All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Title: All the Bright Places 

Author: Jennifer Niven

Publisher: Knopf

Publication Date: January 6th, 2015

Genre: YA/Fiction/Romance

Length: 378 pages

Source: Book Depository

Theodore Finch wants to take his own life. I’m broken and no one can fix it. Violet Markey is devasted by her sister’s death. In that moment we went plowing through the guardrail my words died too. They meet on the ledge of the school bell tower, and so their story begins. It’s only there that they can be themselves… I send a message to Violet: You are all the colors in one, at full brightness. You’re so weird, Finch. But that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. How far will Violet go to save the boy she has come to love?

Finch is considered a freak by most that know him, no-one special often contemplating suicide. Violet is popular and pretty, however the moment her older sister Eleanor dies, she feels as though nothing will ever make her happy. Violet gets into a near death situation when she nearly falls of the school bell tower, when she’s saved by Finch (who’s there due to his suicidal thoughts) and they become friends. After Finch asks to be partners with Violet for a group project, they explore various parts of the state they live in (Indiana) together. Violet realizes she loves Finch however, one day after doing their project, they fall asleep and only wake up in the morning. Violet’s parents are very upset due to the fact that they didn’t know where Violet was and were scared something had happened to her (like to her older sister Eleanor). Therefore thinking it is Finch’s fault they decide he poses as a bad influence on Violet and not allow her to see him anymore (Romeo and Juliet Cliché alert). Juliet… I mean Violet realizes how depressed and suicidal Finch is and she’s determined to save him from himself no matter at what cost…

I don’t think I’ve experienced this much heartbreak since Fault in Our Stars. Why Augustus, WHY????!! This might include some spoilers but let me just tell you, you don’t see the end coming and when it comes it hits you with all it’s force right in the feels. While I don’t think this is going to be the next FIOS I did really like the book and the way it talked about suicide and identity. I just feel that there are now more and more books about teens dealing with bullying, mental as well as anxiety disorders and depression which opens up the way to talk about it more instead of it being considered something you just keep to yourself and don’t talk about with others such as your loved ones and friends. 

Some parts were a little corny, and to be honest I kept liking and then not liking the characters because they just seemed so childish. They were really more like fourteen or fifteen year olds than eighteen year olds nearly adults. I can see how so many people think it’s going to be the next FIOS as the main character Theodore Finch is very similar to Augustus Waters up to the point where you have to think about the possibility that the author (Jennifer Niven) definitely was heavily influenced by FIOS... For example Finch also sometimes has an unlit cigarette playing with the idea whether he should light it (even though Augustus’s explanation for why he didn’t light it was so much better), Finch is also an outcast like Augustus and has this strange and a little mysterious, poetic side to him when he plays with analogies, and generally words, sometimes quotes by famous long dead authors (even though honestly quotes by long dead authors are more of Miles’s Halter’s thing if you ask me)…

The Events are mostly pretty unpredictable which is always good and let me tell you that the way some of the places this story takes place is being described really wants me to be there. I would not re-read the book but the one time I did read it I enjoyed it. Everything is pretty fast paced in the book so there weren’t really any parts in which I was bored but I sometimes felt that there wasn’t enough character development as I didn’t really associate with the characters, and the time the author could have used for character development was used up by the awesome (but long) descriptions of the places they went and what they did instead of focusing on the characters themselves.

It’s hard to choose what my absolutely favorite part was because there were so many heartwarming scenes but I do have two favorites. One of them is when there’s this part in the book where Finch is returning back home in his car after (unsuccessfully) trying to do a part of the project himself since Violet is busy, and he decides that going by car is too slow, gets out and runs to the nearest villages which is miles away. He then proceeds to find a flower nursery (which is closed) but begs the owners to let him in as it’s a matter of “life and death”. They let him in and after choosing a whole bucket of flowers for Violet (which you guessed it, includes violets) he tries to pay them however the really sweet owners let him have them for free. The other one is when the two of them are doing their project and one of the places is a garden owned by this man, in which there are two homemade rollercoasters (only seating one person though) which Finch and Violet drive a billion times. That was also a really nice description as well as book part. 

The only reason I’m not giving this the full amount of stars is the characters and the character development thing but it is a good book so read it if you have the time!

Persepolis (Book 1 and 2)

Title: Persepolis (The Complete Persepolis)

Author: Marjane Satrapi

Publisher: Pantheon

Publication Date: October 30th, 2007

Genre: Non-fiction/Memoir/Young Adult

Length: 341 pages

Source: Book Depository

The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-granddaughter of Iran’s last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis points an unforgettable portrait of daily in Iran and the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. This is a beautiful and intimate story full of tragedy and humor- raw, honest, and incredibly illuminating.

I already wrote about this book and how much I loved it in my 2016 Summer Book Haul, so I’ll just basically quote myself and put that in here as I though it explained the synopsis of the novel well.

“For anyone who does not know Persepolis, just please find it on Amazon and read the first six pages. Like right now and return to this post when you’re ready for the amazingness that is Marjane Satrapi’s work. Her work is similar to Malala Yousefzai’s in means of speaking up for what she believes is right with the exception of instead of a book, being a graphic novel. It’s so honest and raw discussing themes like parents, education, identity, drugs, first love, growing up, and doing what you love no matter what. It’s sounds so close to home yet it was written by a woman who grew up during the Muslim revolution in Iran, under circumstances so different from my own. If anything it shows how much teens feel alike no matter the culture or circumstances they grew up in it’s this very book. And while I know many people have this weird bias against graphic novels “because they’re like comics” I can’t imagine this book in any other format but with beautiful minimalist black and white images drawn by Satrapi herself depicting her childhood in Iran and Vienna.”

+I’ve just discovered the amazing thing that is a graphic novel, and so far, reading about five ones considered popular by the general public, I have to say: “Yes, these are very much like comics.” And Yes I know you might be thinking “Is that actually everything you want to say about them??!” and “Are you saying that graphic novels aren’t “real” books.” Well here’s the thing: many people hate on graphic novels because “They aren’t actual books.” and “They are just text with pictures, but mostly pictures.” But really a graphic novel is just a medium through which an author gives us information and I can’t imagine Persepolis any other way. 

+I’ve actually read the first book a long time ago as the series is made up of two books, however since I wanted to order the second and there was an opportunity to buy a book including both books at the same price as one, I jumped at the opportunity. I feel like I can say that overall both books were about the same regarding the quality of the story and writing, and there weren’t any significant changes from one book to the other regarding the style the author wrote in. However, I do feel that the first book was meant to be a little more fast paces with twists and turns happening every chapter (or at least the way it was written as it’s an autobiography), while the second book is more fluent and you just can’t stop reading due to how soothing it is to just read on. Truth be told this is one of those books which you can’t wait to continue reading when you have the time, and can just spend hours in this time vortex, not knowing how long you’ve been reading.

+Actually occasionally I do this thing where I don’t necessarily even have to be bored with a book, but I’m just obsessed with how much progress I made. For example I’ll constantly flip to the end to see how many pages there are in all, then subtract it by the number of the page I’m currently on to see how many more pages until the end. Truth be told, I tend to do that a lot. Most books really. It is however helpful to help me measure how much I enjoy the book at certain times and the book overall. If I don’t do this often or not at all, I know I’m reading a really good book. I can say I don’t really remember doing this a single time for the duration of the entire book.

+Marjane herself is a very likable character and maybe the reason why I loves this book was because she was so well developed and it just really made me feel like I was talking with a good friend instead of of reading.

+Reading Persepolis was incredible because for example there was this time when she said that she wanted to be a communist because communists were all equal. And I, having grown up in a country in which there was communism (after WW2) which meant that of course I had my bias and my opinion about it, and here is someone saying they want to be a communist... I was really puzzled at this because I grew up being told communism was not at all that equal for everyone, and here is a girl who I think is really nice and seems kind, wanting to be something I was disgusted by. Yet I realized I still liked her, I still liked the character. It made me do a lot of thinking, and I realized how different people’s perspectives can be about things which you don’t necessarily have to like, but understand what they mean, for example I can see why Marjane thought communism would be a good thing, as she believed it would bring equality to a country which needed it.

-The only thing I did not like was the size of the lettering. I know it isn’t very important and it’s not like it changes the story or characters, but still. It being a graphic novel just kind of makes me realize things I usually would’t even though they are in a regular book as well, for example the size of the lettering and the font. This brings me to the last point  which is about the illustrations.

+If you haven’t seen Marjane Satrapi’s work before (because you’re incredibly stubborn and didn’t check it out when I told you to) her work is all black and white and incredibly illuminating (that’s what the blurb said) yet it can go from light and fun to outright depressing and sometimes poetic as when she describes war in Iran (have you ever heard anyone say that a graphic novel is poetic? Because if no, you should stop reading and order that ish right now.

I recommend Persepolis to anyone and everyone, actually it should be mandatory for EVERYONE.

Summer 2016 Book Haul

Hi people out there currently on my blog! 

Summer vacation is finally here! Which means more time to read stuff, write stuff, and also actually have a good night’s sleep for once. And what better way is there to get ready for nine weeks of essentially doing nothing than buy books? LOTS OF BOOKS. Because now, you’re finally allowed to not be productive and do math all the time. In my school we actually don’t have any mandatory reading for thirteen year olds, but I asked the two English teachers in my school to borrow me their copy of books they want their students to read. One list is for fourteen year olds which I turned this June, and the other list is for secondary three to four, so the equivalent of sixteen to seventeen year olds. As soon as I got my hands on the list I rushed to the bookstore closest to my house, (which is still pretty far as I live in a village with no bookstores) while my parents were buying necessary, boring commodities such as sun lotion and toilet paper. So the first list is about two pages long while the second one is around four. That’s right, four pages of book recommendations written in Times New Roman 11pt. I know it’s amazing, it’s basically like this good book cheat sheet for whenever you can’t control yourself and step into a bookstore to spend all your life savings! I am however lucky enough to have an amazing family that supports my hobbies, so since my grandparents were visiting for my birthday they actually got me a couple of books from the list, and I payed for the rest. 

Disclaimer: I did not actually buy all of these books in one day (as the nonexistent rules of a book haul state), however they were bought within three days of each other, more or less at least… I did buy one of these online from www.bookdepository.com which is my go-to site for buying books not available in Eastern Central Europe, however I bought all the rest of them in the same store. Basically the first day (when my grandparents were there) I ended up buying four books and three days later I was in the same mall and saw them unpack some of the books on my list, so after an (unsuccessful) moment of looking for them myself, the lady working there was nice enough to approach me and help me find three more which I also bought. Altogether that’s 8 books, plus the two books I got for my Name’s Day. I had a couple of friends from the U.S. in school who told me they don’t , that is really a lot. Anyways here’s a list of some of the books that I bought and the reason why they grabbed my attention while going through the list.

The Martian by Andy Weir I have (obviously) heard about the movie which came out (this year?), but I haven’t seen it since I’m the kind of person that either sees four movies in one month or none at all.This was the week I wasn’t going to the cinema and now I’m really delighted that past me didn’t go as the pleasure of reading the book wouldn’t be as strong. I’m actually nearly done reading it today (40 pages to go) and hopefully a review will be up soon. However reader be aware that there is a lot of complicated Physics and Math stuff going on. The book is basically complicated Physics and Math stuff voiced over by a smart ass character who is admittedly really funny but the Math is just… no…. like no… The whole reason of me reading is avoiding math. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald I just realized and this is really random, but it’s weird how I have two books here that both have movie adaptations and the leading actors who played in them competed with each other for an Oscar for the best male leading actor. Can you guess who they are? (Answer: Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon from the before mentioned book: The Martian.) Anyways, as for the Great Gatsby itself, everyone kind of has that movie that they feel is just so comforting. Like whenever you have a bad day at school or a bad day in general you just feel like watching it twice in a row while eating Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter cups ice cream. The Great Gatsby is just this movie that essentially get’s better whenever I re-watch it (if that’s believable). Since I loved the movie so much, the book being on the list finally gave me an excuse to at last read it. This is in point of fact the book I bought online, and when it comes to books I just can’t resist finding a good price for a book I’ve been looking for forever. This version cost like 3 euro something, yet I panicked when it finally came in the mail because it was wafer thin (only 120 or 130 pages) when in reality I have already seen a The Great Gatsby book and it was around 300 pages. I really despise accidentally buying condensed versions of books, and although it did say it was unabridged (so it should be the full version) I still don’t see how they got it from 300 pages to a 100… I just don’t trust those types of things. That’s what I get for being a cheap skate (sighs).

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchet Phew, I’m finally going to read a Terry Pratchet book! I feel like every bookworm has like a list of books that have to read at some point and Terry Pratchet is nearly always present. I feel that people either love or hate him, and he has books that you just find sold in like random airplane bookstores and train stations by the magazines, so I thought I might finally give him a try. Admittedly one of the problems to buying my first Terry Pratchet book was that I didn’t know where to start? He just has so many books, which are divided into sub series, but somehow the order doesn’t matter? I don’t know. What really helped me and came in handy was this chart from Epic Reads which had a pretty cool graph on how to get into Terry Pratchet. Inserts link somewhere here: 

All the Light we cannot See by Anthony Doerr I don’t know a whole lot about this book except that it won best (something) genre for the year 2015 and since it already was on my reading list before I thought I would try it.

Perfume by Patrick Suskind Murderer? Perfume? Innocent women? Famous? Paris? That’s about everything I need to know and since we’re going to France this year for summer vacation, and we might see Paris for a day or two I’m leaving this book for then, plus it’s small so I can carry it around when we bike or sight see.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Recommend to me by my mom as well as my English teacher, worth a read. Also can we talk about how pretty the cover is? At least my edition which I’m sure will soon appear on my Instagram is!

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Classic. I legit don’t know anything about this book except that it’s supposedly one of the first real dystopian books. Maybe like divergent?

The Circle by Dave Eggers Retelling of  Brave New World but a little more modern? 

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne A puritan woman commits adultery in a the strict puritan society and has a child. She is made to wear a scarlet colored letter “A” on all her clothing to tell everyone she meets she’s an adulterer. 

Persepolis (both book 1 and 2 edition) by Marjane Satrapi For anyone who does not know Persepolis, just please find it on Amazon and read the first six pages. Like right now and return to this post when you’re ready for the amazingness that is Marjane Satrapi’s work. Her work is similar to Malala Yousefzai’s in means of speaking up for what she believes is right with the exception of instead of a book, being a graphic novel. It’s so honest and raw discussing themes like parents, education, identity, drugs, first love, growing up, and doing what you love no matter what. It’s sounds so close to home yet it was written by a woman who grew up during the Muslim revolution in Iran, under circumstances so different from my own. If anything it shows how much teens feel alike no matter the culture or circumstances they grew up in it’s this very book. And while I know many people have this weird bias against graphic novels “because they’re like comics” I can’t imagine this book in any other format but with beautiful minimalist black and white images drawn by Satrapi herself depicting her childhood in Iran and Vienna.

There it is! I hope you guys are having an amazing vacay (and have lots to read) in the comments down below tell me what book you want to read during summer vacation!

Stay Awesome,

Nina

The Teen Page Turner

My Thoughts on “Guilty Pleasure” Books

What even are “Guilty Pleasure Books”?!

Hi Guys! If you’re a bookworm, you know your weekend plans are all already planned, (wake up, then decide to sleep in, if a book is in reach distance, spend another hour in bed reading, if getting a book results in you having to stand up, have breakfast first since you’re already up) I found myself in a situation like this, this very morning and the book that happened to be within reach distance was Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophia Kinsella. I never read book reviews before reading a book as they very often (even accidentally) tend to spoil it for me, however this was a rare case and I decided to read the review first as I have already read the book, therefore there was nothing really left to spoil. I was relatively surprised about how many times the words “a perfect/my favorite guilty pleasure book showed up in these reviews. First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been exposed to the term “guilty pleasure book” before, and second of all my natural curiosity took over and I decided to investigate a little into this, for me un-known term. Of course I kind of deduced what it meant but just to be sure I Googled.

Except a few Buzzfeed links such as but not limited to: “30 Guilty Pleasure 

Books that are in Fact Awesome” This not only indicated that they thought “guilty pleasure” books are generally not awesome, but I was also surprised to find that a whole bunch of books were on there, that I really didn’t expect to be a guilty pleasure book at all. Divergent? Inkheart? The princess bride? Hmm… Doesn’t seem right… Also I discovered that there were certain books I realized I was not surprised to find on the list including Gossip Girl and the Vampire Academy series, which made me think that there were perhaps certain books that were different, but I wasn’t yet sure how. After more “research” many sites said they were books that were read more for their entertainment level than anything else. I vastly disagree with this, since aren’t all books used for entertainment? Why would you read a book if it’s not any fun? Why? This just made my task of simplifying the meaning of this phrase harder. In the end I decided that it was probably a book you felt guilty about reading. I don’t know what about you, but I doubt I have ever read a book at home or even in public and felt guilty or ashamed of doing so, just because it wasn’t a classic, or contained the word “vampires”. 

Also, the word itself is a little unfair to certain books as it indicates that they just aren’t as good as classics or other books. Bookism? Like Racism but for books? Then again, the word never seemed to be used in a negative way, in fact, most times it had a positive connotation. 

Concluding thoughts: The term “guilty books” is very mysterious, and while it doesn’t have a straight on definition, it indicates a chic flick sort of book which doesn’t give you any value as a reader from reading it. I don’t really like the phrase, as it indicates some books are lesser than others, and also that you don’t learn anything from them. If I learned anything from being a book addict for years, a phrase even more important to me than “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” is “No matter whether a book is big or small, whether old or new, classic or chick flick, you will learn something from it. At least one thing if not more, that will stay with you, or a quote that will speak to you, no matter how un-important or “guilty pleasure” the book seems at first.”

Whew, that was a long post! I think I kind of got carried away at some point. If you got this far thank you so much for having the time to read through! I’m kind of thinking about doing a mini-series about bookish words or phrases, so I’ll see how that goes, however I can’t promise anything, as you guys probably noticed that I haven’t posted in a long time due to end-of-the-year-exams. I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much. In the comments down below tell me what your thoughts are! Do you agree? Or maybe not? Do you have any suggestions what the act of discrimination towards some books should be called? 

The Teen Page Turner,

Nina

Waiting On Wednesday 5# Wink Poppy Midnight

Waiting On Wednesday 5# 

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke 

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times but you’ve got to admit this cover’s cover is on fleek. I mean, the black, red, and green combination? Classy. Also the illustrations are super cute, kind of cartoon like, yet very detail oriented. And I know, I know, you aren’t supposed to judge books by their cover, but judging is a negative right? So, you’re allowed to think that the book is better than it maybe is, because you think the cover is gorgeous.   I really don’t know a whole lot about this book except of there being a love triangle between characters named Wink, Poppy, and Midnight. I also know Wink is supposed to be an odd mysterious redhead, Poppy is the blonde, beautiful, and manipulative queen bee, and Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Hmm… Can I just make the wild assumption that Wink gets together with Midnight at the end? It just sounds kind of cool, very different from usual young adult literature, so I thought it might be good to try it. Hope this author is good at writing romance though, because let me tell you it’s not easy, and it seems like this love triangle is the center of the story. Case in point: Avatar the Last Airbender (not the terrible movie with blue people but the cartoon one). I mean, are the characters, plot, jokes, descriptions, script, and anything else you can think of amazing? Yes, yet the romances in the series are very poor, and while you know the writers can just make an amazing plot, that doesn’t mean they’re good at romance. Anyways I “ehm ship Katara and prince Zuko ehm ehm”. Because everyone knows Aang belongs with Toph... Also using the names of the three main characters is a very creative idea.

P.S. I Still Love You

Title: P.S. I Still Love You

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Publication Date: 2015

Genre: YA/Fiction/Romance

Length: 337 pages

Source: Provided by the publisher

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter. She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever. When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

This short description contains spoilers if you haven’t already read the first book. Lara Jean and Peter finally get together to Lara Jean’s relief, only for a very intimate video with her and Peter to be leaked onto an Instagram page called Annoybitch by someone (assumed to be the before mentioned Peter’s jealous sadistic ex Genevieve). Lara Jean finds out that Peter doesn’t believe her that Genevieve was the one who did it, and starts realizing that maybe Peter isn’t ready to let go of Genevieve just yet. This of course upsets her, and makes her reevaluate their relationship which gets attacked over and over by the jealous Genevieve.

I started reading this right after To All the Boys I’ve loved before due to my excitement about this duology. I mean strong main character emotionally as well as academically, and then “boom” it kind of disappoints you. I mean don’t get me wrong, this book is so much better than most sequels, however since the first book was so good I kind of had high expectations. It would still be great if it was a standalone book, but the anticipation kind of adds up to your overall feeling about this book.

Because after all, you’ve probably gotten your heart broken by a sequel so bad you stated questioning the first book. Also, no matter how many times you experience it, it never really gets easier when it happens again. Am I being too dramatic? Definitely not, I mean have you read this book?? And,you know what’s worse? Experiencing a mild trauma after the sequel lives up to your expectations, and is maybe even better than the first book (this says a lot as it isn’t common) and then in like the last two pages which completely make you furious to the point where you want to discuss it with strangers on the world wide web… Why, hello there! 

Why did I go into such extent in explaining this? Well, this book is all of those things.Did it exceed my expectations? Yes. Was it better than the first book? Probably. Was the ending terrible and made me throw up in my mouth a little? Yep. How could a book’s ending be so disappointing you ask? Well, when you first meet Lara Jean’s love interest/boyfriend you’re like well maybe the author is just bad at romance? You know that’s okayTo sum it all up, I ship Lara Jean and John nearly as much as I ship prince Zuko and Katara. I mean, aren’t they perfect together (both of them). I’m actually starting to see a lot of similarities here! I mean both the writer (of P.S. I Still Love You) and the creators (of Avatar: The Last Airbender, not the blue one, don’t insult me reader!) both make a perfect match and then (possibly intentionally or maybe not, no one is really sure, take that perfect match and pair them up with someone we know they wouldn’t be anything more than friends if they weren’t made to be couple. 

Okay, second problem with the book: Peter. I know the author is trying to pull of the classic nerdy girl thinks she hates the popular guy but then realizes she loves him, only to realize that the popular guy loves her as well and dumps his popular and pretty girlfriend for her. It’s the classical Cinderella plot, except prince charming is the bad boy which is amazing at sports and gets invited to all the parties, (extra points if he’s also the quarterback and his girlfriend is a cheerleader in their school football team). Because let’s face it this happens in books more than we like to admit, yet the author likes to think she’s the first one to ever invent this plot twist. Ever heard of the Duff? Or John Tucker must die? Or every teen movie ever? At this point, no one can pull it off without being repetitive. You could basically write an every teen book ever book report, and if you just didn’t list the character’s names get away with it. What I don’t like about Peter is that he’s this character that loves Lara Jean yet defends his old girlfriend because she was his first girlfriend. Even if it’s obvious that Lara Jean is right, like all of the time. Who even are you Peter? A polyamorist? Okay that escalated quickly. But you know what I mean right? He’s like oh no, she’s only my very good friend and then they kiss and Lara Jean stops talking to him for like a day and then they just get back together. This basically describes the love triangle in this Jenny Han duology. but maybe, she just loves him too much to bear the thought of leaving him, I wouldn’t know because I would have long dumped someone as un-gentleman like as Peter Kavinsky. I mean really? He told everyone to call him only Kavinsky as it sounds cool.

 Maybe I’m getting so worked up over nothing, but a character like Lara Jean deserves someone better. Like I don’t know John? Ugh, I ship them so much!!! I mean I was so excited that the author was getting so good at romance, and maybe even that she purposefully used Kavinsky as Lara Jean’s first boyfriend to show that there is someone for everyone out there. You know as an example that if she didn’t take charge, she would have ended up with him. Yeah, no such luck. Because at the very end Lara Jean get’s together with Peter at the very last moment, because she feels bad about leaving him, or for some other totally barmy reason. 

After saying all that, it also had many strong points. The book had strong characters, discussed the loss of a loved one as well as love. And while Lara Jean was an okay main character I have to stay there were many characters I liked more than her. That’s another thing about this book duo logy: It has these complex characters and even though there are many of them, they somehow don't seem to be pushed into the story. Another interesting narration and story choice is Lara Jean being half American, and half Korean. Except of Park from Eleanor and Park, I don’t remember any character from a renowned book that is not American or British. It’s true that having American or British characters helps make the book more relatable, however having a character (even more if it’s the main character or one of the main characters) that is a nationality that the reader might not know a lot or perhaps know only very little about, adds this new depth and opportunity for the author to expand and maybe compare and contrast their culture to ours.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Title: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Publication Date: April 15, 2014

Genre: YA/Fiction/Romance

Length: 358 pages

Source: Amazon

Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. One for every boy she's ever loved. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say 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.

Lara Jean is a sixteen year old half Korean, half American teen living with alone with her American father and two sisters since her mother’s death. Lara Jean likes collecting things, one of the things being long love letters she wrote to each of her crushes or loves. She keeps them in a teal box which her mother gave her for no one to ever see, until one day they all get mailed by accident. 

Okay, first of all let me tell you something about this book’s ratings. I was completely shocked to see adults saying this book was rubbish just because 1. Lara Jean has a crush on her sister’s ex-boyfriend (which seems ridiculous because is she not allowed to have a crush on him? If she likes him should she just not talk about it because it may seem strange to some readers?) I really doubt that’s something she can control, and through most of her book her relationship with him is written as a brother and sister relationship which she realizes and accepts like a complete adult. 2. People say her best friend Chris was an outrageous, loud slut. Yes, they actually said that about a teen fictional character. I will acknowledge that Chris can be a bit over the top sometimes but so is this comment. And, does no one care that Lara Jean is being bullied in school by a her “boyfriend’s” sadistic ex? Is the only thing they care about her best friend (who that makes her feel better and completely understands her) likes being the centre of attention when there are boys around? 4.The book had no ending. Am I the only one who realizes there’s a sequel?! Plus I thought the ending was kind of cliché romantic but still sweet.

Okay and now to the review. You know how sometimes you have badass main female characters, and then you have the shy, introspective, often girly main characters? You know, the one that often wears pastel color, whose hobbies include riding her vintage bike to the flea market full of vintage finds, and whose bedroom looks like something out of a teen Tumblr post? Well you just defined Lara Jean in one sentence. Sure, she has different qualities such as kind, polite and considered to be “quirky” whatever that means, but sometimes it’s a little painful to watch her perfection, and her forever talking about how average and up-pretty she is. She isn’t trying to sound whiny, but it just comes out that way. Also, when will we have a main character in YA with faults? While, that aspect of her personality was very frustrating (at least to me) at times, Lara Jean is a great main character. She’s optimistic, even though I agree sometimes a little bit childish about handling things, but she’s herself. What do I mean by childish? Often, she is troubled by what others think about her, and sometimes she puts herself down for no reason, and it kind of seems like she’s fishing for compliments.

One of the things I really liked about the story, was how her siblings played a huge part in the plot and story. Her entire family really. They aren’t just labelled as good siblings or bad siblings only to put away and later be brought up in dialogues convenient for the author, (most of the time in family fights) they’re there. A huge part of our lives are spent with siblings and you can’t just change them with a best friend instead in a book. Her relationship with her dad and sisters just seemed really real.

I thought the writing style would bore me, but over time I got used to it and really started liking it! It’s this mix of childhood memories, hopes, and dreams that will leave you all warm and fuzzy inside. While it wasn’t “funny”, it had plenty of sweet moments which just made you smile. I can’t wait to read the second book, (which is taunting me from right next to me on my bedside table) so I have to go! But the book has good characters, a memorable plot, and even though most of the story consists of Lara Jean’s thoughts it still manages to be exciting without a lot of plot twists, simply because you care about the main character and possibly see your younger (or older) self in her.