Sunday, December 27, 2015

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

In a past review I said I was going to review To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, and I guess it's time to do that now! I've got the book for my birthday and had my eyes on it very long. I didn't get into it very fast. It then lingered some time on my bookshelf before I started reading it again. I must say that I did find it hard to get into but if you hang on, it'll only get better!

This book is about Lara Jean, she has two sisters and a wonderful dad. Her one sister is like her icon, she looks up to her as if she's the statue of liberty. As if she'll learn you how to be a proper and good women. Lara Jean has a good life until the struggle comes. Her sister has to leave for college and she's the one that needs to take care of the family now. That's a lot of pressure for her, but the weight only adds up when her love letters are send out. 
Lara Jean is a girl that never admitted to her crushes. Her letters are for when she doesn't want to be in love anymore. It's some sort of goodbye to her. If love is like a possession, maybe my letters are like my exorcism. My letters set me free. She keeps the letters hidden in a box she got from her mother. Though waking up and finding out that all her letters are out in the open and send to all her past crushes, isn't such a good thing for her. Especially when a letter is sent to someone very special to her. 

As I already said, this book was very hard for me to get into. Mainly because in the beginning I didn't feel really connected with the main character, Lara Jean. But also because of her older sister that's her icon. 

To be very blunt and fair, I hated Margot. I felt like she was such a bossy type and that she always looked down on her other sisters but mainly on Lara Jean. I was kind of glad that she was sent away to her college, very far away. I understand that she felt like she had to take care of her family, as the eldest but also because there's no mom. I get why she does it but I don't get why she looks so down onto Lara Jean. Especially, later in the book when certain things happen. It was not Lara Jean her fault but her own. So yeah, I didn't like Margot at all and she bothered me ever since the first time we met her in the book.

Her other sister is really funny though. She's the youngest among them and wants to be a grown-up. You can see that she's trying really hard. When Margot was still around she wanted to make decisions too, together with her older sisters. When Margot is gone she's treated more responsible and can participate more. Kitty also wants a puppy really badly which makes her funny at times because she tries very subtle to change her father's opinion on having a dog. Sometimes she fails at being subtle and you really laugh at it. So I did love Lara Jean's other sister!

As for Lara Jean, she had me focusing. At some times I wouldn't agree with her or feel differently about her but for most of the time I did understand what she was doing. In the beginning of the story I wasn't really feeling a connection but later on I did. I also think she's really responsible and tries to be her best self when she has to take care of the family, of Kitty. So afterward I really appreciated her. 

The neighbor, aka the oldest sister's boyfriend, is also a character that I was fond of. He seemed very funny and cared. Josh has been around the sisters ever since he moved next to them. Of course things happen with Margot moving away, they change and then we get to see less of Josh. I wished he didn't go away though. I felt like he was a part of that family and then letters are being send out and Lara Jean starts taking distance from all the boys she knows. God, I wish Josh kept close! I really liked his personality! I might also wanted to ship him and Lara Jean, instead of Margot. Is that wrong of me? ;)

Of course we get to see more boys through this book and I wasn't really fond of one particular in the beginning. But let's just say that he started to grow on me too and I couldn't decide which team I was on. Team Neighbor or Team Boy you'll get to know through the story?! When I eventually guessed I made up my mind, the book ended. I didn't expect that ending at all. I was shocked, I was surprised and I couldn't understand it! Which is a good sign!

The plot was also very surprising and intriguing. As I said, in the beginning I wasn't really fond of the story and put it aside but I'm glad I didn't decide to just put it aside forever. I liked the story because for me it was very refreshing. I hadn't read any book that had a story like this. Of course I suspected love would be around but not the kind like this. I mean, this love made sure that there was drama all over the place. And that all because of some letters, who would've guessed that'd ever happen? The drama caused a very original plan to solve it all which I was excited about.

I might not have enjoyed Margot's presence, I might not have enjoyed the beginning at all. But I only can say that you need to push through it and hold on because it gets better! Of course it can be that you don't have any difficulties with anything I said, all the better. 

After I was confused by the ending, I thought it was really the ending but I only just found out that there's a second book to this and let's say I need to get my hands on it. I need to know a real ending, not the surprised one I got because as you know I'm a sucker for real endings. Because what if my imagination is too far fetched? I just can't wait to get more adventure out of Lara Jean. So I do recommend this book


because it had an original and refreshing plot, it has romance and drama, it's in some sort also adventurous in my opinion. If you read this book what was your opinion on it?

“I don’t have to be so afraid of good-bye, because good-bye doesn’t have to be forever.” 

No comments:

Post a Comment