To All the Boys I've Loved Before

To All the Boys I've Loved Before is a 2014 novel by Jenny Han. Han was inspired to write the book based on her own habit of writing long letters to boys she had crushes on as a teenager.^[1] The novel was followed by a sequel, P.S. I Still Love You, released in May 2015.^[2]

Plot

Lara Jean is a sixteen year old half-Korean, half-Caucasian girl. She is exceptionally close to her older sister Margot and her younger sister Katherine (nicknamed Kitty). They all share the middle name Song, their deceased mother's maiden name, and refer to themselves as "the Song girls." Lara Jean keeps love letters to all the boys she's ever loved in a teal hatbox given to her by her mother. Just before Margot leaves for university she breaks up with her boyfriend Josh, who is also their next door neighbor.

Lara Jean, who once had a crush on Josh, finds her feelings for him coming back after Margot leaves and Josh admits during a conversation about crushes that his first serious crush was Lara Jean. To cope with her feelings, Lara Jean writes a long post script to a letter she wrote when she was fourteen, after Josh asked Margot out instead of her. That night, Lara Jean teases Kitty about her own crush on Josh, upsetting her.

Peter Kavinsky, one of the boy's Lara Jean wrote a letter to, approaches her one-day during gym class to tell her he doesn't have an STD. Lara Jean is confused, but realizes that he is referring to a letter she wrote him years ago after he shows her his love letter he received in the mail. Horrified and confused, she tells him she wrote it a long time ago. She takes the letter back and runs into the bathroom to read it.

Lara Jean recounts what prompted her to write the letter: when she was in eighth grade, she and Peter were together with a group of mutual friends in John Ambrose McClaren's basement. Lara Jean and Peter are the last ones to be picked up and on an impulse, Peter kisses her.

Lara Jean cannot find her hatbox at home. Her father tells her he may have taken it to Goodwill. That night, she hears Josh come into her house and runs to hide in a treehouse in their neighborhood. The next morning at school, Josh finds her at her locker and asks her about the letter. She lies that she tells him she no longer feels that way towards him and that she is dating someone. When he asks who it is, she sees Peter walking down the hallway. She tells Josh it is him and to all of their surprise, runs into his arms and kisses him before bolting off.

Later, she waits for Peter outside the locker room. Peter, thinking that she likes him, rejects her and in defense, she explains what happened. The next weekend, Josh asks Lara Jean how long they've been dating. She tells him sadly that they've broken up, to which Josh says that isn't what he heard from Peter.

Peter decides to go along with the lie as he has just broken up with his long-term off and on again girlfriend Genevieve and wants a clean break.

Lara Jean and Peter set up a list of ground rules on how to act and behave around each other. The more time they spend together, the more confused Lara Jean gets as Peter acts as if he is really Lara Jean's boyfriend. Josh gets jealous of Peter and when Lara Jean confronts him about his jealousy he kisses her, and tells her he wants to be with her, causing Lara Jean to realize that she wants to date Peter for real.

On a school ski trip Peter tells Lara Jean he does want to date her and the two of them kiss in the hot tub. The following day Genevieve tells her that there is a rumour that Peter and Lara Jean had sex in the hot tub and that Peter did nothing to deny it. Humiliated, Lara Jean avoids Peter during Christmas break. Kitty, however, invites him over to the Covey's for dinner. When Peter tries to talk to Lara Jean, Josh steps in to try and protect her, and Margot ends up hearing that Josh and Lara Jean kissed.

Margot and Lara Jean eventually reconcile, but Lara Jean remains angry at Peter until Kitty admits that she stole her sister's hatbox and mailed the letters as revenge for Lara Jean almost telling Josh that Kitty had a crush on him. Kitty tells Lara Jean that Peter really cares for her and returns the hatbox now filled with the notes that Peter gave Lara Jean while they were fake dating which Kitty fished out of the trash. Reading them over, Lara Jean has a change of heart and takes out her pen and paper to write a real love letter to Peter.

Reception

The novel appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list for Young Adult fiction.^[3]

References