Saturday, February 6, 2016

[Review] P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han 
Version: Hardcover FC
Rating: 3.5 stars

Release Date: May 26th 2015

Goodreads Synopsis:
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?
In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Timesbestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing.
I will start this off by saying I loved To All the Boys I Loved Before because I found it lighthearted and cute and reminiscent of teenage love. I was hoping PS I Still Love You captured that same charm and adorableness for me, but it didn't quite reach my expectations. Here's why.

So P.S. takes places directly after To All the Boys, with Lara Jean and Peter K now entering a real, not a fake relationship. Now they have to work out the dynamics of one and actually put in effort. At the same time, Lara Jean is facing backlash for making out in the hot tub with Peter, and everyone is calling her a slut.

First, I loved how Jenny Han tackled the double-standard of this slut-shaming - guys were congratulating Peter but girls were insulting Lara Jean, but regardless of that, Peter was still heroic and stood up for Lara Jean. You go Peter! And the stigma of needing to have sex once you're in a relationship with someone - I liked that Lara Jean stood her ground on that. Even if Peter had sex with Gen, he wasn't expecting the same of her, and Lara Jean definitely wasn't going to do it any time soon.

What remains the same from book 1 to book 2 are those quotes and passages that just make you stop and think. And they're extremely relatable.

People come in and out of your life. For a time they are your world; they are everything. And then one day they're not. There's no telling how long you will have them near... It's the goodbyes that are hard."
What I wasn't really a fan of in this book was the way it flowed. I read this in one sitting, but I felt like a good portion of the book didn't really have much purpose. In the first, Peter K and Lara Jean were pretending to be in a relationship all to make Josh jealous. The second one had the relationship, but most of the book I felt like nothing was really happening. The love triangle with John Ambrose McClaren didn't really feel like a love triangle, too. The buildup, too, with Gen's secret, also didn't seem as drastic as they made it up to be, although I understand Gen entirely with wanting to keep it a secret.

Lara Jean did remind me a lot of myself with how she handled Peter protecting Gen all the time instead of her. Oh, young high school love.

The book did have its cute moments with Lara Jean and Peter, and it did have its sad moments, but I preferred fluffiness of To All the Boys I've Loved Before, and wish there was a sequel to P.S.! That being said, the book did complete the series nicely, but I would like another book with these characters.



3 comments:

  1. I'm not at all a fan of Jenny Han's books and probably will never be but this was a great review. I just don't like Lara Jean to begin with anyway... but the guys seem swoony so I guess that's a good thing? HAHAHA!

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  2. I really enjoyed Jenny Han's The Summer Trilogy (or at least I did when I read them way back), but I wasn't a huge fan of To All the Boys. It was okay, but it wasn't my favorite, so I'm not sure if I will pick up P.S., but either way, great review, Raisa! I'm sad to hear it didn't quite meet your expectations though.

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  3. Sad you didn't like this one as much as you hoped but I get where you are coming from. I love the slut-shaming aspect, too! I think I preferred John over Peter though haha. This is one of those books where the love triangle didn't work out for me. I think I would've liked this as a standalone, to be honest.

    Jess @Princessica of Books

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