Thursday, June 25, 2015

Review: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han


Please note that this is the second book in the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before duology, and thus the synopsis/my review may have spoilers.


P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

Published: 2015

Genres: Contemporary
                                                     
Format: Hardcover
                                                                






What is P.S. I Still Love You about?

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 what makes it so amazing.

Thoughts:

P.S. I Still Love You continues on with Lara Jean and her seemingly endless love problems.   I still found this to be a cute and enjoyable sequel, even if I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first one. 

I think what really rubbed me the wrong way in this one is I feel like there’s less Peter.  Less cute interactions between him and Kitty.  Throughout this book, Lara Jean is trying to figure out her real feelings for Peter and how she feels about Peter and Genevieve.

The one thing I absolutely hate about series is when the protagonist finds the right guy, but for the sake of stretching out the story and causing conflict, problems arise.   I don’t like it when the protagonist wavers and spends time wondering what to do, when the guy for her is right in front of her.  I don’t like indecision in protagonists, especially when it comes to choosing between guys.  If it’s that hard of a choice, you don’t like either of them that much. 

In this book, Lara Jean starts spending time with John, when he contacts her after receiving the last missing letter.  I thought John was actually a really nice guy and I enjoyed reading about the together sometimes.  But nothing is quite the same as Peter. 

And the thing I didn’t really like was that neither Lara Jean or Peter really reached out to the other person during this time.  I didn’t really like that Peter didn’t at least come back and apologize, even if it wasn’t really his fault.  But at the same time, Lara Jean didn’t either, so I don’t really know what to think of it.  I just really don’t think the situation was handled well. 

I don’t really side with either of them.  I don’t like that Peter is always going to see Genevieve and sometimes it did seem like she mattered more than Lara Jean.  But, at the same time, I understand that she was going through a rough time and Peter was one of her only friends.  I just don’t see why it had to be a big deal or why Peter couldn’t just be outright about it.  And the fact that he found out about Genevieve sending the video and didn’t really care kind of bothered me.  But, at the same time, Lara Jean was kind of obsessive about the whole Genevieve issue.  If they could have just talked about it without Lara Jean getting all worked up, it might have been better.  Besides the fact that she thinks it’s fine to hang out with Josh (1st book) and John (this book) and Peter isn’t supposed to care.  It’s kind of a double standard.  Both of these characters had (and still have) a lot of lessons to learn and things to work on. 

 Despite this, I still liked this one.  Lara Jean is adorable and I always enjoy reading about her.  I liked it when they got together and got the time capsule.  I l loved how Lara Jean went to one of his games and cheered him on like all of the other players girlfriends.  I loved how Peter would still pick Kitty up for school, even when him and Lara Jean weren’t talking.  And the fact that that Peter and Lara Jean work their problems out and we get our happy ending made it worth it. 

Rating:




Final Thoughts:

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked P.S. I Still Love You It was great to revisit Lara Jean and Peter and Kitty.  I loved how we ended up getting out happy ending, even if the road was long and tumultuous.  Overall, I loved this duology and I would highly recommend it for any fans of YA contemporary.  This had become one of my favorite contemporary series and I’m sure I’ll be rereading both of these books in the future.

Olivia


Have you read this duology?  What did you think? Did it end the way you wanted it to?











2 comments:

  1. Great review! I agree with you but I think I enjoyed it more than you did hah. What really gets me mad about these books was Genevieve! She was like the big elephant in the room that just won't go away, even when Peter said Lara Jean was his number one, she was still there and it bothered me. I was kind of back and forth about it. I was mad at Peter because he would choose Genevieve sometimes -- probably for not the reasons that Lara Jean thought but still chose her. He still protected her secret, still didn't do anything after he found out the Gen was the one who put up the video. But at the same time, I admire him for being able to be with Lara Jean and be friends with Gen.

    They were together for a long time and ending things and never talking is hard, along with that, Gen was practicing self harm and it's hard to walk away from someone you care about who does that. What would happen if she went too far and ending up really hurting herself to the point of no return, the guilt alone would drive Peter crazy. I think that's why he didn't tell Lara Jean about the video because he didn't want to fuel the fire. LJ was already done with Gen and this would definitely mean that Peter had to stop talking to Gen. I wanted him to tell her Gen's secret but at the same time, it isn't his secret to tell. For example, I used to tell my sister lots of secrets, until I found out she told them to her boyfriend-now-husband and they were things I didn't want anyone to know, you know? So I understood why he didn't tell her.

    They just really needed to change the way that they communicated lol and I wish that we could see that in a new book or something haha. J Han tweeted saying that there won't be a third book but she is working on something and that she's sure we'll love it! I hope it's something related to this duology. Maybe short stories of the Peter and LJ after PSISLY or something in Peter's POV. That would be exciting haha

    Anjie @ Love thy Shelf

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    Replies
    1. Yes, you definitely enjoyed this one more than me.
      It's sunny because when I finished it initially, I really liked it a lot. But, the books kind of ran together and the longer I waited to write the review the more I think my frustrations from the whole series just piled up and all ended up coming out in this review.
      So, it wasn't entirely this book.
      I agree with ALL of your thoughts on the Gen/Peter/Lara situation. I hadn't thought about it that way before, but when you look st it like that I guess it is really admirable that he kept her secrets. They were private and she didn't want anyone else knowing.
      I would love to have another book too. I'm excited to find out what she's working on next, though, and i'm sure it'll be great.
      Thanks so much for your wonderful comment <3 I love discussing things.

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