Anyway, this week's book is a book I've heard a lot about, and it was mostly positive. You could probably go around my school and ask all the girls if they've read this and they'd all be like: "OMG YES! I LOVE THAT BOOK!"
Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. But I paid three dollars for it so I kind of had to read it.
And no. That's not a typo. I got it at Plato's Closet in surprisingly good condition.
So here is that book:
To All The Boys I've Loved Before
By Jenny Han
Lara Jean's life depends on a hat box. It's a hat box filled with letters to all the boys she's loved before, in an attempt to get over those boys. And when that hatbox disappears and all of the letters are sent out, Lara Jean's life falls apart. Peter Kavinsky is more than just an acquaintance, Josh and Lara Jean's friendship is destroyed, and now the whole school's talking about her. And not to mention, Lara Jean's older sister, who held the Song's house together is off at college. Will Lara Jean be able to pull things together, or will the letters ruin the rest of highschool?
Year of Publishing: 2014
Publishing House: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Romance
Age: Teen/Middle School
Short/Long Read: It was a long read for me. It took me a little over two weeks.
Rating Out Of Five: 2.5/5 (Two and a Half Stars)
"It was just ok, dog."
-Randy Jackson (That Judge From American Idol)
I was reading this, and I was expecting it to become my favorite book, and it turned out to be just average. And yes, I did read Love and First Sight (last week's book) directly before this one, so that's probably why I didn't like this book all that much. The major problem I have with this is that it really isn't realistic. The letter situation isn't realistic really, and it is a fiction book, so I'll let that slide. However, it is a realistic fiction book, so you would think that the relationships between the characters and the way Lara Jean reacts and deals with her situation would be realistic, but it's not.
For example:
When Lara Jean tells Josh that Peter is her boyfriend, she runs up to Peter and straight up kisses him. That is against the rules in school, and you can get in serious trouble for that.
Also:
Lara Jean's character in general is just not similar to any high school junior on the planet. I have never met a high school girl who scrapbooks and volunteers at retirement homes and randomly kisses a guy in front of a bunch of people at school. That just doesn't happen.
The last thing that I didn't enjoy about Lara Jean:
She didn't really have any motive. At the beginning of the book, she is concerned about fixing the problem with the letters, but the rest of the book she spends farting around with Peter. I never really know what drives our main character, which should always be present in a book and the reader should always know.
I am definitely going to give Jenny Han's books another chance because I have heard that pretty much all of her books are awesome, so The Summer I Turned Pretty is on my To Read List, but as of right now Jenny Han is a decent author.
That's pretty much it! I do realize a lot of people love this book, so if you have heard from people that they like it, I'm not discouraging you from reading it because everyone has a different taste in books.
Have a great day!
:)
