P.S. I Still Love You - Jenny Han

Title: P.S. I Still Love You
Author: Jenny Han
Format: Paperback
Rating:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.  When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This sequel to the novel To All The Boys I've Loved Before felt just marginally more well developed than the first book. Although I did like this book ever so slightly more than its predecessor, there were still too many things about this book that I did not like.

What I Liked: 

Once again, I found that Kitty was my favorite part in this book. She expresses everything that is just so charming and yet morbid and dark. 

Chris was actually present more in this book as a friend figure, and I felt like that was something that was really lacking from the last book. I still don't know that I see what Chris and Lara Jean have in common to be friends, but at least she is more present in this book.

The Assassins game - I think this just sounds like a fun idea!

I do love that this book, just as the first, shows great family dynamic and has Korean characters in it.  I think it's important that their dad is so present is important, because there are so many YA books with absentee parents.  As if teens don't need their parents?!

What I Didn't Like:

THE "LOVE TRIANGLE"!  I put love in quotes, because I felt like, even though there was this introduction of a third person in the series as an interest, there just wasn't much of a love interest between Lara and John until after she and Peter broke up (again, and for real.) At least, it didn't fee like there was much there to me - especially from Lara Jean's perspective. This was forced and completely unnecessary.

In this book Kitty turns 10.  She's young.  But yet, Chris and Lara Jean did not have any issues talking about sex in front of her.  Not only that, but Kitty - little 10 year old Kitty - KNOWS MORE ABOUT SEX THAN LARA JEAN!  Now just to be clear, I believe in teaching people age appropriate comprehensive sex ed. However, a 10 year old knowing more about sex than her 16 year old sister is not age appropriate.  Kitty should be learning about periods, not sex.

Why did Peter think it was okay to be there for Gen all that time but not for Lara Jean?!  I fully understand that Gen is Peter's first love, blah blah blah. BUT, they aren't together anymore, and given how toxic their relationship is, he really should be cutting her out for a while - especially since Lara Jean is his girlfriend now!  I think it's fair that their relationship ended, and I can't for the life of me figure out why Lara Jean was back together with him at the end.  He treats her like crap because "Gen needs me" and she just takes him back?! UGHHGGGGWFHIO

To All the Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han

Title: To All The Boys I've Loved Before
Author: Jenny Han
Format: Paperback
Rating: 2 Stars

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The premise of this story sounds cute at first: Lara Jean writes a letter to each of the boys she's "loved" before - five in all.  Then the letters are accidentally mailed by someone, and Lara Jean freaks out.  This somehow leads to her and her old (former) friend Peter Kavinsky - a receiver of one of said letters - pretending to be a couple so he can make his ex jealous and she can make Josh (another letter receiver) think she never liked him. 

Now, let's get down to it.

What Did I Like About This Book: 

*Kitty - Lara Jean's 9 year old sister is sweet, sassy, and the best part of this book.  I think Kitty was the most well developed and well written characters in this book - and that's saying something, because none of the characters in this book were particularly well developed. 

*Lara Jean's dad is actually a prominent feature in this book.  There has been a trend of absentee parents in YA Books - so it's nice to see there are books coming out that actually have parents in the picture.

What I Didn't Like About This Book:

*Lara Jean is incredibly naive and immature, even for a teenage girl.  She is also the perfect reason why young people need to be taught age appropriate comprehensive sex ed.  Does she really think Margot and Josh never had sex or never even thought about it!?  They're teenagers, not monks.  Also, in my opinion, Lara Jean is way too old to be calling her dad "Daddy."  Just - no.  You're a teenager, not a 5 year old.  Stop. Saying. Daddy!

*The "romance" between Lara and Peter was contrived even for a fake romance.  When they got to the end and realized they actually like each other, it felt off and fake still even when it was real!  There was no chemistry between them - it all just felt overly forced. 

*The friendship between Chris and Lara was just - nothing!  Chris was hardly ever around - and when she was, there didn't feel like there was any real connection between her and Lara. They appear to have nothing in common, so it left me wondering why they were even friends to begin with. 

*As I said above - there is no real development in the characters. They all felt a bit flat, and there was no growth for any of them.  Who they were at the beginning of the book was just who they were at the end - no change, no learning, no development. 

*The story was not as well fleshed out or well developed as it could have been.  There wasn't a ton of depth to it, even for a YA contemp. 


I will probably finish the series just out of curiosity, but I wouldn't really recommend this to others.