Syd's Shelves

(aka ...I liked the movie better)

I feel like everyone knows the plot of this already but if you don’t: In To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, Lara Jean has written a love letter to every boy she’s fallen in love with as a way to move on. She saves them all in a hatbox under her bed, but one day the letters get sent. Dun dun dun.

My thoughts: You know, I really didn't expect to be filled with so much rage upon finishing this book, but here we are.

I was originally going to give this closer to 3.75/4 stars because, while I didn't love this book or find it as swoon-worthy as it's been made out to be, it was overall enjoyable and a fun, light read. I actually liked Lara Jean more than I expected to because I've heard a lot of people say she's annoying in the books (maybe that becomes more apparent in the rest of the series... we shall see). But by the end of the book, she was one of the few characters I still liked and I feel strangely attached to her.

I also appreciated the depiction of the sisters' relationship — it was clear that Margot and Kitty mean the world to Lara Jean and the moments when she would talk about defending her sisters or putting them before anything made me want to go "YEAH!" (I much preferred the Kitty/Lara Jean relationship to the Margot/Lara Jean relationship and I shall explain why in a moment.)

Also, I liked Chris. She seemed to be pretty much the only person who was consistently on Lara Jean's side and actually cared about what she was thinking and feeling.

So that's what I liked. On to my rage.

We'll work in ascending order from least-rage to most-rage.

Josh. I had bad vibes about him from the beginning, and those vibes were just confirmed the more I read. The way Lara Jean described him, he seemed like such a perfect dream boy and so obviously Margot and Lara Jean were both so in love with him. But the more he opened his mouth... mmm... no. The moment that Lara jean starts "dating" Peter, the only things Josh says to her is that Peter isn't good enough for him and why is she with him and he's just going to hurt her and this isn't like her blah blah blah. I can understand that the first time it happens, but when Lara Jean says to him, "I like him, he's not what you think, can you please trust me on this," and he CONTINUES to repeat the same things every single time they talk to each other is just so INFURIATING. He claims to know her so well, yet he can't even trust her to be in charge of her own love life or her own happiness. (And really that's just because he's pissed that Lara Jean liked him and didn't tell him (?) even though he's supposedly in love with her sister so why should that matter to him and why in the WORLD would he kiss Lara Jean and really the more I think about it the more I don't like him.) Josh's character gives me strong "nice guys finish last" vibes, what with him being the nerdy one and Peter being the popular jock. It's not so explicit that I'm actively hating him for that reason, but I get that energy from him with the way he speaks to Lara Jean. 3/10 not a fan.

Then we have Peter and Lara Jean's relationship. Ahem. I wasn't a big fan of their chemistry towards the beginning of their fake relationship, but I admit that they grew on me as the book went on. I was even actively rooting for them for a while, and I liked that Peter was opening up more to Lara Jean and not being as much of a stereotypical popular jock boy. And then the freaking HOT TUB happened. That just filled me with RAGE. From the way Genevieve called Lara Jean a slut for one (1) false sex rumor to the way she told EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the bus that Lara Jean and Peter had sex to the way that Peter (who, at that point, openly liked Lara Jean and wanted to date her for real) barely even tried to deny the rumors. I'm seething just thinking about it. I do appreciate how the double standards when it comes to sex were addressed, if only briefly.

From a romance standpoint, separate from the hot tub incident, the one in this book really isn't even that good. I mean, they fake-date for about 2/3 of the book, are actually together for about 15 pages, and spend the rest of the book broken up. The actual romance in this book really just doesn't match its bright pink exterior.

And then there's Margot. The crown jewel of my rage. For the vast majority of this book, Margot is detached and uninvested in Lara Jean's life, who she claims is the person she trusts most in the world. A lot of that may be due to being busy in college, sure. (Except she made time to email their Dad and Kitty much more than Lara Jean so she's not really off the hook for me.) But at the climax of the book, when Lara Jean, Peter, and Josh are in the kitchen at the Christmas Party and Margot overhears that Peter and Lara Jean supposedly had sex and that Josh kissed Lara Jean, who does she believe? Her sister? No, of course not! Why in the world would she trust her sister, the one she trusts most in the world? No, instead, she refuses to speak to Lara Jean and goes and tells their Dad that Lara Jean had sex, which is not only hypocritical of her, but spiteful and cruel and not at all what a good sister (especially the oldest sister) should do. Margot's character in particular makes me so angry because if I ever did anything to my sister like what she did to Lara Jean, I don't think I'd ever forgive myself. And it broke my heart a little to read because the entire book, Lara Jean looks up to Margot so much and has such incredible trust in her and is ready to defend her at any moment, and Margot goes and treats her like that. And then they fight and their conflict is resolved in like 2 pages. Ugh.

Also, I'm not particularly ragey about this, but the ending felt so rushed and cut short. The fight between all of them at the Christmas party (which, to me, feels like the big conflict) didn't happen until the last 20-30 pages of the book. And from there, the Margot/Lara Jean conflict resolved in half a second and there's barely any closure between Lara Jean and Peter. I just felt so jolted when I finished this book, especially considering the extreme rage I had experienced in only the last quarter or so.

Now, does not liking some of the characters mean I should automatically rate this lower? No, I don't think so. But my issue with this book is that these characters were not presented as unlikeable characters. Josh was the boy next door that Lara Jean was secretly in love with. Peter was the boy she eventually wanted to be with. Margot was her older sister, the one she was closer to than anyone. But they all did such screwed-up, sucky things, and for all of it to be essentially swept under the rug in the conclusion is really toxic and makes me feel gross.

Overall, quite disappointing but I find it amusing how much rage this book brought out of me.

(aka I want to cry happy tears)

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary follows Tiffy and Leon, who share an apartment and even a bed, but they’ve never met. They work opposite hours, so outside of the notes they leave each other about garbage day and leftovers, they never really see each other or interact with each other. But as the notes become more personal and they start to become more invested in each others’ lives, well, I bet you can guess what happens next...😉

My thoughts: I was absolutely blown away by this book. This is exactly the kind of fun, heartwarming romance I was in the mood for and I am SO glad I picked this one up! This premise sounded so interesting to me and it did not disappoint.

This book alternates between Tiffy and Leon’s perspectives, and to accentuate the difference between their characters, O’Leary uses a unique writing style in Leon’s chapters. It took a bit for me to get used to the straight-forward, almost abrupt style of Leon’s chapters, but once I did I was really able to appreciate how that choice added to the development of Leon’s character. This book is truly an opposites-attract story, and the stylistic differences between Tiffy and Leon encapsulated the contrast between their characters really well.

I wouldn’t say this book is a true comedy, however, there were several moments that I was full-on laughing out loud and had to take a second to calm myself down before I could keep reading. There’s something about O’Leary’s writing style that is so casually humorous, especially in the dialogue and observations by Tiffy and Leon.

I was really impressed by the way O’Leary incorporated more serious topics without detracting from the overall fun and heartwarming vibe of this book. Tiffy’s main character arc involves getting out of a manipulative, emotionally abusive relationship, and I think it was done in such a beautiful way. You really get to see Tiffy grow in her own strength and the support from her friends as she recovers from this relationship. This book really emphasizes the importance of Tiffy’s platonic relationships in addition to her relationship with Leon, which I really appreciated. Her friends really support her as she recovers from years of manipulation and gaslighting, and Tiffy never feels like her trauma is something she has to deal with alone. She has a strong support system and therapy is seen as a normal step in recovery, which was really cool to see.

While this book is great at developing the main characters’ friendships, I would be remiss to ignore how beautiful Tiffy and Leon’s relationship is. They support each other and grow in their relationship so wonderfully. It makes my heart full. Seeing them get from their relationship with each other what they didn’t get in their past relationships was so lovely and beautiful and made me so happy. I truly just love both of their characters so much and I love them together and I love this book.

I also really enjoyed all the side characters and plot points outside of the main relationship. I feel like some books focus too heavily on the romance and some too much on side characters, but this book had a really nice balance of both. Plus, all of Tiffy’s friends and Richie and Katherin are so hilarious and multi-dimensional that I wasn’t disappointed when Tiffy and Leon weren’t together in a scene, which can happen when the side characters aren’t as well fleshed out.

Overall, this book was amazing. It’s addictive and well-paced, with lovable characters that you root for. This is a stellar debut novel, in my opinion, and I am SO excited to read more of Beth O’Leary’s work in the future!🥰

TW: emotional abuse, gaslighting, some stalking