Novel Review: P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #2) by Jenny Han

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: 2015

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Book 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.

They were just pretending. Until they weren’t. And now Lara Jean has to learn what it's like to be in a real relationship and not just a make-believe one.

But when another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him suddenly 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, Lara Jean is about to find out that falling in love is the easy part.

The Cover:

I still think these covers are super cute. They're classy and pretty, very understated and calm in its colors, but eye-catching and pretty. I love that the covers all go together, with the same room and model, and that it very much looks like Lara Jean.

Review:

I really wanted to love this series, but now I'm just frustrated and disappointed.

I still really like Lara Jean's character, and her voice. Her family is really fun, too. I like Kitty's feistiness, and her dad is such a sweetheart. And then we meet John Ambrose McClaren in this book, and I love him. He's a sweetheart, who's grown up since she knew him as a kid. He's more mature now, he knows how to stand up for himself. He's so sweet.

And then there's Peter. There's still Peter.

I had hoped that Peter's plot line would be over, but it looks like Lara Jean has chosen him for the long haul, and I am disappointed. I disagree. It felt like Lara Jean and Peter have the kind of bad-for-each-other, intense relationship, a little bit. But now it looks like they're trying to say that Peter and Gen had that. And when it reveals what Gen has been hiding all this time, it's supposed to excuse Peter's attitude regarding her. And I just don't agree with that.

Maybe what Gen's dad is doing is bad, and it's upsetting Gen, but that's no excuse for Peter to brush off Lara Jean for so long, and to hang out with his ex-girlfriend so often without telling her, when Gen clearly has intentions of getting him back. None of this is okay, no matter what Gen is going through.

That whole ending with Peter kind of ruined this book for me. I don't like him, and I don't think he's right for Lara Jean, even if they have good chemistry and good banter. That's not enough. Especially not when there are better contenders, like John Ambrose McClaren. I'm just saying.

Despite all of that, I'm trying to remind myself that I still enjoyed this book. I like Lara Jean, otherwise, and I like her family, and I enjoyed meeting Stormy and seeing Lara Jean grow.

I'm just extremely disappointed in the romance, and now I don't know if I want to read the final book soon.

Novel Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1) by Jenny Han

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance, Drama

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Lara Jeans love life gets complicated in this New York Times bestselling lovely, lighthearted romance SLJ from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series. What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them...all at once Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They arent love letters that anyone else wrote for her these are ones shes written. One for every boy shes ever loved-five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jeans love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

The Cover:

I think the original covers are super cute. They show the teen aspect, and even the dreamy, light personality of Lara Jean, really well. It's not too dramatic or too focused on the romance/boys. It's cute and light, and caught my interest before I picked it up. These were even the covers I wanted, not the one from the movie--plus, I love how all three of them go together, without being too similar.

 

Review:

Now that the movie is out, I've finally decided I want to read this series. I've heard a lot of good things about it, ever since it was released, but for some reason I still didn't think I'd love it. It just sounded like a cute, probably dramatic, teen series. I was actually rather surprised by it.

We meet Lara Jean, and she's sweet, a bit innocent, a dreamer with a positive outlook on life. I really enjoyed her voice from the beginning. She's optimistic and has a good imagination, and even though she lies a bit too often, she has good intentions in the beginning.

It took a while for the letters to come out, and we actually didn't get to read all of them. It wasn't as dramatic of an event as I expected, either. Not everyone at school knows about them, only the people who got them, really. It wasn't any cause for bullying or anything like I expected. It actually ended up being kind of sweet for both parties.

Aside from the romance aspect, there was also a really good family atmosphere, and very realistic sister relationships, as well. Lara Jean and her sisters fight and push at each other, but they're also there for each other when they're needed.

Now, the romance. I will admit that I much prefer Josh. It was a little conflicting, but he's such a sweetheart, and I love his and Lara Jean's relationship, even if it was hard since he dated her sister. Instead of Josh, this focused a lot more on Peter. And Peter was okay. He grew on me a bit more by the middle of the book, and I do think he had good intentions and didn't quite know what he was doing that hurt Lara Jean so much, but I think things ended how they needed to, maybe.

I really like the concept of this series. The idea that she decided to write letters, just for herself, to the guys that she loved in a way to let go of them, was done in such a positive light. She wasn't hating on them, was honest about what she liked even while trying to make herself feel better about why it wouldn't work.

That ending felt like a conclusion to one part of the story, and I'm really curious about where it goes after this. I'm hooked, and I had a hard time stopping this book, so I'm excited to read the next one.