Upon first glance I did not think this book would be for me. I personally am not a fan of the "I love my sister's boyfriend" trope, but this book delivered a true heartfelt story showing the bonds of family that we tend to forget about in teen romance. Most of the time family fades to the background while your heroine gets the guy, but in TATBILB family and sisterly bonds takes the wheel. While being myself an only child, my best friend is one of three girls and I could see the reality of the relationships the entire time. I see people knocking this title because of the trope this is built on but I tell you now, it is so much more than that and so very worthy of attention. I was floored by how much this book sucked me in and kept me rooting for different players, one minute you may adore a character and the next be raging at them, all except for Kitty of course.
Lara Jean is the middle of the three Song sisters. Fiercely dedicated to family the Song girls are in constant company, having almost no other serious friendships outside of them. Except for Josh, the next door neighbor that has become a very integral part of all three of their lives. Lara has always harbored strong feelings for Josh, spending years pining for him, until one day her eldest sister announces that they're dating. Respecting both of their feelings Lara writes down all her feelings in a love letter she stores with four others in an old hat box in her closet. One day she comes to find her letters have been sent out to the five boys she's secretly written them to. Enter Peter Kavinsky, Lara's former crush from seventh grade, he confronts her about the letter and in a bizarre twist of fate they begin "fake dating". Lara can't afford Josh thinking she still has feelings for him (even though she does) and Peter wants to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. Faced with more feelings than she expected things take an unexpected turn for Lara and leaves her a lot of things to work out.
At which point you are cruelly shoved off a perilously high cliffhanger and fall to your doom awaiting the next book. I have seen a fair number of reviews complaining about Lara Jean being so naive but I implore you to take into account her sheltered existence. Lara Jean loses her mother at a young age and is left with her eldest sister manning the ship, a father that works almost all the time and a younger sister the two girls focus all their attention on. This is a character that knits and scrapbooks in her spare time, we all knew a girl like this in high school, so it was not difficult for me to accept her at face value. This is a strong novel with a lot of power behind it and its characters and definitely something you need to obtain ASAP.
0 comments:
Post a Comment