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

"I suppose there's only one thing I can do. I'll write him another letter. A postscript with as many pages as it takes to X away whatever feelings I have left for him. I'll put this whole thing to rest, once and for all" 

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Book Title: To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Author: Jenny Han
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 355
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Geared Towards: Young Adult
From: Library's Summer Reading Program



Summary (From the Back of the Book): Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved-five in all. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control. 

Wdebo's Review: As a person who is very well versed in the art of one-sided love, there is a big what if portion that always pops into one's mind. What if this person were to find out about how I feel about them? What if they are disgusted? But what if they feel the same way too? This books helps to answer those questions.

I was first enticed into reading this novel by the gorgeously layered cover as well as the storyline because of reasons stated before. However, I did try to read The Summer I Turned Pretty earlier this year and was not able to finish it, so I did have a slight worry that this novel would turn out that way for me as well. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the novel. From the very beginning I was pulled into the story. I enjoyed the writing very much except for one thing that nagged at me. The story, especially in the beginning, would be progressing smoothly and building a strong rhythm but it would suddenly halt and zigzag awkwardly into a side route as it tried to explain or expand upon something that was brought up and just felt like it was hastily tagged on and not very smooth. However, that was mainly a problem I noticed towards the beginning of the novel and thankfully did not really occur towards the middle or the end of the story.

I enjoyed reading about all of the characters except for Chris. Chris is a tough girl bad-ass who didn't give a fuck about what others say, but it just did not come through Han's writing at all. I just felt that Chris was just kind of awkwardly written. It felt like an older person trying to "talk hip" to fit in with teenagers around him. It just did not work for me. Apart from Chris I felt that the others were well done. I did like Lara Jean's character, I'm usually not too keen with super timid main characters but it worked well for her. And every character's personality matched their behaviors and actions well throughout the novel.

I also love how they attached all of Lara Jean's letters into various parts of the story and they really helped to color her as a person in seeing what attracted her to every guy.

Finally, I'm pretty surprised that there is going to be a sequel to the novel. I really liked how the story ended, it did start going down a pretty predictable path but was a fun read and I was pleasantly surprised with how things played out and the ending was tied up really nice. So even though I enjoyed the story very much, I am not sure if I want to continue with the sequel, but I might if I just see it lying around.

Cafe Cover Chit Chat: As stated above, I absolutely adore this cover to the point that it was one of the deciding factors as to why I decided to check out the story in the first place. It is beautifully composed with the color scheme and the lettering. I love the lettering of the cover, the handwritten cursive is so beautiful. (A+) 

All in all, To All the Boys I've Loved Before is a wonderfully written story. Though it did include some hiccups in the beginning, it really pulled through into a nicely written novel to accompany you for a few pleasant hours.

Grade: A-/A

Wdebo :)