Always and Forever, Lara Jean - Review

Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, # 3)

By: Jenny Han

Publication: April 4th 2017 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

320 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Lara Jean’s letter-writing days aren’t over in this surprise follow-up to the New York Times bestselling To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You.

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

You guys, I was so torn when I heard there was going to be another book in the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series. Lara Jean and Peter had been through so much and I just wanted them to have their happily ever after--or at least leave their happily ever after alone. Especially when I found out that a large part of the plot was going to revolve around time for Lara Jean and Peter to decide where to go to college. I mean, duh, modern, progressive, feminist literature couldn't possibly support Lara Jean going off to college with her high school boyfriend. So I worried that the entire book was just going to screw things up for them. And thus I put off reading Always and Forever, Lara Jean.

The entire Covey family is just so great. I love Jenny Han's take on their family dynamics. I've never been a big fan of Margot. She's a bit mean and stuck up for my preferences. Lara Jean does a wonderful job being the mediator. She's old enough to mother Kitty a bit, and yet young enough to be mothered too. I loved the parts of this story that revolve around family. And Jenny Han does a perfect job of blending the events of the family and the characters into a story about a teenage girl where the family often feels like an afterthought. Kitty is beyond one of my favorite characters to have ever read about. I love how confident she is with herself. She isn't scared to be herself. I love, love, love her. But even still Lara Jean might be my favorite because she's not as extreme as Margot or Kitty can be. These characters really couldn't be more fleshed out and pop off the page. Again, Jenny Han does a great job of having Margot or Kitty make decisions that mirror something Lara Jean might be dealing with, yet the idea is showing how the two girls (or really all three girls) deal with things differently.

Peter Kavinsky. Ah, Peter Kavinsky...where were you when I was in high school? I loved how comfortable Peter and Lara Jean were with each other. They're happy and confident in their relationship (for the majority of the book anyway). There's no doubt in their minds about their love for each other. Peter is entirely Peter, yet the perfect fit for Lara Jean even when it might not seem so on the surface. I just get the warm and fuzzies from their relationship. And kudos to him for taking things at Lara Jean's pace even when it has to drive him crazy as a teenage boy. I wouldn't be too terribly upset if my daughter found herself a Peter Kavinsky one day. (BTW, I can't picture him any other way than the actor, Noah Centineo, who plays Peter in the Netflix Original film now that I've seen it possibly 3 times.)

I do have to be honest with you guys and say that I cheated. I caved to the anxiety this book caused me. I was feeling so paranoid and anxious about how things would end that I just wasn't enjoying the experience as much as I'd hoped because I was a bit of a wreck. I can't remember if it was 50, 60, or 70% but somewhere along the way, I Googled the ending. This is the first book that I have ever really spoiled for myself, but I'm honestly not even upset that I did. I don't need that kind of anxiety in my life, so I solved that for myself. 

Despite my worries, Always and Forever, Lara Jean ended up being a worthy ending to a series I've really enjoyed and characters I've come to love. I don't even have much more to say about this book. I highly enjoyed this book and this entire series. Always and Forever, Lara Jean gets 4.5 Stars. Have you read Always and Forever, Lara Jean? What did you think? Let me know!

Top Ten Books/Authors I've Read in 24 Hours

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Books/Authors I've Read in 24 Hours excluding novellas.

1. Colleen Hoover - November 9, Confess, Ugly Love, Slammed, & Point of Retreat
2. Jennifer Anne Davis - The Key & Red
3. Amy Harmon - Making Faces, The Law of Moses, & The Bird and the Sword
4. Kasie West - On the Fence & The Fill-In Boyfriend
5. Katie McGarry - Pushing the Limits, Dare You To, Take Me On, Walk the Edge
6. Unraveling You/Raveling You by Jessica Sorensen
7. To All the Boys I've Loved Before/PS I Still Love You by Jenny Han
8. Faking Normal by Courtney C Stevens
9. Easy by Tammara Webber
10. Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan

Which books/authors have you read in one sitting? Let me know!

Waiting on Always and Forever, Lara Jean

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, # 3)

By: Jenny Han

Expected Publication: April 4th 2017 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

320 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Lara Jean’s letter-writing days aren’t over in this surprise follow-up to the New York Times bestselling To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You.

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

Truth be told, I'm a little nervous about this one. PS I Still Love You was a little rocky for me. But I love the Song sisters, and I'm interested to see how Lara Jean handles the decision of going off to college. What are you waiting on this week? Let me know!

Ten Books for Back to School

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Books for Back to School.

Ok so it's been twelve years since I graduated high school. (I know I'm totally giving away my age here.) I guess college can qualify here too, but that wasn't really my college experience as once I started I never stopped until I finished. And even then I graduated from college more than 5 years ago. Point being, it's been a while since I did the back to school thing. But I'm including my favorite books with high school and college settings here.

1. Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry, # 1) by Simone Elkeles (review coming soon)
2. Catching Jordan (Hundred Oaks, # 1) by Miranda Kenneally
3. Slammed (Slammed, # 1) by Colleen Hoover
4. Easy (Contours of the Heart, # 1) by Tammara Webber
5. All Lined Up (Rusk University, # 1) by Cora Carmack
6. Reason to Breathe (Breathing, # 1) by Rebecca Donovan
7. Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits, # 1) by Katie McGarry
8. To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, # 1) by Jenny Han
9. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
10. Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, # 1) by Richelle Mead

What are your favorite back to school books? Let me know!

PS I Still Love You - Review

P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, # 2)

By: Jenny Han

Published: April 21st 2015 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

288 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--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 Times bestseller 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 makes it so amazing.

I wasn’t expecting To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before to end in a cliffhanger or to have a sequel. I thought it would be a standalone book. So when I got to the end, I was desperate to know what happens next. And I’m so glad that PS I Still Love You was released for me to find out. I was really liking the Peter/Lara Jean dynamic of transferring from a pretend relationship into something real. And so that cliffhanger ending mixed with the description of PS I Still Love You, which indicates a love triangle, I was a little nervous about starting this book.

One thing is for sure, PS I Still Love You took me on a roller coaster with my emotions. I believe I went through every feeling possible in this book. Love, hate, fear, jealousy, insecurity, confidence, frustration, sympathy, betrayal, regret, heartbreak…I’m sure there’s more. Lara Jean is so real. She’s a young sixteen/seventeen year old. She’s very inexperienced with boys. While she’s had crushes, all of them until now have been unrequited. And Peter’s a lot more experienced than she is. This leaves her feeling insecure. Sometimes her immaturity (for lack of a better word) wasn’t always easy to read. Yet at other times, I completely, 100% remember feeling the exact same way that Lara Jean felt. I could bounce from being frustrated with her to completely supportive in very little time.

Lara Jean’s not just insecure about Peter’s experience, but she also has a really hard time getting over his past relationship with Genevieve. Granted, Genevieve makes this almost impossible for her. On the one hand, Genevieve is going through some family drama that she really does need a friend to help her through—she picks Peter as that friend. On the other hand, you can easily see that Genevieve is manipulative and downright mean to Lara Jean. This is compounded by the fact that Lara Jean and Genevieve used to be friends. But I’ve been in this situation before. I’ve dated the guy who can’t stop being friends with the manipulative ex-girlfriend. I’ve felt like her needs where more important than my own. I could totally relate to Lara Jean. While I didn’t find myself as angry with Peter as I might have 5 years or so ago, I still struggled with his decisions in this area.

Despite my frustrations with how Peter handled Genevieve, I was still rooting for Lara Jean to choose him. I wanted those two to work things out so bad. When John Ambrose McLaren shows back up on the scene and begins his pursuit of Lara Jean’s affections, I was not happy at all. I could just see this turning into one of those stories about the girl who falls in love but realizes that first loves usually don’t last and moves on to a second, more suitable love. While I usually am a fan of these stories, I just wasn’t rooting for that to be that case in this instance. John Ambrose was nice enough, and he probably would have been a decent boyfriend for Lara Jean, but my heart was still with Peter. I won’t tell you how this plays out. I will say that around the 70% mark I had no idea how this book could end in a way that I would be the least bit satisfied with, but by the time everything wrapped up I was satisfied.

One of my favorite aspects of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was the sister relationships that are explored. Lara Jean is the middle child so we see both an older sibling and younger sibling relationship. While the sister-love was present in PS I Still Love You, the dynamics weren’t as complex as Lara Jean is no longer in love with her older sister’s ex-boyfriend and Kitty is not acting out against Lara Jean. Things were much more simple for the trio. We don’t get to see Margot very much, but I think that’s essential for Lara Jean’s growth and progression. Kitty is just as adorable as before. She’s spunky. She loves her sister, but she is completely her own person. And I really enjoyed the two of them. While things might not have been as complex as the previous book, Kitty did complicate matters by being extremely close to Peter and thereby truly affected by the ups and downs of his and Lara Jean’s relationship. This reminded me of myself as well as I tended to get attached to my older sister’s boyfriends growing up as well.

Favorite quotes:

-What I really want to say is Peter will always pick Lara Jean over Genevieve.

-People say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I think they’re wrong: Proximity makes the heart grow fonder.

-Is a boy’s ego really such a fragile, breakable thing? It must be so.

-He doesn’t get it. Girls understand each other in a way boys never will.

-“I deserve better than that, you know? I deserve…I deserve to be someone’s number one girl.”

-I know now that I don’t want to love or be loved in half measures. I want it all, and to have it all, you have to risk it all.

PS I Still Love You was a book that had me hooked. I wanted to know what was going to happen and how it was going to end. But boy did it send me on a roller coaster. I think I felt every emotion possible while reading this book. The entire gambit. In the end, I was happy with what happened, the lessons that needed to be learned, and the end result. Yet, I feel like PS I Still Love is a better book to reflect upon than it was to read. Does that even make sense? I definitely enjoyed it, but I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. PS I Still Love You gets 4 Stars from me. Have you read PS I Still Love You? What did you think? Let me know!

Last Ten Books I Received

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Last Ten Books I Received.

1. Lead (Stage Dive, # 3) by Kylie Scott
2. Chasing Impossible (Pushing the Limits, # 5) by Katie McGarry
3. The Selection (The Selection, # 1) by Kiera Cass
4. Beautiful Sacrifice (The Maddox Brothers, # 3) by Jamie McGuire
5. PS I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, # 2) by Jenny Han
6. Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E Smith
7. Stealing Third by Marta Brown
8. The Elite (The Selection, # 2) by Kiera Cass
9. Velvet Undercover by Teri Brown
10. The Lies About Truth by Courtney C Stevens

What about you? What are the last ten books that you received? Let me know!