To All the Boys I've Loved Before (1) Hardcover – April 15, 2014

Catfairy's First ThoughtsPresently at this moment, I am writing this review and swaying to my Lara Jean Motown playlist on Spotify and eating an oatmeal raisin cookie. (I know…I know…Lara Jean…could make much more creative cookies…such as those cowgirl cookies and don’t forget those snickerdoodles!)If I could sum up my feelings for this book in one word, I would simply use a word that isn’t listed in the Cambridge English Dictionary and that word would be…adorbs!To all the boys I’ve loved before made me want to be the fourth Song sister and I just loved all the things about the main character of Lara Jean! I want to live in the world of Lara Jean and raid her adorable vintage outfits and use her heart hole puncher! After all, how can you not love a girl who has a heart hole puncher?description“Because after I write my letter, I’m no longer consumed by my all-consuming love. I can eat my cereal and not wonder if he likes bananas over his Cherrios too: I can sing along to love songs and not be singing them to him. If love is like a possession, maybe my letters are like my exorcisms. My letters set me free. Or at least they’re supposed to.”-Lara JeanCatnopsisdescriptionTo all the boys I’ve loved before is the first contemporary romance book of a trilogy who introduces the dainty character of Lara Jean. Lara Jean lives with her father and two other sisters named Margot and Kitty. The sisters call themselves the Song girls because their mother’s maiden name is Song and the sisters have a strong connection to their mother. Their mother died at an early age and they also share more of their mother’s physical features which is Korean and their father is Caucasion.“We are the three Song girls. There use to be four. My mom, Eve Song. Evie to my dad, Mommy to us, Eve to everyone else. Song is, was, my mom’s last name. Our last name is Covey-Covey like lovey, not like cove. But the reason we are the Song girls and not the Covey girls is my mom used to say that she was a Song girl for life, and Margot said then we should be too. We all have Song for our middle name, and we look more Song than Covey anyway, more Korean than white.”The Song girls are an absolute trip! Margot is the responsible and smart sister who plays mom to the whole family. Kitty is the baby sister in the family who is always causing trouble and is way too smart and spunky for her own good! They have so much fun together and have so many cute traditions that they share like the CHRISTMAS COOKIE BONANZA!When Lara Jean falls in love with a boy she writes them a love letter professing her adoration and that’s how she gets these boys out of her system. After she finishes writing the love letter she methodically hides them in a charming teal vintage hatbox that her mother bought her. Until one day the letters are gone and all the five boys “she has loved before” receive her love letters and this is the one moment where all the boys of her past come out of the woodwork and Lara has to make a choice to either hide in her world of love letters or face the truth of her emotions, and finally live her life.Meet Lara Jean played by Tiffany HwangdescriptionLara Jean is your proverbial dreamy eyed teenager who is in love with love but is terrified of it at the same time. Although she has a dramatic and individualistic style down to her vintage clothes and her innate attention to detail.The character of Lara Jean is someone who fantasizes about love and sees it through rose colored glasses more than the real reality of it. She would rather love the boys from afar and obsess over them but never fully commit to them.Lara Jean truly walks to the beat of her own drum and that's what makes her full of awesomeness!“I think I see the difference now, between loving someone from afar and loving someone up close. When you see them up close, you see the real them, but they also get to see the real you. And Peter does. He seems me, and I see him.” -Lara JeanMeet Peter Kavinsky played by Harry Stylesdescription“That’s when I see him. Peter Kavinsky, walking down the hallway. Like magic. Beautiful, dark-haired Peter. He deserves background music, he looks so good.” -Lara JeanPeter Kavinsky’s is one of the five boys that Lara Jean professed her undying love to.Peter is that quintessential guy in school that one loves to hate and hates to love at the same time. He is a popular jock who everyone is friends with and who everyone wants to be friends with. Peter has such a self-assurance about himself that it can make anyone feel that all is good and right with the world.“I think you’re cute. In a quirky way.” –Peter KavinskyIf I was in high school Peter would be one of my fictional high school boyfriends! He is just the most appealing, irresistible, and infuriating character that I have ever read about! Peter is someone you want to kiss and slap across the face at the same time! The back and forth banter between Lara Jean and Peter is just priceless and he brings out the feisty side of Lara Jean. Peter brings Lara Jean out of her shell and makes her realize that love is not a sugar-coated fantasy and in order to love someone you need to first be honest with yourself.Meet Josh played by Skyler AstinJosh is part of the love letter debacle as well and also part of a love triangle between Lara Jean, Peter, and Josh.Josh dated Lara Jean’s sister Margot and when they suddenly broke up Josh receives Lara Jean’s love letter. Lara Jean is horrified by the fact that he received this love letter because she would never admit her feelings to Josh since he dated her sister. In order to avoid conflict, she pretends to date Peter Kavinsky. This also benefits Peter because he is currently breaking up with Lara Jean’s ex-friend mean girl Genevieve for the millionth time and wants to get her jealous. And so the plot thickens…Josh is your typical do-gooder guy that is always there for you when you need it. Josh is like the Dawson Leery in your life that is always there to lend a shoulder to cry on and yada, yada, yada…Honestly, the character of Josh didn't really get my attention. He seemed to be a very dry and humdrum character to me. I felt like I didn't know enough about Josh for me to genuinely like him as a character. There just wasn't enough depth to the character of Josh which leads me to definitely be Team Peter.Now Lara Jean has a choice. Does she want the bad boy Peter (aka Pacey Witter) or the do-gooder Josh (aka Dawson Leery)?descriptiondescriptionJenny Han’s WritingdescriptionCatfairy and Jenny Han Book SigningOverall, it’s great to see that YA novels are representing more diversity than ever before. The author Jenny Han who is herself Korean perfectly exemplifies the Korean culture. She also beautifully describes the struggle that Lara Jean goes through with being half Korean and Half-Caucasian.This book is written in the first person and it’s a very character-driven novel and it’s what makes this book come alive! To all the boys I’ve loved before would not have been the same book if it wasn’t for the unique characters that she had in this novel! It is easy to get lost in the world of the Song sisters! When I read this book, I felt like I was personally invited to the home of the Song sisters and I got to know them so well, that I grew attached to each of them.Catfairy Final Thoughts“When someone’s been gone a long time, at first you save up all the things you want to tell them. You try to keep track of everything in your head. But it’s like trying to hold on to a fistful of sand: all the little bits slip out of your hands, and then you’re just like clutching air and grit. That’s why you can’t save it all up like that.” -Lara JeanEach of the Song sisters will have a peace of my heart and I am so happy that there are two other books in this series so I don’t have to say goodbye just yet!Even though, I love all the Song sisters it is "obvi" that Lara Jean is my favorite of them all! I love how she is an individual and doesn’t change for anyone or anything! Most teenagers have the pressure to conform to what is cool and what is not cool. Lara Jean is her own person and she doesn’t care about that which is an inspiration for all teenage girls. Being yourself is the coolest thing you can be!This book is the kind of book that makes you reminisce on what it is like to truly fall in love for the first time, how you romanticize it in your head, how scary it is, and how amazing it is all at once!

Okay this was pretty cute. I wasn't sure if I'd really be into this book because I don't read a lot of YA contemporary romances (that aren't queer stories). With the Netflix movie coming out I decided I wanted to give it a shot and I really enjoyed it. This review may have some spoiler moments, so if you plan on reading this completely blind I'd stop reading here! If you're interested in my quick non-spoilery thoughts: I liked it, but I didn't love it. It's a sweet quick summer romance that I think is fluffy and fun but didn't really deliver what the synopsis makes you think you're getting yourself into. Also, the writing wasn't my favorite and could sometimes be a bit clunky and not at all smooth. However, I do plan on reading the next two books because I want to know what will happen next.At first I wasn't a fan of our main character, Lara Jean. She is supposed to be sixteen years old, but I honestly feel like she acted like she was a few years younger than that. The overall tone and voice of her character was very immature and young. Now as the story went on I definitely warmed up to her and although her tone was immature and young throughout the entire story, I did also find her sweet and endearing. I both thought she was absolutely adorable and I wanted to slap her because of her incredibly bad decisions. I just didn't love that I had to constantly remind myself that she was supposed to be sixteen. Peter was a favorite character of mine in this story. At first, he seems like this typical cocky overconfident teenage boy (which he most definitely is) but his character arc from the beginning to the end of the story as a whole was one I liked a lot. I really loved him with Lara, not just romantically (fake or otherwise) but also just them becoming friends. I thought they had a lot of great chemistry and they brought out the good parts of each other. I loved all of Lara Jean's family members. I thought Kitty was going to get on my nerves but I even loved her. I felt for Margot, having to step us as the main woman of the house after their mother passed is such a huge responsibility and I felt for her especially at the end of the story when she comes back from college. I also loved their dad, who was an adorable guy. I love that having the girls stay connected to their Korean side, even after the passing of their mom, meant so much to him and he tried new things with them. It's so cute. Honestly, the only character I really hated was Josh. He's in this long term relationship with Margot and then they break up. He seems to kind of get over that fairly quickly the moment he finds out that Lara Jean once had feelings for him. I feel like 1. treating your ex-girlfriend's sister like a rebound seems like a jerk move and 2. maybe don't go after your ex-girlfriend's sister. He's jealous and territorial over her, and he feels like he needs to constantly butt in with his opinions when he finds out Lara is dating Peter. I just really hated Josh.We also have Chris, Lara Jean's best friend. I mostly disliked her, but there's a scene in particular that made me respect her a lot more than I had at first. I think I would like to see more moments of them together so we can see their friendship more.The plot was pretty predictable and generic for a young adult contemporary romance, but I don't think that's an awful thing and I did enjoy myself. It's a sweet story but it doesn't have much originality going for it. I love that the girls are half Korean, and I hope to maybe see more of that in the next books because I am always up to learn about different cultures. And of course I am a sucker for some great descriptions of foods, but the romance and the plot itself was standard. It's a perfect beach read. Dramatic, fluffy, light, and easy to speed through. However, it does have it's heavy moments, especially when it comes to the sisters and the relationships they've had. Also how they all handled the death of their mother and how it affected their sibling relationships. I love how close they are and I love their family traditions.The whole Covey family is charming.My biggest problem with this book is the fact that the readers are told this story is centered around Lara dealing with the aftermath of her private love letters being sent out to boys she's had feelings for in the past. But that is only in the beginning of the book, and the problem gets resolved fairly quickly. Which is fine, but I almost didn't even see a point of there being five letters/boys when only two of them actually matter. At least right now, since there is one boy we got no closure on at all. So we will see how they come into play in the next books.The writing was okay, but not my favorite. The sentences, especially at the beginning of the story, were clunky and had hard stops at the end of each sentence. So it didn't flow very well and it felt choppy. I think it's a mixture of the writing but also the way the audiobook narrator narrated the story. So I am not sure if it was only the writing, but either way the story didn't seem to flow well. I am not sure if it improves as the story progresses or if I've gotten used to it or got so caught up in the story that I didn't notice it as badly. But it's definitely jarring at first. I think the writer is a fantastic storyteller and great at writing believable complex characters, it was just the sentence structure and Lara's immaturity that were negative aspects for me as a reader. However, none of this is stopping me from reading books two and three.I also definitely recommend the movie!! It only spans through the events of the first book so there aren't any spoilers for the rest of the series. I think the movie did a lot of things better than the book, and I ended up enjoying it a lot more. For one, Lara Jean definitely acts her age. She's young and inexperienced but she doesn't react or have the tone of a character a few years younger than her like she did in the book. I actually both loved Lara Jean but I also loved the way the actress, Lana Condor, portrayed Lara. She's absolutely adorable. All the actors & actresses played their characters perfectly. It was so well done. So if you liked the book, definitely watch the movie. I think you may like the movie even if you didn't like the book. It makes me even more excited to continue with the trilogy.Overall, if you're in the mood for a really cute summer romance this would be one I'd definitely recommend. It's the perfect mixture of lighthearted with serious family/romance drama mixed in. It's just so pure and innocent. I want to finish the next two soon because I need to know what will happen next! These are definitely more addicting than I anticipated.

Un petit roman ado sympa, très facile à lire (Si vous êtes débutant en anglais profitez en, il vous aidera à évoluer tout en restant facile à lire ) une histoire mignonne, légère et plutôt drôle. A l'image du film.

Il libro mi è piaciuto molto, forse ha un qualcosa in più del film. Il livello di inglese è basso può essere una buona prima lettura in lingua. All'inizio è stato un po' meh però si è ripreso bene, ha qualche cliché. Nel complesso consiglio questo libro

Este libro me ha pillado ya con el doble de edad de la protagonista y por ello la historia me ha resultado muy tierna. Está muy bien narrado, te hace evocar lo que está ocurriendo y cómo se sienten los personajes, lo cual para mí ha sido como una bocanada de aire fresco, pues me ha hecho sentir otra vez el cosquilleo de los primeros amores, los problemas que te parecen enormes y que en realidad son pequeños, la diversión, el gusto por estar en familia... en fin, tierno y refrescante.

Lovely teenage romance book however the ending felt slightly rushed. Still, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone from the age 13 onwards as I thoroughly enjoyed Jenny Han's unique type of writing. The characters are very easy to fall in love with and it has a sweet twisted plot. Would buy the second book if there was one, haha!

It was a fun read! I like the fact that it didnt focus on the love aspect. It has a good combination of friendship, family and specially family. Song sisters for life :) Cant wait for the next book.