Book Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

I rated it 4 out of 5 stars.

Overview: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

Review: Big kudos to the marketing department for this book. I adored the cover! But anyway, never have I ever read any of Jenny Han's books. So I didn't really plan on reading this one either, but since it was on the New York Times Best-selling list for Young Adults, I decided to give it a try.

The concept was an interesting one, so I went along with the story even though I was turned off with the voice of the MC in the first couple of pages. She just didn't seem 16. She sounded more like 14. It wasn't until one third through that I actually started liking her due to her slowly changing and growing up.

I rated the book a 4 due to the 'cute' story line and the character relationships. The pace was great, it kept me turning pages so that I finished the book in one sitting. Normally, if I'm glued to a book and read it all the way through I would give it a 5, but I didn't for this one because I thought the writing was very simple. Like too simple. I'm not expecting something literary just a better enough prose for me to believe she's 16. Also, the descriptions I felt were lacking and sparse. I couldn't really picture some of the characters in my mind or the setting. Which is kinda funny, because when it comes to food, Han is very vivid.

Overall though, I enjoyed it and will definitely read the sequel (because I need to know what happens!). I've heard that Han's debut novel is pretty good, so I just bought it on my kindle. Maybe Han will make a fan of me afterall.