P.S. I Still Love You

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Title: P.S. I Still Love You

Author: Jenny Han

Series: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, #2

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Release Date: May 26th 2015

Rating:

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.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

This review may contain spoilers for previous book(s) in the series.

My Thoughts On…

…The Plot

“It could have happened lots of ways. But this is the way it happened. This is the path we took. This is our story.”

After everything they went through together in the first book it seems like Lara Jean and Peter have gotten their second chance. However as they try to start their relationship again, this time for real, there is still a lot standing in their way. There are rumours circulating about what happened between the two of them in the hot tub during the school’s annual ski trip, and then a video surfaces online of the two of them and Lara Jean is forced to deal with everything that follows; the rumours, the scorn, the gossip, even the memes. Everyone thinks she had sex with Peter that night, despite nothing like that happening between them.

Lara Jean knows that it was Gen that posted that video, and later Gen that put it up on the projector during a school presentation for everyone to see. However Peter doesn’t believe her when she tells him, and more than that it seems that Peter is spending more time with Gen than he is with Lara Jean. He says there are things going on in Gen’s life, and with her family, that he can’t share but Lara Jean can’t help but fear he’ll end up going back to her again.

“I deserve better than that, you know? I deserve…I deserve to be someone’s number one girl.”
“You are.”
“No, I’m not. She is. You’re still protecting her, her secret, whatever that is. From what, though? From me? What have I ever done to her?”

But as Peter spends more and more time with Gen, Lara Jean starts spending more and more time with John Ambrose McClaren. He is another of the boys she wrote a letter to and now she’s finally heard back from him. The two become pen pals and eventually friends, but it’s clear there is something more between the two of them than just friendship. After all Lara Jean was once in love with him, and it seems those feelings aren’t all in the past.

While reading this book I noticed a lot of similarities between P.S. I Still Love You and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. There is still the tension between Lara Jean and Peter regarding Gen, and replace Josh with John and you’ve got the potential love triangle in the works which acts as a road block for Lara Jean and Peter’s relationship. I still really enjoyed this book, maybe even more than To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I felt the relationship between Lara Jean and John Ambrose McClaren was a lot better developed than the one between Lara Jean and Josh.

…The Characters

“Boys will be boys, but girls are supposed to be careful: of our bodies, of our futures, of all the ways people judge us.”

Lara Jean seems to have one foot out the door when it comes to her relationship with Peter. After seeing Margot and Josh’s relationship end, for real this time, and talking with the people at the care home where she volunteers she tries to keep things light between them, worried that if something does ever happen to break them up they won’t be able to go back to being friends. Once again the two have a set series of rules between them to stop that from happening but it feels instead like they’re already preparing for their relationship to crash and burn.

She is jealous of Peter’s past with Gen which is understandable. Peter is spending more time with his ex and keeping secrets from her and Lara Jean worries, especially in the wake of the video of the two of them being broadcast to the whole school. However she doesn’t seem to realise, while she is jealous of Peter and Gen, that she is causing the same emotions in Peter when she spends time with John and isn’t up front with him about it. When it comes to their relationship it seems like Lara Jean is already cautious of being hurt by him, and as a result it ends up being her who hurts Peter at times.

“Peter. Peter Kavinsky.” Even saying his name is a remembered pleasure, something to savour, like a piece of chocolate dissolving on my tongue.”

Peter is by far my favourite character in this series. After the video of him and Lara Jean in the hot tub surfaces he goes above and beyond trying to get it taken down, he wants to protect her reputation and does whatever he can to set people straight. He is clearly all in in their relationship and doesn’t understand where Lara Jean is coming from when she worries about the time he spends with Gen. However he still does everything he can to prove to her that she is the one he wants to be with, not Gen.

I did really enjoy the dynamic between Peter and Gen, and even Lara Jean and Gen. Even though they have broken up Peter still cares about his ex and wants to be there for her while she is going through something difficult. He keeps her secret and proves he can be a shoulder to cry on. The relationship between Lara Jean and Gen is a lot more complicated. The two used to be best friends but grew apart and now Lara Jean is dating Peter Gen clearly cannot stand her. However there is still that bond there that they had when they were younger, and towards the end we see a different side to their relationship and a different side to Gen as well.

“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.”

John used to be close friends with Lara Jean, Peter and Gen before he moved away, but before he went Lara Jean wrote him a letter. I enjoyed the friendship between them but didn’t really become convinced by the relationship that could potentially happen. It felt a little too much like ‘what-if’ on both their parts. What if he had never moved away? Would the two be dating instead of Lara Jean and Peter? I think it was that possibility that led Lara Jean to him in the first place and while I do think they make great friends I much prefer Lara Jean and Peter together.

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The ending of this book was a hopeful one more than anything else. I know the story isn’t over, there’s a third and final book in the works for next year which I’m very excited to get my hands on when it’s released. I will be interested to see how the relationships between Lara Jean and Peter, and Lara Jean and John evolve in the final book, and I hope to see more of the dynamics between Lara Jean and Gen.

What did you think of P.S. I Still Love You? Was it a favourite of yours or could you just not get into the story? Let me know.