To All The Boys I've Loved Before

"I know that Jenny Han is a huge I Capture the Castle fan and I think you can really see that influence in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before . The kind of themes that we’ve been talking about in terms of I Capture the Castle are also a focus here. Even the style and the voice of both books hold some really lovely similarities. I Capture the Castle is written in the first person – it’s Cassandra’s journal, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is written in first person present tense, so, they share that sense of intimacy, of communicating with the reader. You feel like you really get to know these characters. The premise of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is that when Lara Jean has a crush on a boy she writes a letter to him, which she doesn’t post. One day the letters all get posted and she has to deal with the fall out of that. I love that Lara Jean and Cassandra both use writing as a way to work out their feelings. I think the thing that makes it stand out for me is I really love the voice and the style of the writing, and I love the romance in it and the way that’s handled. It’s such a strong premise and I think it has that really delicate quality that I look for in a great coming-of-age romance novel. As for the sister relationship, I really, really loved the sister dynamic in these books. In the series there are three sisters and Lara Jean is the middle sibling. Her older sister Margot is the serious, grown up sibling and her younger sister Kitty is this brilliant funny, feisty, character. Lara Jean’s relationship with her older sister Margot is really important in this book but actually Margot is removed for most of the action. And, again, that is the catalyst for a lot of what happens in the story. Because Margot goes away to school the serious, grown-up sister is gone and suddenly there’s this void that Lara Jean, as the middle child, feels she needs to step in to. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. The sisters live with their father but their mother has passed away, so there’s this idea that with Margot absent the family is coping with another – though obviously much lesser – loss and Lara Jean has got to fill in and somehow hold things together. It tells you so much about Margot even when she’s not on the page. And it also tells you a lot about Lara Jean, about how she sees her family and what she thinks her family needs. I really enjoyed that dynamic."