TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE: A Review :)

“It's not like in the movies. It's better, because it's real.”
(Spoiler free! Go read)

TITLE: To All the Boys I've Loved Before 

(To All the Boys I've Loved Before#1)
AUTHOR/s: Jenny Han
PUBLICATION DATE: 4th of February, 2014
AVAILABLE AT: Amazon | The Book Depository

Ahh the great Jenny Han does it again (Or so they say). Another best seller. To be honest, I haven't heard of her before discovering To All the Boy I've Loved Before but I've heard she's done a handful of novels before including the Summer Trilogy. 

At first I was hesitant to read To All the Boys because I thought it was too mainstream as of the moment. It has indeed made the splash in the bookish world. In fact, it reminded me of how I felt about reading Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park before. 

So I'd like to thank my friend Honey Bautista for pushing me over (AKA recommending it to me) that I finally checked it out. Here are some of my thoughts :) 

What if your past (?) crushes suddenly learned about how you felt for them all thanks to the supposedly-secret letters that you wrote for them? Uh-oh.

In this embarrassingly crazy situation that Lara Jean is in, we go through how she tries to 'save face' only to make matters worse, or could it possibly go better?

To All the Boys is a novel that I knew I'd like right from the very beginning. I don't exactly know why but my gut feel never fails me when it comes to this stuff. The characters are well-written and are created to stand out in their own ways.

We have Lara Jean, our protagonist who is "cute in a quirky way" though sometimes acts too immature for her age (I'm not complaining though. She actually reminds me a little bit of myself) She also has this sense of humor that strikes my funny bone. Then there's this little sister, Kitty, who's a big ball of energy; Margot, the eldest of the three who became the family's motherly figure after their mom's passing.

Aside from them, the two main 'boys', Josh and Peter, are just wonderful. They have different personalities yet both of them caught my fangirl heart. I honestly found it hard to decide who I actually like more since the two boys have qualities that I liked but they are also in a situation that makes me have second thoughts. I highly anticipated the point where the two would clash but when it does indeed happen, it didn't turn out the way I imagined it to be. It was better!

While the story focused more on romance, it didn't left out key topics that added to the beauty of the whole novel. It tackled about family relationships and how each family is different than the other. Friendship is also something that was touched by the book.

"There's no use in asking what if. No one could ever give you the answers. I try (...) I'm always wondering about the what-ifs, about the road not taken." -Lara Jean

"Firsts are best because they are beginnings." -Lara Jean

"(...) sometimes it's nice to be the only one who knows something." -Lara Jean

"Fighting isn't a good sign Lara Jean. It means you still care." -Lucas

"I've got to learn how to do for myself. I can't depend on other people to help me." -Lara Jean

"You'd rather make up a fantasy version of somebody in your head than be with a real person." -Peter

"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't show up on your doorstep with flowers and profess my undying love for you, Lara Jean, but guess what, that's not real life. You need to grow up." -Peter

"Because sometimes you just feel sad and you can't explain it." -Lara Jean

"Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That's part of the risk. I don't want to be scared anymore. I want to be brave." -Lara Jean

"(...) I don't have to be so afraid of good-bye, because good-bye doesn't have to be forever." -Lara Jean

I am so in love with the characters. No matter how immature Lara Jean seems like, I know that she's trying her best to match up to her older sister; to atleast be the motherly figure now that Margot is in college. Kitty was just awesome. Even the supporting characters were really amazing. It showed the diversity in high school students. The Lacrosse guys proved that not all jocks are the same. Lucas showed that people are people no matter what their sexual preferences are and Genevieve portrayed that not all officials are saints.

Overall, I loved To All the Boys. The ending was pretty vague but I guess it's alright since because of that ending, there is going to be a sequel!!! I can't believe Jenny Han's making us all wait 'til 2015! I'm sure PS. I Still Love You will be superb! I believe we'll get to see more new characters soon (and hope for those old characters who didn't end up the way we wanted to haha :) )

Perfect rating for Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before!

5/5 rating :)