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

To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Jenny Han

Published: April 15, 2014

Publisher: S&S Books for Young Readers

Age Demographic: YA Contemporary Romance

Pages: 369

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.

To Purchase a copy of To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han: Amazon & B&N

(Note: I received an ARC of this book through ATW ARC Tours in exchange for an honest review.)

Apparently the month of April was a Jenny Han month for me, because I had pretty much binged on most of her books. I ended up reading the whole Summer trilogy one right after the other, then read Fire With Fire, and finally received a gorgeous ARC of To All the Boys I've Loved Before in my mailbox right afterwards. To say that I love Jenny Han's writing style and her ability to tell a story in such a realistic and relatable way, is probably an understatement. The truth is, that within the last few years I've been reading quite a bit more contemporary books than I normally would have considered before I started my book blog and I've actually been really enjoying them. To All the Boys I've Loved Before, was absolutely sweet, funny, charming, and definitely emotionally charged. I had an absolute fantastic time reading it and found that I didn't want to put it down until I was finished with it.

The family dynamic was masterfully written and definitely managed to pull at my heart strings a bit. I loved how close the three sister's were, with their father and how they all interacted with one another. If something was happening with one of them, then it was happening with all of them. Each of them have wonderful appeal and different personalities that shined through the pages of this book in so many ways. Laura Jean, was beautifully fleshed out and such a wide-eyed optimistic hopeless romantic. I loved the fact that she sort of lived in her own little romance story and wrote all of these letter's to all the boys that she loved, but only kept them for herself as a way of letting them go when her heart felt like it was time for her to move on. 

It's not a surprise that it was a complete mess when all of those letter's that had been written, had been accidentally mailed to all of those boys. The humor and wit that was conveyed this this story was balanced really well with Laura Jean having to deal with the consequences from the fall out of those letter's having gotten out when they were never really supposed to have been seen at all by anyone, let alone the boys they were written to. Seeing the way that Laura Jean handled the situation was refreshing, because she acted just as any panicky teenage girl would in this situation, and I enjoyed that Jenny Han had written her reactions and feelings in such a realistic way. Jenny Han has such a wonderful way of building up amazing dynamic in her books, as well as allowing her characters to grow and evolved realistically from beginning to end. It's one of the reasons that I enjoy picking up her books and delving into the stories she creates.

It was so much fun reading about the two main crushes, Peter and Josh, because you never really knew which one was going to end up being the potential one to kick-start a real relationship off with Laura Jean. I know the one that I wanted her to be with, but I won't divulge that here, because I don't want to give too much away. Both of the guys were pretty amazing in their own ways. The romance part of this novel was so much fun, so if you're looking for an emotionally charged read that has some pretty good wit and humor peppered throughout it, then To All the Boys I've Loved Before will be right up your contemporary alley. It's that one book that you know you'll want to cram into your beach bag and take along with you for a relaxing day of fun summer light reading and sun.

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Jenny Han was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and she went on to graduate school at the New School in New York City, where she received her MFA in Writing for Children. She lives in Brooklyn. Her first novel was The Summer I Turned Pretty and her upcoming sequel to To All The Boys I've Loved Before is P.S. I Still Love You and will be releasing in 2015.

Book Review: Burn For Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Burn For Burn

by Jenny Han&Siobhan Vivian

Publisher: Simon&Schuster BYR

Publication Date: September 18, 2012

Pages: 368

Age Demographic: Young Adult/Adult Crossover

amazon | b&n

BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY...

THEY GET EVEN.



Lillia has never had any problems dealing with boys who like her. Not until this summer, when one went too far. No way will she let the same thing happen to her little sister.



Kat is tired of the rumours, the insults, the cruel jokes. It all goes back to one person– her ex-best friend– and she's ready to make her pay.



Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she's not the same girl anymore. And she's ready to prove it to him.



Three very different girls who want the same thing: sweet, sweet revenge. And they won't stop until they each had a taste.



* Summary taken from Goodreads.

❝My Thoughts❞

I'm not sure exactly where to begin with this book, because I absolutely loved every bit of it. What I thought was going to be a summer romance, quickly turned into a summer of revenge in the best possible way. Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian have really out done themselves with Burn For Burn. It was such an incredible and delightful, albiet scheming read from the start up until the end. It wasn't perfect, but it was wonderfully realistic and a bit rough around the edges in other aspects.



Kat is this fiesty girl from the wrong side of town who doesn't exactly care what people think of her. Mary is the one who's been hurt probably the most out of the three of them, and Lillia is just amazing any way you look at it. All of the girls were extremely fun to get to know and discover new things about. I was very happy to see the history fleshed out between Lillia and Kat and the return of their friendship re-instated by a little bout of sweet revenge. The three sort of became the most unlikely besties that were so much fun to read about. I definitely got a kick out of all of their schemes and motives behind why they wanted their revenge and who it would be exacted upon.



The writing style was very laid back and easy going, the book was just so much fun, and the character's were definitely interesting. It turned out to be a great read, that ended on such a cliff-hanger that I'm totally left craving more. I cannot wait until the next book in the series come out, because I'll definitely have a copy in my hands. There was some amazing mystery wafting around the atmostphere that lent itself well to the character growth, background, and integrated itself well into the story keeping me hooked and excited to read what was going to happen next. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys contemporary young adult fiction for sure. It would definitely make a worth read!

Want pre-order a copy of Burn For Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian?

You can do so by visiting my Amazon Store and adding them to your shopping cart. While you're there, feel free to look around, you might find something else you want. I hope you enjoyed reading my review of Burn For Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian. I definitely suggest you pick up a copy for yourself or even for someone else, if you think they'll like it.

JENNY HAN



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Jenny Han is an extremely talented YA author of the "summer series" which includes, The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You, and We'll Always Have Summer. Her favorite superhero is none other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer and if she was a beverage she would totally be cherry lemonade.

Author information taken from her dearjennyhan.com.

SIOBHAN VIVIAN



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Siobhan Vivian attended an art program very much like the one in Same Difference, during the summer before her senior year of high school. It was there that she discovered she was bad at drawing and good at writing. But she still keeps a sketchbook anyway.

Author information taken from her Goodreads.

{ This ARC was provided by ATW ARC Tours, in exchange for an honest review which I have provided. No money exchanged hands, I review books for fun because I love to read. I am not interested in monetary gain.}