This 4 star rating is for the trilogy as a whole. I read all three of these books in a few days after watching the movie and to me they feel like one long book about Lara Jean & Peter.


( )

After sitting on this for a while (with some apologies to my local library), I finally binged in a nighttime 'just before bed' session, and having binged Netflix's "Never Have I Ever" earlier, definitely felt like drawing parallels between Devi and Lara Jean (and thinking abut it further also Ellie from The Half of It).

Oh, to be young and on the cusp of love. Lara Jean is very much one of those in love with love types, and much of PSISLY is on what it means to be young and figuring out relationships, with a bit about how childhood friendships inevitably change (and how we miss why, sometimes, because we're so focused on our hurts we don't see what we did to others).

There's a secondary theme of a personal moment from the first book becoming a meme that disproportionately affects LJ more than it does Peter and there's some commentary on it, but resolution feels a little handwaved (and honestly, will it ever be resolved because the internet is forever?)

My other unfiltered thought is that Lara Jean is what happens if you mush up Mary-Anne Spier's shyness with Stacey McGill's boy-craziness (yes, I also binged the Baby-Sitters Club this week...)

( )

I wound up really enjoying this book. This book def was not what I was expecting but really loved diving back into this world. I also loved seeing these characters grow and change. I thought this book was so engaging and still tackled topics that I was not expecting like the used of social media and how it can impact a young adults life. I liked the new characters that we met an also the old characters. I liked how we got a new boy and liked just seeing how Lara Jean grow and changed in this novel. I am excited to read the final book soon! ( )

I wound up really enjoying this book. This book def was not what I was expecting but really loved diving back into this world. I also loved seeing these characters grow and change. I thought this book was so engaging and still tackled topics that I was not expecting like the used of social media and how it can impact a young adults life. I liked the new characters that we met an also the old characters. I liked how we got a new boy and liked just seeing how Lara Jean grow and changed in this novel. I am excited to read the final book soon! ( )

Giving this a 3 stars may even be a little too generous. First off, am I the only one who didn't really like this book? It seems to have received a lot of high ratings, which is beyond me cause honestly this book did NOT need to happen. If the first book was a little longer and came to a resolution instead of leaving us with that cliffhanger ending, we wouldn't even need this book. This book reminds me why I don't read much contemporary, they're so BORING! Seriously, nothing worthwhile happens in this book. At least if the characters were captivating it would make up for the lack of plot. I've read books where not much happens in terms of plot but because the characters are amazing you don't really care, for example Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout. But the characters in this series are nothing special and sometimes are annoying with how immature they can be. My favorite character is Kitty, which is a huge difference from the first book cause I thought she was such a brat in the first book. I think it goes to show how much she's grown up between the first book and this one (even though not much time has passed). In the first book, I thought she would grow up and become one of those mean girls like Gen, but after this book I think there's hope for her yet. Sometimes I think she's the most mature one in this book....sometimes. Kitty is strong, fierce, and isn't afraid to tell you how she feels. Also, she's not doing things out of spite anymore, which is one of the big reasons I thought she was a brat in the first book.

I really didn't see a need for the love triangle in this book. I think it was just there to create more drama and for this book to seem like it had somewhat of a plot but it really didn't need to be here. I will say that I'm glad we finally found out why Gen was such a... as Kitty would say "witch with a B". However, the reason she gives Lara Jean further proves how immature these characters are. I understand that all of this started when they were in middle school so it would be normal for them to act so immature but they're in high school now and it seems like they haven't grown up at all.

There were some funny moments in this book. That plus the fact that I really liked Kitty's character is probably the only reason I'm giving this a 3 stars. ( )