To All the Boys I've Loved Before

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at once?

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control. 

What can I say about this book other than that it is disappointing because it wasn’t even close to what I was expecting? If you look at the cover, if you read the book description, all signs point to YA Romance. But that’s where it gets you: there is no romance.

Some might protest: “Oh no, there’s the romance between Lara Jean and Peter!” or “Lara Jean and Josh!” But I say, “NO.” This is not romance. For one thing, a fake relationship does not translate to romance. Even when Lara Jean and Peter <spoiler>admit that they like each other</spoiler> that does not really equal romance. And nothing comes of it anyway. For another, you can’t even count Josh – he’s a periphery and nothing happens <spoiler>and don’t even count the fact that he surprise kisses Lara Jean and she sort-of kisses him back before breaking it off.</spoiler>. NOT ROMANCE.

What this book is really is just a hint, a tease, to get you to read the next book. The beginning says: buckle up, the characters are circling each other in a “will they/won’t they”! The middle says: nothing remotely romantic is happening, only wistful day-dreaming about romantic things. The end says: PSYCH! No romance, just a could-have-been and now it’s over, but IS IT???!!!

Now I have to read the next book to see where that takes me – and to figure out why in bloody heck there’s a THIRD book. Why is this love story a series? I couldn’t figure it out before I read this book and now I know why. Because, most likely, the romance won’t happen till somewhere by the end of the second book, but probably not until the third book. Is it worth the struggle? I’ll say yes, because this book is a light, easy read.

Proceed with caution if I haven’t warned you off yet: Lara Jean is not the greatest head to be inside. As if her name weren’t cutesy enough, Lara Jean is such a “baby girl” that she reads more like a 13 year old. This is perpetuated by her continuous use of the titles, “Mommy,” and “Daddy,” for her parents. I’ve never met anyone above the age of 10 who calls their parents mommy and daddy. It was really freaking weird and I could not get over it. Lara Jean also has no life – she hangs out with her sister(s) and her dad and she goes to school. The only other person she sees more is Josh (because he freaking lives next door!). She has a sort-of girl friend, Chris, but that doesn’t really count because a) they don’t hang out at school and b) Chris only pops up every once in a while or calls Lara Jean. They don’t frequently see each other enough to call them best-friends.

And then, of course, there’s Peter. The “love interest.” I say it in quotes because <spoiler>their relationship is based on a contract</spoiler> but also because there is absolutely no chemistry between Lara Jean and Peter. In fact, Peter is very much still hung up over his ex-girlfriend throughout the book. Even when he says he likes Lara Jean, I sort of don’t believe him because I just don’t see any proof of that in the text and that’s either the author’s fault or Peter is just a really terrible person. But I think, it’s actually kind of both.

I’m going to go on a side-tangent here (feel free to skip to the bottom for my final say on this book): Neither Peter, nor Josh, are good romantic choices for Lara Jean.

I’ll start with Josh because the reason is really short: he’s her sister’s ex-girlfriend. Even if the author might in future write a scene where Margot says, “Lara Jean, I really am completely over Josh and I don’t even care that you and he are in a relationship, in fact, go you! I’m your biggest fan and supporter,” I would not be down with this relationship. For one, <spoiler>Margot breaks up with Josh and clearly still has feelings for him. And he for her. I don’t really buy the whole, “Lara Jean why didn’t you say something before because actually I love youuuu,” thing. In fact, it makes Josh an even bigger creep because he seems to be in love with Margot and Lara Jean interchangeably. If I were Lara Jean (or even Margot, to be honest) I’d be constantly worried about who Josh is thinking of when he kisses me/does anything romantic with me</spoiler>. Secondly, Josh and Margot <spoiler>had sex</spoiler>. If I knew that about my sister and the guy I have a crush on, I think any feelings would immediately be doused. Just no.

Now, Peter. First of all, Peter is still into his ex, a girl he’s on/off dated for all of high school and some of middle. If that doesn’t spell trouble, I don’t know what does. Secondly, Peter continually treats Lara Jean badly. He continually makes fun of her, picks fights with her, and has very little to say positively about her. He’s also extremely vain/selfish, a fact which Lara Jean CONTINUALLY brings up. If she can see it, I don’t know why Peter becomes attractive to her because that seems a bit problematic, especially given her romantic notions. After a certain point in the book, Lara Jean starts saying, “He’s really not like that,” or “He’s actually a nice guy,” or something to that effect. What I want to know is, how has she come to this conclusion? Even though a good percentage of the book is her and Peter hanging out, I don’t really see him change at all from her initial perception of him: he’s a bro, he’s vain, etc. Either Han is just not good at showing character development or she wrote Lara Jean to be just like all the other girls Lara Jean complains about when in connection to Peter: Peter’s a charmer and he makes every woman fall in love with him. Which means that no, he’s not actually nicer than people thought, not as self-involved as everyone thought, he’s just really good at conning people. I’m leaning towards this one a little bit because Lara Jean often says things like, “If Peter asks, I’ll probably do it,” as in, Peter can convince her to do things she normally wouldn’t do. If that’s how it is, then no – Peter is a terrible choice for a boyfriend.

Final thoughts:

So, ultimately, this book is a giant tease – it hints at romance, doesn’t deliver, and then expects you to read the next book to find out. Also, both love interests are terrible and Lara Jean is so babyish it’s hard to imagine anything romantic happening with her in a way that wouldn’t be creepy because she seems like a 13 year old. It’s a fast read – mostly because I kept trying to get to the good part, but it never happened. Will I read the next one? Probably, because it’ll probably be just as quick. I know I might be setting myself up for more disappointment, but at least it will be over quickly. I don’t know who I’d recommend this to.

Reboot

Reboot by Amy Tintera     365 pages

Seventeen-year-old Wren rises from the dead as a Reboot and is trained as an elite crime-fighting soldier until she is given an order she refuses to follow

I’ve had this book on my to-read list for a while and now that I have a small fr

iend group book club, I’ve finally found the chance to do so and I’m glad I did. This book was a fun, action-packed read that is full of things I love: a bad-ass female main character, science-fiction/future setting, and an intriguing storyline.

That being said, I wasn’t wowed by this book. It was certainly enjoyable, but it had a few bits here and there that made this just a middle grade rating for me:

For one, I felt the romance was a bit rushed and sort of took over Wren’s bad-ass character style. I felt like she started the book as yes, a bit of a hard-to-like character, what with her enjoyment of chasing down humans and fighting them, incarcerating them, and/or killing them. But, I gave her leeway because she has been trained to do so since she was 12, an impressionable age. I like that she started breaking out of this shell once she meets Callum and realizes that she does have the capability to feel things (when up until this point she’s thought of herself as next-to being like a robot). I like that he helps her discover new things about herself, but I dislike that he so quickly falls for her (basically insta-love on his part) and that they go from begrudgingly friends to romantically involved. Suddenly Wren goes from being really in control of situations to being like most typical YA main characters: the boy becomes their whole center of being, from which the orient themselves and they suddenly become the incapable one in the relationship.

The only thing that saves it from being a total loss is that Wren is still mostly capable in the physical department: she is stronger (yes, partly because of her Reboot number), better equipped to save the day (and often is saving Callum’s butt), and she is often the one emotionally supporting Callum. I am glad that, though they are given an opportunity within the book, that Wren and Callum do not have sex (mostly because Callum would like for Wren to be more enthusiastic/on-board with it when the do). Many YA books these days seem to insist on having young, teenage couples have at least one sex-scene. While both Wren and Callum are virgins (and it’s stated in the book that Reboots frequently have intimate relations in the HARC facility), they know enough that they could do it, but choose not to. It’s a bit refreshing and it also gives them more time to get to know each other better and solidify their relationship (even though the both are clearly ready to throw their lives away for it – which was one of my issues with this couple).

I understand, when writing a YA romance, especially with teens, that things move quickly. Wren and Callum, however, seem to develop a bit of the Romeo/Juliet thing, more so on Wren’s side, where they don’t want a plan B in case one of them dies. Wren doesn’t want to think about any scenario in which Callum might die because if he does, their plans suddenly become pointless to her, as if her life will have no meaning after. I understand that Callum is the catalyst in her becoming more human and less robot-like, but it’s still irksome to see.

That brings me to my main issue with this book: Callum’s love for Wren is the main reason that Wren decides to break free of her bonds and escape. A relationship is the reason that the rest of the book becomes necessary because if she didn’t feel things for Callum and knew that he felt things for her, she never would have wanted to escape, would have continued living her life as a HARC slave. It’s disappointing, because Wren seems so awesome and competent, but I understand that Tintera is attempting to use her age and the length of her stay at HARC as the reason why Wren would never leave. But I say – write her character differently, then. I don’t like that she needs a love interest to be the reason for her to want to escape.

Right, so the good bits:

I like this world that Tintera has built: a sort-of post-apocalyptic United States, or more specifically Texas. Characters often refer to some Reboot vs. human war, which ended up destroying most things and which is the main reason why HARC exists. It sounds like an epic story and I enjoyed getting to read about this new United States, where children who get this disease KDH then come back as a weird kind of high-functioning zombie when they die. The whole minutes dead = how skilled a zombie you are is quite interesting.

I also quite like the tension between humans and Reboots – that most families are horrified by/don’t want to be around their undead children, that most humans are terrified of Reboots (mostly because of lies that HARC has fed the populace). I like the big bad company HARC and how it manipulates both the Reboots (telling them minimal information so they can use them as basically slaves that then further enforce their enslavement) and humans to be mistrustful of each other. If I end up reading the second one, I hope Tintera includes a plot of humans and Reboots breaking that cycle and learning to live alongside each other. In fact, I hope that’s one of the main plot points. I like that there are human rebels (yay, rebels!) who believe in a different world and attempt to rescue Reboots and take down HARC. I’m always in for a good underdog story.

All in all, the world is well built, the characters are pretty solid. Aside from me ragging on Callum’s and Wren’s relationship, I think Callum is a pretty cool dude (maybe a bit too good to be true), likable, kind, and super not into killing (like, my level not-into-killing, as in, I’d rather die than kill someone else not-into-killing). I think he and Wren balance each other well and they’re both good for each other – Callum helps Wren get in-touch with her feelings and Wren helps build Callum’s strength. I liked Ever, Wren’s Reboot friend, as well. Most of the other characters are a bit one-note, but they’re also not in the story very much.

The final conflict went a bit too well for my taste – the puzzle pieces all fell into place nicely for Wren, which didn’t leave much room for believability, but I still enjoyed the ride. I will probably end up reading the next book, just to see where things go and how Wren and Callum progress.  I would recommend this to teens looking for a good action-pact story and who like supernatural/sci-fi elements. This book, I think, could be of interest to boys and girls, which is a plus in its favor.

The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken     488 pages

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that had killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they could not control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She is on the run, desperate to find the only safe haven left for

kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at having a life worth living.

If there was any book I would recommend for those who have read and liked The Hunger Games series, this is IT (aside from telling them they have to read Battle Royale first). It's got kids fighting for their lives (against other kids and adults, really), it's got an over-arching governmental bad-guy, it's got betrayal/suspicion vibes all over it. It really fits right in there, so I'm surprised I'd never heard of this book until I started seeing movie trailers popping up for it.

Honestly, this book is probably even better written than The Hunger Games - Bracken has a strong writing style that grabs you and doesn't let go. This book made me so anxious the entire time I was reading it. It's a very on-the-edge-of-your-seat type read. The plot is hard hitting, a bit slow on take-off, but once it takes off, BAM! You're in the thick of it and it doesn't slow down, not even at the end. It really rolls you right into the next book, you feel you have to keep reading to get to the bottom of this story.

Ruby is certainly a more likable figure than Katniss will ever be (but for those who are fans of Katniss, I say this not to diss her). Ruby is softer than Katniss, but she has that hard-hitting, fueled-by-anger-fighter in her that, when unleashed, could definitely rival Katniss. Ruby fights for the ones she loves, she is not going to roll over and take it lying down. But she is also fragile in this book, probably the most fragile she will be in the entire series, but Bracken doesn't make that seem like a bad thing. In fact, by the end of it, Ruby recognizes that her gentle side, her loving side, is a real, valuable part of her, one that she has to put away for the time being to get things done. But when it's all said and done, that rougher, monstrous side of her is not something to be proud of, only a necessary evil. Like Katniss, Ruby takes up the gauntlet for her friends, her family, and she will fight to protect those she loves. She is willing to play the game.

This is a great, action-paced YA dystopian book, full of amazing characters and well-written dialog and character development (and it's diverse, which is nice!). Ruby, Liam, Chubs, and Zu feel like a family and it's such a great thing to see develop. I can't recommend this book more, it's so good.

The Breadwinner

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis     171 pages

Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city. Parvana’s father — a history teacher until his school was bombed and his health destroyed — works from a blanket on the ground in the marketplace, reading letters for people who cannot read or write. One day, he is arrested for the crime of having a foreign education, and the family is left without someone who can earn money or even shop for food.

As conditions for the family grow desperate, only one solution emerges. Forbidden to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy, and become the breadwinner.

This book was hard to read - the atrocities happening in Afghanistan seem unbelievable in our modern time: women's freedoms being limited to just their homes, unless accompanied by a man, having to cover up in full while out, not being able to go to school or hold jobs, not allowed to make noise or have a voice, etc.

But this book does important work shedding some light on the experiences of Afghans at the hands of extremists. It's an important work that children and adults should be exposed to and I'm glad I was able to read it.