Book Review: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han.

Product details:
Publisher: Simon & Schuster.
Hardcover, 337 pages.
Release date: May 26th 2015.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Ages: 12+
Other Books in Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before.
Source: Purchased.

 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.

With To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han truly hit the bookish jackpot. A slice of pure YA perfection with a great premise and cast of loveable, highly-relatable characters, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was the best book I read last year, and well deserving of the number one spot on my list of 2014 favourites. Now, the heroine of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara Jean Covey is back, and this time round things are about to get serious. Because Lara Jean is no longer the girl that plays it safe indulging in never-to-be-spoken-of crushes and faux-relationships with handsome boys. Nope, this time, Lara Jean is getting real. This time Lara Jean is playing the dangerous game of falling in love.

And, as anyone who has been in love knows, the highs are oh-so-great, but then sometimes things turn bad and you have to deal with soul crushing lows of  heartbreak too. Will it be all plain sailing for our cuter than cute couple? I hope so! But if Peter K’s very own first love, his scheming ex Genevieve has any say in the matter a plain-sailing relationship will exist only in Lara Jean’s dreams. That’s right, Genevieve is sticking around. She’s out for revenge, and she’s on a mission to bring Lara Jean down. We’re about to hit rough seas, folks!

First crushes don’t always translate into first loves, but that’s exactly where Lara Jean is at. She should really thank her interfering little sister Kitty for that!  We were all privy to Peter K and Lara Jean’s hot tub make-out session in To All the Boys I’ve Loved…and so it seems was a certain sneaky somebody else, when a  video of their hot tub session winds up on the internet and goes viral.  Who is behind this mean-spirited act? Lara Jean is quickly convinced that it’s Genevieve (of course it is!) but Peter isn’t so quick to condemn his ex, with whom he maintains a close relationship – much too close of a too-close relationship if you ask me, but then I’m not Lara Jean. I swear, I wanted to give Peter K a good talking to a times due to his behaviour in this book! But our girl is kind-hearted, level-headed and mature – and she doesn’t do jealousy – or at least she tries not to.

All the same, Genevieve’s continued presence in Peter’s life, his forever hanging out with her, his constant defending of her behaviour, drives a wedge between the lovebirds.  And when another very cute boy from Lara Jean’s past enters the picture, well, maybe Peter K can’t have it all his own way, and there just might be major trouble in store. Could it be that Lara Jean is all kinds of smitten with two boys at the same time?! Studious, wise beyond his years and oh-so-dreamy, John Ambrose McLaren, another recipient of one of Lara Jean’s infamous ‘crush’ letters seems to be the perfect fit for Lara Jean – and he’s a big fan of her baking to boot! Well, who isn’t?  Peter K might have captured your heart in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, but John Ambrose McLaren might test your love for him here.

 In the way of first loves, Peter K is very special to Lara Jean, and he really has a hold on her heart, but, I don’t know…I think if we met Lara Jean again in a decade or so, John Ambrose McLaren might be very much part of the picture. As he says himself, “I don’t think it was our time then. I guess it isn’t now, either…But one day maybe it will be.”  Maybe, John Ambrose McLaren, just maybe!

Just like its predecessor P.S. I Still Love You is not just all about boys and crushes and kissing. Lara Jean’s family is back; Kitty, who is now proud mom to a puppy called Jamie Fox-Pickle, is on a mission to get their dad back in the dating game, and she is still Peter K’s biggest fan. All-knowing, all-seeing, always-interfering Kitty is a real favourite of mine, and I think she deserves her very own spin-off series of books. I’m pretty sure Kitty would be in total agreement with me on this. One person missing from this book is Josh, older sister Margot’s ex-boyfriend and Lara Jean’s one time crush, who is no longer a constant presence in Lara Jean’s life. At first I was surprised at Josh’s absence since he played such a big part in To All the Boys…but I guess it makes sense in a very true-to-life way that he’s not around as much in this book. As Lara Jean says, in one of my favourite quotes from this book, “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.”

Jenny Han is the Queen of heart-warming, feel-good reads, and P.S. I Still Love You is certainly no exception to the rule. The storyline here may be a little less captivating than that of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, but with pitch-perfect prose and characters that will remain in your heart long after you’ve finished reading, this book is yet another winner from Han, who, in my mind, can pretty much do no wrong.