“To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” – Jenny Han (Series)

Dear Jenny Han,

You don’t know me, and I don’t really know you, but I wanted to write you a letter. You wrote a book, three books, which I cherish.

The first book, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” was the beginning of three such books. It started with Lara Jean Covey and her five beautiful, heartfelt, love letters. These letters made their way “mysteriously” to their recipients, unintended by our narrator. Stuck in a plot between getting help from an unlikely source (Peter Kavinsky) in staving off her feelings for her sisters (ex?) boyfriend Lara Jean navigates her way through the treachery that is modern day high school, while simultaneously navigating her way into the readers’ hearts.

Lara Jean is a wonderful narrator, she’s funny, quirky, nerdy, desperate, independent, emotional, aloof. She expresses real feelings and conveys actual dilemmas while being just the ride side of a cliche girl. I love that she is Korean-American and that while it is part of her character it does not define her. I love that she is kind of a loser, but has no desire to force herself into any situation just to be “cool”. I love that even when she does put herself in situations where she is surrounded by popularity she doesn’t change at her core. I love that she grows and develops but that she remains wonderfully herself.

“P.S. I Still Love you”
In the second installment of this beautiful trilogy you show us that the heart is fickle, and people are even more so. The struggles and fallouts from the first book bring new characters to light in the form of John Ambrose McLaren. Finding more to love in him than met the eye. Exploring Stormy and all her stories. Of course, I enjoyed ever minute of delving into the life of Ms. Rothschild. Josh and Margo, kitty and Dad… And Peter. Sweet, wonderful, keep him forever in your heart Peter. As sequels go you are one of the best.

“Always and Forever, Lara Jean”
Conclusions are beautiful. They can be messy, they can hurt, they can make you cry, laugh, and scream. Wrapping up a world, saying goodbye to characters you got to watch grow feels like saying goodbye to friends. But goodbye is always so much easier when everything is wrapped neatly with a bow.

Miss Han, I must inform you that your novels were splendid; dare I even say a delight. Thank you for writing them and sharing your talent and characters with the world.

Love, always and forever,

xoxo

 

“The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” – Carolyn Mackler

Fifteen year old Virginia Shreves finds herself floundering through her youth. Her best friend has flown across the country, she’s struggling with body image issues, a family crisis has taken over her life, she’s stopped seeing her kind-of-sort-of-not-boyfriend… everything culminates in a series of destructive behaviours, bold moves, and attempts to find who she truly is.

I thought the book was good… Growing up chunky I could relate a bit to most of Virginia’s problems. Except the whole being super rich part, and scarfing down any food that came at me. (despite my hefty size I don’t generally over-eat.) Anyway, her list, “The Fat Girl Code of Conduct” was something I would have written back in high school:
1. Any sexual activity is a secret. No public displays of affection.
2. Don’t discuss your weight with him.
3. Go further than skinny girls. If you can’t sell him on your body, you’d better overcompensate with sexual perks.
4. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever push the relationship thing.

But I think that overall the novel doesn’t give itself enough room to grow. I think that everything in the book was wrapped up too simply. I don’t think that the struggles of the character were overall written out in a way that was realistic to most readers. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the book. I just think that it was a bit too… structured. Like there is a script for “how to write a teen book for outcast fat chicks”.

I like that the message of the novel is positive. I like that it has a female power and energy to it. I like that it discussed healthy weight loss versus unhealthy weight loss. I like that it touched on self harm and eating disorders. But it didn’t really delve fully into any of these things, just the briefest of mentions. That’s also part of what I liked about it though. As a person who has had issues with: eating, self harming, depression, anxiety, overall bad juju I can say from experience that one day I would be bouncing around the room starting exercise regiments and the next day I would be taking paperclips to my skin and waiting for the pain. I mean, that’s a lot how Virginia is too. She doesn’t always have a consistent method of dealing with her emotions. And I think that’s valid of someone her age in her situation. That being said;  there were a lot of stereotypes in this book. Fat kid = unpopular. Popular kid = jerk. Plus, a lack of character development on some of the side characters. I understand that that’s how a lot of high school teen novels are so I’m not condemning it, just pointing it out. I think that the book was good, but it had potential to be great.