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

My rating: five stars

Genre: YA, Romance

Edition: Paperback

Goodreads Summary: 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.

I was first interested in this book after I saw the Netflix movie – which I highly recommend by the way. The movie was being advertised everywhere and the trailer looked cute so I eventually watched it. I am glad I did! The movie was so adorable and heart warming I immediately bought the entire book series because I just knew I had to read it. Fast forward many, many months later, and I was finally able to read it!

Likes: Though there were several big issues in the relationships between the characters in this book, I love how most of the relationships evolved and grew as the characters matured. There is a lot of character growth from the beginning to the end that I really appreciate. This growth affects the relationships between the characters. It shows how just because there are problems with relationships that does not mean that the relationship is not worth fighting for and that they will not get through their problems together. The book also shows struggles with friendship and family relationships. This story goes into so many topics and hardships between people, I feel like it is a very easy story to relate to, even if you don’t have a significant other. It was just a really cute, lovable story that gave me the butterflies on the inside, while at the same time making me bawl my eyes out.

Dislikes: So, the only thing I really disliked about the book was the lack of communication between all of the characters. However, that is part of their growth. Throughout the story characters start to communicate with each other more and talk their problems out. This leads to resolution and problem-solving. This isn’t really a dislike that I have for the story – because mis-communication and lack of communication is very realistic. It’s just that as a reader we can see how communication would fix everything and it is frustrating. I love it at the same time though because it makes it more believable and it shows how the characters grow together. 

Overall, I gave this story five out of five stars because it is such a heartwarming story that really makes my belief in love, and the ability to get through bad situations in relationships, stronger. I would recommend the movie too, it was different but adorable! I look forward to the second one that is coming out soon!