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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Was this the best novel ever written? No. Did I enjoy it a lot? Absolutely. The characters are so cute and loveable, the story is simple and tropey but in the best way possible, and I was hooked from the first page to the last. I breezed through the book in a day and immediately opened the next. I'm so happy I picked this up and I have to say it's an ENORMOUS improvement when compared to the Summer I turned pretty series (which was... questionable).
Ahhh!
I really liked some parts of this book but there were two major deal breakers for me:
1. I cannot get behind Lara Jean and Josh having feelings for each other. I have a sister and I would NEVER kiss/want to be with her ex-boyfriend (and she wouldn’t kiss/have feelings for mine). It crosses a huge line. I know they were friends before, but that doesn’t make the situation any better.
2. It is a pet peeve of mine in any book when an older (teenage or adult) character calls their parents “mommy” and “daddy.” Genuinely, why did she call her parents mommy and daddy? Where I am from, only little kids use those words, so it felt very off-putting and childish.
Other than that the book was really sweet and I’d love a spin-off series based on Margot!
I really liked some parts of this book but there were two major deal breakers for me:
1. I cannot get behind Lara Jean and Josh having feelings for each other. I have a sister and I would NEVER kiss/want to be with her ex-boyfriend (and she wouldn’t kiss/have feelings for mine). It crosses a huge line. I know they were friends before, but that doesn’t make the situation any better.
2. It is a pet peeve of mine in any book when an older (teenage or adult) character calls their parents “mommy” and “daddy.” Genuinely, why did she call her parents mommy and daddy? Where I am from, only little kids use those words, so it felt very off-putting and childish.
Other than that the book was really sweet and I’d love a spin-off series based on Margot!
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story did not disappoint! I loved getting to know these characters. Kitty is hilarious. I understood where Lara Jean was coming from. Peter K surprised me the most. I feel dumb for waiting this long to pick it up to read.
This novel is full of poignant thoughts. About relationships, and family, and fear of the unknown, and growing up, and loss, and love. Han packs a lot in this seemingly innocent story for the reader to contemplate and consider.
Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That's the part of the risk. I don't want to be scared anymore.
This novel is full of poignant thoughts. About relationships, and family, and fear of the unknown, and growing up, and loss, and love. Han packs a lot in this seemingly innocent story for the reader to contemplate and consider.
Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That's the part of the risk. I don't want to be scared anymore.
I honestly can’t understand how anyone over the age of 18 enjoyed this book.
I really enjoyed this book. This is only the second Jenny Han book I have read. The first book I read of hers was Burn For Burn and she wrote that with someone else and I didn't like it all that much because it felt like it was written by two people. Since that book was my only reference for her writing I was a little nervous about reading this book because although it sounded really good, I had no idea what to expect.
That being said, I LOVED this book. It exceeded all of my expectations. I was pretty much hooked from the first page.
This book, if you haven't already read a synopsis, is about a girl named Lara Jean who has written letters to the five boys that she has loved in her life. She writes these letters to be therapeutic and help her purge her emotions and get over the boys. She keeps the letters in a hat box in her room with no intention of ever sending them out, but of course, something happens and the letters get sent, including one to her sister's ex-boyfriend.
One surprising thing about this book is the importance of sisterly relationships between the Song sisters - Margot (who is starting her freshman year of college), Lara Jean (the main character who is starting her junior year of high school), and Kitty (who is nine).
I don't have any sisters, but I do have two female cousins that I am very very close with so I could sort of understand the sisterly relationship throughout the book.
As I mentioned, one of Lara Jean's letters gets sent to Margot's ex-boyfriend, Josh. I liked Josh at the beginning of the book, but by the end I was really confused on the point of his character.
After Josh receives the letter things get awkward because Lara Jean realizes she might just maybe perhaps a little bit still be in love with Josh. Uh oh. Another boy that gets a letter, Peter, has just had a break up and he wants to make his ex jealous and Lara Jean wants to make Josh jealous (or make him think she has moved on) so the two concoct a plan to pretend to be dating and things happen.
From there, I can't get much into the plot without going into spoilers (which I will go into a few things at the end but mostly I want this review to be spoiler-free), so I will talk about some of the other characters.
Kitty: I adored Kitty so much! I think she has got to be one of my favorite little kid characters. She's funny, and endearing, and smart, and not a cliche or unrealistic. I just adored her.
Margot: I...don't hate Margot. I don't love her either. I understand her a bit. She had to take care of her dad and sisters and for that I understand her motivations, but she's not a character that gives me warm and fuzzy feelings. I hope my connection to her as a character grows in the second and final book in this duology (more on that later).
Chris: I felt so disconnected to Chris. She didn't feel like a real character. For two thirds of the book nobody except Lara Jean interacts with Chris and for a very split second I wondered if maybe she was a hallucination and then I remembered Margot saying "Oh it's you" to Chris when they were on the couch. But seriously, her character kind of felt forced.
Peter: PETER. Oh, I love Peter. I loved him from the moment he pulled up along side Lara Jean after she got in the little fender bender. I guess it's just his typical Peter Kasinsky charisma, but I was definitely smitten.
So, like I said, I want to mention a few spoiler-y things:
I loved Peter and Lara Jean's relationship so much. When Kitty said that he always watches her to make sure she's having a good time. AHHHH. I'M DEAD. SO MANY FEELS. I think Peter is a great guy. I kinda picture him like Zac Efron in 17 Again, looks-wise.
*I think that Peter bought the necklace from his mom's shop and is going to give it to Lara Jean.
I would recommend this book to contemporary fans. I would say overall, as far as YA romance-contemporaries it's very PG rated and not as deep/heavy/ansty as say My Life Next Door or The DUFF as the most "serious/heavy" topic in the book would probably the fact that Lara Jean's mother died when she was little. The book doesn't really get into anything more serious than that. This book would definitely one of my favorite YA contemporaries as far as fluffy love stories go.
I am so happy this is a duology because when I was about 15 pages from the end of the book I started panicking because I knew there was no way we would get a satisfying conclusion. I'm actually looking forward to this being a duology because it feels right (am I weird? LOL). I hope the cover "matches" and there's no stupid cover change. Although, looking on Goodreads, the second/final book is only going to be 288 pages. That makes me a little nervous. At least it comes out in April. *knocks on wood* Oh, lord, please don't be pushed back. I'm crossing my fingers for a cover reveal some time before 2014 is up!
I leave you with this:
TEAM PETER!
That being said, I LOVED this book. It exceeded all of my expectations. I was pretty much hooked from the first page.
This book, if you haven't already read a synopsis, is about a girl named Lara Jean who has written letters to the five boys that she has loved in her life. She writes these letters to be therapeutic and help her purge her emotions and get over the boys. She keeps the letters in a hat box in her room with no intention of ever sending them out, but of course, something happens and the letters get sent, including one to her sister's ex-boyfriend.
One surprising thing about this book is the importance of sisterly relationships between the Song sisters - Margot (who is starting her freshman year of college), Lara Jean (the main character who is starting her junior year of high school), and Kitty (who is nine).
I don't have any sisters, but I do have two female cousins that I am very very close with so I could sort of understand the sisterly relationship throughout the book.
As I mentioned, one of Lara Jean's letters gets sent to Margot's ex-boyfriend, Josh. I liked Josh at the beginning of the book, but by the end I was really confused on the point of his character.
Spoiler
After he kissed Lara Jean and had the talk with her about 'what if you would have told me you liked me things would be different', etc...are we supposed to hate him? Like him? I really don't know. I feel like his conversation with Lara Jean makes his two year relationship with Margot pointless and really confusing and it just makes me sad and uncomfortable. I don't know. It's a weird feeling and I don't like it. I liked his relationship with Kitty and I think overall he's a nice guy, but....I just don't know. *deep sigh*After Josh receives the letter things get awkward because Lara Jean realizes she might just maybe perhaps a little bit still be in love with Josh. Uh oh. Another boy that gets a letter, Peter, has just had a break up and he wants to make his ex jealous and Lara Jean wants to make Josh jealous (or make him think she has moved on) so the two concoct a plan to pretend to be dating and things happen.
From there, I can't get much into the plot without going into spoilers (which I will go into a few things at the end but mostly I want this review to be spoiler-free), so I will talk about some of the other characters.
Kitty: I adored Kitty so much! I think she has got to be one of my favorite little kid characters. She's funny, and endearing, and smart, and not a cliche or unrealistic. I just adored her.
Margot: I...don't hate Margot. I don't love her either. I understand her a bit. She had to take care of her dad and sisters and for that I understand her motivations, but she's not a character that gives me warm and fuzzy feelings. I hope my connection to her as a character grows in the second and final book in this duology (more on that later).
Chris: I felt so disconnected to Chris. She didn't feel like a real character. For two thirds of the book nobody except Lara Jean interacts with Chris and for a very split second I wondered if maybe she was a hallucination and then I remembered Margot saying "Oh it's you" to Chris when they were on the couch. But seriously, her character kind of felt forced.
Peter: PETER. Oh, I love Peter. I loved him from the moment he pulled up along side Lara Jean after she got in the little fender bender. I guess it's just his typical Peter Kasinsky charisma, but I was definitely smitten.
So, like I said, I want to mention a few spoiler-y things:
Spoiler
I loved Peter and Lara Jean's relationship so much. When Kitty said that he always watches her to make sure she's having a good time. AHHHH. I'M DEAD. SO MANY FEELS. I think Peter is a great guy. I kinda picture him like Zac Efron in 17 Again, looks-wise.
*I think that Peter bought the necklace from his mom's shop and is going to give it to Lara Jean.
I would recommend this book to contemporary fans. I would say overall, as far as YA romance-contemporaries it's very PG rated and not as deep/heavy/ansty as say My Life Next Door or The DUFF as the most "serious/heavy" topic in the book would probably the fact that Lara Jean's mother died when she was little. The book doesn't really get into anything more serious than that. This book would definitely one of my favorite YA contemporaries as far as fluffy love stories go.
I am so happy this is a duology because when I was about 15 pages from the end of the book I started panicking because I knew there was no way we would get a satisfying conclusion. I'm actually looking forward to this being a duology because it feels right (am I weird? LOL). I hope the cover "matches" and there's no stupid cover change. Although, looking on Goodreads, the second/final book is only going to be 288 pages. That makes me a little nervous. At least it comes out in April. *knocks on wood* Oh, lord, please don't be pushed back. I'm crossing my fingers for a cover reveal some time before 2014 is up!
I leave you with this:
TEAM PETER!
funny
lighthearted