Author: Jenny Han
# of Pages: 369 (ebook)
Genre: YA, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old 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.
Review: The best thing I can say about this book is that the rating might not be a solid 1 star; it might be between 1 and 2 stars.
I thought I knew what I was getting into. With that kind of title and the top genres being "young adult" and "romance," I knew it was going to be extremely cliché and shallow. However, it is much worse than I thought.
The biggest problem is Lara Jean. Her narrative sounds like an 8 year-old girl instead of the sixteen old she is suppose to be (reading this didn't feel too much different from reading Junie B. Jones). Han attempts to make her seem mature since she plays a crucial part in keeping the family functioning, but the way she handles her emotional issues is more similar to how I would expect Kitty (her younger sister) to be dealing with these things.
Since Lara Jean, Margot, and Kitty are suppose to have a strong sisterly bond, I was hoping for some underlying message of familial love. Although there are several attempts to show how much the sisters care about each other, the challenges they overcome are so trivial and petty that the message does not hit home.
The romance aspect of this book is a mess and many of the romantic conflicts seem to be left unresolved. Worst of all, the central problem of the book is ridiculous; if you are writing letters to the boys you've loved before so you can get over them, why would you actually address the correctly so they can easily be sent out? It seems like the cause of this conflict could have easily be avoided (and since it's the modern age, it might've been more believable if her EMAILS were accidentally sent).
I wanted to read it before I watched it, but I probably shouldn't have. I'm pretty sure the hype around this story is not because of the book.
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