To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han

Got this because I wanted to watch the movie on Netflix but wanted to read the book first, and I had heard such good things about both. 

Now that I have read it, I am so very tempted to run out and buy book 2 and 3 right now!!! I will hold off until tomorrow but it isn't easy!! I want to spend more time with Lara Jean. I want to know how her heart is. I want to know what happens with Margot and Kitty. And I want to know how the Song girls do with Jamie Fox-Pickle. 

I loved this story, ok well I loved the story telling more than the story, though the story was really good. I loved that Jenny Han writes a beautiful story without feeling the need to sex it up. Many YA books include overly sexualized teens. I think it does teens and young adults a huge disservice when sex is used to move a story forward and it serves no purpose. I don't for a second mean to imply a story with sex in it isn't ok, I just think it isn't always needed and there is a talent to story telling in such a way that it doesn't sink to, ah ok, I have it, I think we all know sex sells, we see it in advertising all the time. And sex has its place in story telling, but it is lazy story telling to use sex rather than have it as part of a well told story. Lara Jean is a good girl and there isn't anything wrong with that. She has feelings and thoughts and explores that but if she were to have sex it would have felt like it was out of character for her. And that is what I am getting out. When an author lays out who a character is and then throws sex into the story because it sells, that is lazy and bad story telling. Ok enough about sex. 

Something I really appreciated about Lara Jean's story is how important her heritage is to her and her sisters and even to her dad. He is white, her mother was Korean. Without her mom there anymore her dad still makes sure the girls stay connected to their Korean side of their heritage and it is lovely to see that embraced. It isn't a huge part of the story, but it is mentioned, the things that sometimes happen or are said to Lara Jean, like at Halloween people assuming what ever she is is an anime/manga character. 

What to all the boys I've loved before is is a story about family, young love, the love and bond between sisters, and the process of learning who you are and what you feel as you grow up. It is a subtle and wonderful told story. I was so pleasantly surprised and how the Netflix movie does it justice. 

(Finished August 21, 2018)