Updated on January 28th, 2025
Next week is Valentine’s Day, and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han would be a great read for this romantic holiday.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through my links, but there is no extra cost to you.
Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That’s the part of the risk. I don’t want to be scared anymore.
I ended up watching the movie before I realized To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was a book, so I will briefly compare the book and movie. The book follows 16-year-old Lara Jean who wrote 5 love letters to the boys she has loved and kept them to herself. However, one day the letters are mysteriously mailed and her crushes from her past confront her and cause her seemingly normal life to spiral out of control.
The movie did follow the plot of the book well, but of course, the book has numerous scenes excluded from the movie, and the timeline is more spread out in the book. Even though I knew the basic plot from the movie, I still thought the plot in the book was entertaining and I enjoyed every second of reading it. My favorite part of both the book and movie is hands down the class ski trip.
As far as likability, Lara Jean is a likable character, but at times she can seem immature for a 16-year-old. Lara Jean’s sisters, as well as her friends, are also likable, and of course, Gen, the school’s popular girl, is unlikable and adds drama to Lara Jean’s life. I also admire Lara Jean’s dad for raising 3 girls after their mother’s death, and it was interesting to see how the family relationship developed since then. Both the ending of the book and movie were sweet endings, but I actually preferred the movie ending since it was not as abrupt. The book was definitely fun to read.
Overall, I recommend reading To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han if you like young adult romance novels with a cute plot and likable characters.
Available at Bookshop
Rate: 9/10
If you would like to read my reviews of the other books in the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series, you can read them here:
- P.S. I Still Love You (the second book in the series)
- Always and Forever, Lara Jean (the third book in the series)
I really enjoyed the movie but now that I know there’s a book I might check it out, especially if there is an audio book! Thanks for sharing!
I really enjoyed this book and I thought it was overall a pretty good book to movie adaptation! I admit though, I agree, I kind of liked the movie ending better!
I’m glad to hear you liked both the book & movie! 😊 Yes the movie ending is better!