Yeah, I know what you’re thinking already, “Wasn’t To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before so 2018?” In all honesty, I had the time to do some reading for fun over winter break so even though this is a bit late, this book and storyline never gets old. Now that I’ve actually read it, I’m here to say that it didn’t disappoint. Here is an honest review of this highly anticipated book and a short comparison to the widely popular Netflix romantic comedy.

To start off on a positive note, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is my favorite book at the moment. I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. on a weekend reading it, just because I couldn’t put it down. Some may call it another cheesy teenage novel, which in this case, is true in a way. Honestly, there were some scenes where I cringed because it was so unrealistic, but some parts I absolutely resonated with. To give a little bit of a background summary, the book is about a high-school girl known as Lara Jean who accidentally gets her secret love letters mailed to five of her past crushes. It brings a lot of trouble, yet new excitement into her love life.

To me, Jenny Han did an amazing job in describing the chemistry between Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky. She really showed the character and relationship development between the two; even through paper pages was I able to tell they had a strong connection. If you’re looking for a cute novel to really get you in your feels, this book is perfect for you. I think I specifically loved it because I felt like Lara Jean was extremely relatable, and I was really able to understand what she was going through, since she was a lot like me in different ways. My favorite quote out of the book was said by Lara Jean, “I don’t have to be so afraid of good-bye because good-bye doesn’t have to be forever.” However, as good as the book was for the most part, it wasn’t very humorous. Also, I find it amazing that author Jenny Han doesn’t “ plan anything out and [doesn’t] write in chronological order.” Jenny Han really writes from the heart, which is why she did a good job in showing those lovey-dovey emotions, but I think adding more funny moments into the book would’ve made the characters appear to be more charming.

Before I even read the book or knew much about it, I watched the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Netflix-original movie. I completely fell for the motion picture and became obsessed with all the actors in the film. You bet after that I had insane expectations. As much as I liked it, I will admit that no movie is able to truly capture everything a book can, despite all the visuals. With the book, I was able to get more of a sense of bond between Lara Jean and her big sister Margot as well as friendship with Josh. Whereas in the movie, the main focus was the relationship between Peter and Lara Jean, not that I’m complaining. Still, in the movie, they cut out a huge date between the two lovebirds that was featured in the book, which I felt would have added a lot more to the movie. For the most part, the movie had an amazing cast that really brought the characters from the book to life. It left a lot of teenage girls swooning over Peter Kavinsky and wanting his relationship with Lara Jean.

All jokes aside, I loved both the movie and the book. The storyline overall is so adorable and like yet unlike other romantic comedies. Here’s one last inspirational quote from this novel, “But the little things are what make up life.” I’ll be back with a review on the second book in the series, P.S. I Still Love You!