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Saturday, October 10, 2015

Book Review: P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #2) by Jenny Han

Author: Jenny Han
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 337
Format: Paperback
Published: June, 2015
Price: Rp168.000 (Periplus)
Rating: 3½ / 5 stars

Other books in the series:

Date started: September 13, 2015 - Date finished: September 20, 2015

Synopsis:
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.
*this review may contain spoilers if you haven't read the first book.
Review:
In the second installment of this duology, we follow Lara Jean as she discovers that she may have feelings for Peter Kavinsky, that she wants their once "fake" relationship to be "real." Lara Jean then expressed her feeling to Peter turns out he felt the same way to about Lara Jean. Everything was great, she was back together with Peter, mended her relationship with Josh, and was getting closer than ever with the rest of the Song sisters. But then, tragedy struck when a video of Lara Jean and Peter making out in a bathtub made public. It was just a make out, but to everyone else they thought that Lara Jean and Peter were having sex. Lara Jean was very ashamed about it and was freaking out, but Peter was not as freaked out as Lara Jean was because he believed that in the end it would all die down and people will move on to another gossip. 

While dealing with the bathtub video fiasco, Lara Jean suddenly received a letter from John Ambrose McClaren—one of the boys she once fell in love with and to whom she wrote one of the letters to. They keep corresponding to each other after that through letters. Through those letters Lara Jean and John got closer and closer. Meanwhile, Genevieve—Lara Jean's ex-best friend who is also Peter's ex-girlfriend is the main suspect of the video but Peter doesn't seem to believe it. Deep down, Lara Jean wanted Peter to keep his distance from Genevieve but Peter still at times meet Genevieve in secret without Lara Jean knowing about it. Could it be that Peter is still not over Genevieve? Meanwhile Lara Jean may also have feelings for John McClaren.
People come in and out of your life. For a time they are your world; they are everything. And then one day they’re not. There’s no telling how long you will have them near.
Ah, finally I've read the anticipated conclusion to this duology. I have to say that it is better than the first book but I still can't get myself to really like or even love this series. I'm just on the verge of almost really liking it but I don't hate this book at all. What got me to like this book better than the first one is the character development, I feel that in the second book Lara Jean has grown so much. She's lost that act-like-a-child thing she had going on in the first book and I like her now. I also like how Lara Jean is not clingy to her sister Margo as she was in the previous book where she always look for approval of Margo.
There's a Korean word my grandma taught me. It's called jung. It's the connection between two people that can't be severed, even when love turns to hate. You still have those old feelings for them; you can't ever completely shake them loose of you; you will always have tenderness in your heart for them.
This second book was able to make me confused about which is my favorite male protagonist, which is good because it means that I was absorbed into the story unlike the first book. Throughout this book I started out as Team Peter but then towards the middle I was Team John. Meanwhile in the first book I was Team Peter all the way. I didn't even consider other guys in Lara Jean's life.

About the writing of course we all know Jenny Han can write, the story was easy to follow, the words were all understandable to me. The conflict was the usual "conflict-stirred-up-by-jealousy" type of conflict with a dash of "another-gentleman-came-to-the-picture" who obviously gets close to Lara Jean. Props to Jenny Han though for weaving the story as it connects from the first book to the second.
There are two kinds of girls in this world. The kind who breaks hearts and the kind who gets her heart broken.
My favorite character would be Kitty, I don't know why but she seems to be the only sane person in the Song family despite her unhealthy obsession with setting up her father with their neighbor. I also like Lara Jean's father, he's so calm, collected, chill, and passive without being weak. He also supports his daughters very much and it is kind of cute to see a father so close to all of his daughters. With that being said I don't hate Lara Jean though, I kind of did in the first book but not in the second book. She kind of grew on me.
You have to let yourself be fully present in every moment. Just be awake for it, do you know what I mean? Go all in and wring every last drop out of the experience.
As far as antagonist goes, Genevieve was not really a good villain. She lacks that bitchy-ness feel for me. Favorite scenes would be when Lara Jean and Peter K got back together in the first half of the book and the retirement home scene, the one with Lara Jean and John McClaren.

In the end, I liked it better than the first book mainly because of Lara Jean's character development but I can't give it a 4 star, so it went up half a star for me. Probably you guys will like this duology more than me as other people seem to.

P.S. : Thank you Jenny, for letting me borrow this book!

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