Synopsis via Goodreads:
Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control in this heartfelt novel 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?
Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she's written. One for every boy she's 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 Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control.
My Review:
Lara Jean is the less confident middle sister who lost her crush to her older sister, Margot, years ago. But now that the oldest sister is going off to university, everything is changing and Lara Jean feels the pressure to step up and become the same kind of big sister, role-model for Kitty (youngest sister) that Margot has been for her. And that means squashing any lingering romantic feelings that Lara Jean still has for Josh, who is still clearly still in love with Margot. But it's much harder to do when the letter she wrote to purge her feelings--for Josh and a few other boys she has crushed on in the past--gets mailed! Suddenly Lara Jean is discovering facets of herself and the people around her that she had never really thought to explore before.
Tell me how you really feel:
This book was
a slow start for me. I had serious concerns that this might possibly be a book
I wasn’t going to finish. I kept at it and ended up liking the book.
I didn’t like
some of the characters. Laura Jean seemed so childish and juvenile. Like the
entire scheme? In real life, no one would have gone along with that. It was
just so non-believable. And for the way the entire scheme began? Yeah I
wouldn't buy it for a second. It just seemed to me like she was immature. She
eventually came into her own further into the book. The youngest sister Kitty
was more annoying than Lara Jean. I kept feeling like she was five instead of a
nine year old. The story was good and once I got about half way through, the book
had my full attention. Lara Jean just had to get her act together! Lara Jean’s
interaction with pretend boyfriend Peter was interesting. I never really
disliked him. But sadly I knew about a quarter ways in how their relationship
was going to end. It was a bit predictive. Josh seemed to me as if he was
severely confused as to which sister he wanted to be with. You almost thought
that he was going to end up with Lara Jean BUT he didn’t! It was good that didn’t
happen because that would have been too perfect. It was almost like the Josh
and Peter couldn’t figure out what they wanted.
Overall I
think the beginning of the book could have been better. The characters were a
bit too immature for my liking. If you can’t like the main character what’s the
point of reading the book? Like I said before the book got better as it went
along. If you can make it to about half way you should be good. I can
completely understand some people hating the book and/or not finishing it.
As far as
Jenny Han goes I was excited to finally read one of her books. I’ve read so
many great things about her. I do plan on reading the second book in this series.
I also plan on reading The Year I Turned Pretty series. I think she is a good
writer and look forward to reading more of her books.
