Review: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han

General
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Pages: 355 (Hardback)
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, April 2014

Links: Goodreads // Amazon 
Overall Rating: 4.5/5

*I bought this book with my own money*

Plot Summary
Lara Jean writes letters to boys she loves to get over them. She never actually sends them out, but she keeps them tucked safe into a little box. One day, the boys she writes the letters to start to receive them. The story revolves around the after story and how the boys react to her letters.

Favorites
Because this is a Jenny Han novel, of course, it’s adorable. The characters were very likable — Lara Jean was just so cute. The two main boys in this book, Josh and Peter are both adorable as well in their own way. One important thing I love about Jenny Han is the way she brings through the themes of family in her books, in a positive way as well. The family aspect reminds me of the Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, also by Jenny Han, but even better in this book. While the romance is the focus, the loving and warmth from the families are felt clearly. Jenny Han’s writing (in comparison with the SITP trilogy) has definitely improved. Her writing flows better and is much more concise than it was before. This made her writing even more enjoyable to me.

Another unique element was the emphasis of Lara Jean’s Asian/ Korean culture. As an asian myself, I rarely read books with an asian main character and it is very refreshing that Han emphasized it in here.

Not-so-faves
I found that it felt a little choppy because of the abundance of chapters in this book. There was around 50-something chapters in this 355 pages book. I’ve mentioned this before in other reviews but I feel like too many chapters interrupts the flow of the plot. It might just be a personal pet peeve but I felt like it was significant enough to mention.

Rating
Characters: 5/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Plot: 4.5/5

Overall: 4.5/5

Final Thoughts
This book is probably the most hyped book of Jenny Han I’ve heard about. Especially since its sequel just came out last month. Usually, I like to go into a book somewhat blind, so others’ opinions can’t affect my own. I know a big majority of people loved this book, but I also saw a few people extremely hate it. This made it a little hard for me to get started because I was worried that these opinions would bias my own which is why I waited a bit before I started it. Also, someone on my IG had spoiled the ending of the second book, so I had to wait it out until I forgot what that person said before I dove into it at all.
Overall, this was a great contemporary romance, you know I’m a sucker for those. I loved Jenny Han’s writing in this one, I would definitely recommend you pick it up and read it if you are a fan of Jenny Han or are in the mood for a cute light contemporary read.

Thanks for joining me today! If you read this book before I would love to hear you thoughts below as well!

love, Jeanette