I will never be able to put into words how much of an impact Jenny Han’s writing has made on my life. Her two most recent novels, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You have captured my heart. This is partially due to the fact that these books are romantic and girly (sorry boys). However I know that if a boy read these books my opinion of him would rise 110%.

Anyways, back to the books themselves. I think I fell in love with their simplicity. Of course, everything that happens in these books has a significantly lower chance of ever happening in real life, but the plot borders on what is and is not possible.

Another thing I love is all of the food that Han describes. Lara Jean, the main character, is quite the baker. Han’s descriptions of Lara Jean’s cookies and cakes make my mouth water. The hominess of the grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup at the diner made my stomach rumble.

But of course the characters are what make these stories what they are. Lara Jean and her two sisters Margot, the oldest, and Katherine, aka “Kitty”, the youngest, are an unforgettable threesome because they always stick together and never let anything come between them. They are three strong role models for every girl out there. And their father is just as, if not more lovable, because he raises them by himself.

And who am I kidding? What’s a good romance without a boy or two (or three)? In To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara Jean gets caught in a love triangle between her first kiss, Peter Kavinsky, and her sister’s ex-boyfriend (!), Josh Sanderson. It all starts when her beloved box of love letters gets sent out into the mail by accident.

Lara Jean writes these letters to help herself fall out of love with a boy. They serve as a way of pouring out her feelings and locking them away so that she can move on. She wrote five letters to: Kenny from Camp, Josh Sanderson, Lucas Krapf, Peter Kavinsky, and John Ambrose McClaren.

Kavinsky is the first to confront Lara Jean about his letter. Josh is the next one to do so. However, Lara Jean does not let this confrontation fully manifest because she worries about Margot. She leaves us hanging by running away from Josh the first time he tries to talk to her about it, however we do learn that he had feelings for her once too!

So Lara Jean does what every girl would (not) do. She starts a fake relationship with Peter Kavinsky to avoid anything happening with Josh. Only wait for it, Lara and Peter actually start to like each other. That is where Book 1 leaves us.

In the sequel, P.S. I Still Love You (my favorite of the two), Lara Jean finds herself in another love triangle! What I wouldn’t give to live her life. This time she causes an ultimate showdown between her boyfriend Peter Kavinsky and John Ambrose McClaren, aka Butch Cassidy and The Sun Dance Kid.

If I were offered the choice between Peter, the outgoing lacrosse player who would bring me mocha sugar donuts and take me on adventures and buy me beautiful locket necklaces or John Ambrose McClaren, the shy blue-eyed Model United Nations speaker who would give me a snow-globe for my birthday and spend time volunteering at a nursing home with me and take me for a spin in his dad’s red Corvette, I would choose John. But I’ll let you read the book and find out who Lara Jean chooses.