Digital audiobook performed by Laura Knight Keating

Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. To be clear, these are the letters she wrote to the five boys she’s loved, so far. She doesn’t mail them. She just writes, pouring out her heart and soul, saying all the things she’d never say in real life. These are letters for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed.

This is a lovely coming-of-age novel featuring a trio of sisters, of which Lara Jean is the middle sister. Among the issues dealt with are sibling rivalry, teen crushes, sex, social media (and bullying), and conflicting feelings – whether for your sister or your boyfriend.

It’s a charming novel and I really liked Lara Jean. She mostly has her act together, but she is only sixteen, and her big sis leaving for the other side of the world is forcing her to face some issues alone. Still, she’s a good kid; she’s smart, talented, loyal, principled, and determined to step up and take over Margot’s role in the family. And she has an open heart that is ready to learn about love and what it really means.

Laura Knight Keating does a wonderful job of performing the audiobook. She really brought Lara Jean and the other teens to life. ( )

Bought the book after watching the cute Netflix movie.

I love a sweet teenager romance and this one delivers with a nice dose of that plus some bonus family interaction between sisters.

Didn’t know it was a trilogy at first and was shocked by ending up at a bit of a cliffhanger so even though I knew what happened from the movie I found myself buying the next two books.

This isn’t great literature but it’s cute, light reading and wholesome fun. ( )

Absolutely adorable, a strong teen girl who loves her family and is discovering love. ( )

I thought it was ok, and definitely not a bad thing like certain vile sectors of the internet make it out to be.

Lara Jean Song Covey is a homebody of a 16 year old, in a self-imposed sheltered kind of way. As I've read more YA this year, one of the things I've been thinking about is teenage protagonists and how society kind of hates teenage girls- the things they like, the ways they behave, what they wear, etc. (strongly influenced by Lindsay Ellis' "Dear Stephenie Meyer" video). Lara Jean is almost painfully naive at times, with a very romantic idealized perspective on love without actual experience in relationships, and I feel like were we in high school together at the time, I probably would have HATED her. And I think that's because in some ways, she's reflective of what that teenage experience is like- we want love, we think people belong to other people, etc. and we're full of hormones and it's confusing and oh no feelings are happening. Cover it up in snarky Happy Bunny stickers all you like (hi, eighth grade locker), but there's an earnestness to just wanting to want & be wanted. Yes, there are absolutely other teenage girl protagonists out there who take no shit and are tough as nails (lookin' at you, Clara Shin in The Way You Make Me Feel), but the existence of soft emotional girls doesn't displace them, and we can have a multitude of different types of teens. Adolescence is confusing and hard, okay?

And when you're young and figuring out feelings, the complaints of the referenced parts of the internet who feel like policing the dating lives of Asian American women are yet another confounding factor. I do feel like Lara Jean expresses some of the frustrations with being a visible minority (the Halloween costume bit in particular), and she's never like "ugh azns bois bad" so 1) mrazns should read the books they criticize and 2) let people date who they wanna date.

I am going to just put out there that Josh is awful and I hope in later books Lara Jean realizes how shitty he is for creepin' on his ex's sisters even though he's the neighbor boy.

this does end on a cliffhanger, so I will absolutely continue the other books to finish the story. I'm a completionist. I'm curious to see if the Netflix movie also ends where the book does, or if they give an actual resolution- I vaguely recall mention of production on the sequel, so I'm going to guess the former.

Also, this concludes my 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge! I feel like I rallied in this last month, catching up on YA and novellas that I'd purchased earlier and intended to read but hadn't gotten around to. ( )

Lara Jane writes love letters to the boys she loves, but never sends them. She seals them and puts them in a hat box. Then, one day, the letters are gone - sent without her knowledge. Her neighbor, Josh, who is her sister's boyfriend, gets one. The cutest boy in school, Peter, gets another.
Lara Jane is bewildered. How did they get sent? But, she decides to make the best of it. She tells Josh it was nothing. Peter, who recently broke up with his girlfriend, asks Lara Jane to pretend to be his girlfriend. But, after "dating", Lara Jane starts to wonder about her feelings for both boys.
Really cute, and very funny at times. A sweet story. ( )