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

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Recommend: Yes

Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance

Add it to your TBR: Goodreads, Skoob

I added this to the list of books I wanted to read this Summer out of sheer curiosity. Like When Dimple Met Rishi, this is a contemporary, young adult novel with lots of romance. I normally don’t gravitate towards this kind of book, but apparently this Summer I did. I like to go through many genres throughout the year if I can, as I’m a firm believer that it’s not that some genres are bad or not for you, it’s just that you need to read the right book.

After this dramatic introduction, let me start with the book’s plot: Lara Jean is a sixteen-year-old middle child, who is starting her Junior year after Summer. Her older sister is going off to college in Scotland, and Lara Jean feels now responsible for her younger sister Kitty and her dad. Their mother passed away many years ago, and Lara Jean keeps a hat box her mom had given her. Inside it, she keeps all things that are most private to her: love letters. Not love letters she received, but ones she wrote. Every time she falls in love, writing a love letter helps her get rid of her feelings and get over her heartbreak. So she writes, puts them into an envelope and puts the address, but never sends them. Except, one day, they are all sent out…

This book is very cheesy and predictable. And yet, I really enjoyed it. It is a regular High School romcom, with love triangle, bitchy cheerleader, hot guy interested in the apparently bland girl and so on. The day I read it, I was in an awful mood – and this book changed it entirely. It was so light, fun and easy to read that I soon felt much better, and I must give it credit for that.

I found the whole “putting the letters inside envelopes, writing the address, sealing, putting them all together in an accessible box with no lock” a little too unbelievable, but I thought it unfair to judge Lara Jean for the way she deals with heartbreaks. It was just an accident waiting to happen, though. I found Lara Jean hard to relate to, but it didn’t make the reading experience bad or anything – her personality is quite light and bubbly in a pleasant way.

Personally I don’t like the Josh/Lara Jean part of the love triangle. He dated her sister! How weird is that? To me, any of the reasons they give for it to be “okay” that they have feelings and all are still is very wrong. I hope they don’t end up together! If you’ve read the book, what are your feelings about this?

That being said, I really want to read the next books, because it was such a fun read that I think will be a good series for cheering up. A very effective feelgood book! Quite good also for commuting, since the chapters aren’t very long and it easily grips attention. Also, this is the first time that a love triangle doesn’t make me roll my eyes, it works really well and it made me very invested in the story.

The last book came out this year (Always and Forever, Lara Jean)and has pretty good reviews so far!

Verdict: This book has been really hyped up, and although I don’t think it’s spectacular or a must-read, it’s a pretty good one, very entertaining and hard to put down. The love triangle works and I am very interested in reading the next two books! I don’t recommend it if you  generally don’t like romcoms, though.