Han
Cover Design by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Cover Photography by Anna Wolf
Hand-lettering by Nancy Howell
Edition: Paperback
Description:
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.
Rating: 5 stars
Review:
To All the Boys I've Loved Before is a wonderful, delightful, dreamy story. It's set in Virginia as it follows biracial (she's Korean and white) 16 years old Lara Jean Song Covey whose life gets turned upside down after her old love letters get mailed out to boys she once loved.
Lara Jean is a little shy and quiet and enjoys reading books, baking, knitting (although terribly) and wearing cute retro and quirky clothes. It's safe to say that Lara Jean is not one of the popular kids but she's okay with that. She's close to her family, her widowed father Daniel and her older sister Margot and younger sister Katherine "Kitty". She's also has her best friend Christine "Chris" and her good friend Josh Sanderson (who is also Margot's boyfriend).
She knew her life would change once her older sister Margot moved away to Scotland for college but she figured that meant taking on more responsibilities at home not dealing with her feelings for old crushes. Lara Jean had written love letters, well more like goodbye letters to five boys she no longer had a crush on. She kept those old letters in a special hatbox her late mother Eve had once given her. Then one day she finds out that not only is her hatbox missing but her five letters have been mailed out.
There were two letters that were causing her the most trouble. First was the one to Josh, her sister's boyfriend well make that ex-boyfriend since they broke up before Margot left for college. The second to Peter Kavinsky, her former middle school friend and the most popular boy at her high school. She used to have a big crush on Josh but once he started dating her sister Margot, Laura Jean had moved on and just saw Josh as her friend. At least that what she thought. Meanwhile, Peter had once been her friend when they were in middle school but they had lost touch. Plus, she now saw him as being a self-centered and arrogant jock.
Her letter to Josh seemed to have stirred up old feelings for both of them. However, there was no way she was going to tell him how she really felt. So on impulse, Lara Jean told Josh she was dating the most unlikeliest person, Peter Kavinsky. Surprisingly, Peter went along with the lie and that was mainly because he was trying to prove he was over his ex-girlfriend Genevieve "Gen", the most popular girl in school, while also trying to make her jealous.
This fake relationship was going to benefit both Lara Jean and Peter, however, growing closer may have been the last thing they expected. Can a fake romance lead to something real or is it doomed from the start?
To All the Boys I've Loved Before is an amazingly well-written story that's part coming-of-age and part romance with Lara Jean trying to figure out her life while getting herself in a romantic entanglement. After Lara Jean's mother died, her older sister Margot took on most of the responsibilities including taking care of and guiding Lara Jean. With her sister away at college, it was going to be up to Lara Jean who is truly a starry-eyed dreamer to make her own decisions and then learn from them. She doesn't always makes the best decisions and some things end up being way out of her control but isn't that what growing up is all about. I like as Lara Jean was getting to know Peter she was learning more him but also about herself.
The writing completely drew me into Lara Jean's story. There's a freshness to this that I just love, it's in all the details and the depiction of the ordinariness in Lara Jean's life from her spending time with her family, friends and Peter that make all these moments feel both powerful and humanizing. While at the same time, the story is fun and emotional as it casts a warm glow making all the good and bad parts of being young feel exciting and familiar in the absolute best way. This first book was such a good read, I'm really looking forward to reading the second book P.S. I Still Love You.
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