Tuesday 3 September 2019

Review on P.S. I Still Love You


Lara Jean never expected she would actually be dating Peter Kavinsky. After pretending to date him for so long, Lara Jean realises her fake relationship with Peter just might be turning into something more. However, Lara Jean is convinced that Peter still has feelings for his ex girlfriend, Genevieve. To make matters worse, a video of her and Peter in the hot tub on the ski trip surfaces on the internet, and Lara Jean is convinced that it was Genevieve who posted it. When John suddenly comes back into her life, Lara Jean must decide if she is going to try to save her relationship with Peter, or if it's time for her to move on.

After reading To All the Boys I've Loved Before I just had to continue reading this series! It's rare for me to read a contemporary romance series, but I completely fell in love with these characters. As the first book was practically a slow burn romance, I was excited for Lara Jean and Peter to finally be a proper couple.
Something that I loved was that although Lara Jean and Peter were officially together, there were still problems between them. I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect relationship, and there were definitely some unresolved issues between them. Lara Jean thinks Peter still has feelings for Genevieve, while Peter sees John as a rival. I'm not a huge fan of love triangles, but I actually loved the addition of John. It helped to cause a little drama, and John was actually a sweet character. Even though I adore Peter, I could see why Lara Jean was drawn to John's good looks and charm.

One of the main themes in this series is the importance of friends and family. I talked about Lara Jean's relationship with her sisters in my review on TATBILB, so I want to talk about her relationship with her best friend Chris this time. I loved how the two girls were always there for each other, and how Lara Jean was able to share her problems with her. As Margot is at University and Kitty is quite bit younger than Lara Jean, Chris was often the only person that Lara Jean felt comfortable sharing her problems with. I always love seeing a strong friendship between girls, and these two were the perfect example of a healthy friendship.

I was a little disappointed that Lara Jean and Josh didn't really stay friends. There was some awkwardness between them in the first book, but I was hoping they would be able to put that aside and go back to being friends. Margot seemed to be the glue to their friendship, and without her their friendship fell apart. The sad reality is that sometimes you just drift away from friends for no good reason. I had a friend last year who I would talk to every day, Skype with all the time and tell all my problems to, and now we never talk. Even though I miss her, I realise sometimes people just move on or become too busy, and the friendship just naturally breaks apart. I feel as if this is probably what happened between Lara Jean and Josh, which is sad but something that just sometimes happens.

I have to talk a little about Lara Jean's dad, who is honestly the purest character. There were some sweet scenes between him and his daughters, and I loved how he always made time for them despite having to work long shifts at the hospital. Even though he has to deal with his daughters relationship drama, he has never dated anyone since his wife died, and Kitty takes on the role of match maker, trying to set him up with their neighbour. This was such a funny and sweet subplot, and I particularly loved how unsubtle Kitty was about her intentions!

Even though Kitty is my all time favourite character, I have to mention how much I love Stormy, an old lady who lives at the retirement home Lara Jean volunteers at. Stormy is hilarious, and I loved her stories about her ex husbands! Stormy really lived her life to it's fullest, and I loved how even though she was now living in a retirement home, she was still full of life and energy. Even though I'm not personally planning on getting married multiple times, I did find myself hoping that when I get to Stormy's age, I would be able to look back on my life with happy memories and stories to tell. Honestly, I wish Stormy was my grandma so I could listen to all her stories!

I do think To All the Boys I've Loved Before had a better and more unique plot, but I still loved this one and liked the addition of John. A bit off topic here but I finally watched the Netflix adaptation of To All the Boys I've Loved Before and thought it was brilliant! I'm glad I read this book before watching it as it does include some things from the second book, so just a heads up if you're like me and prefer to read the book first. Even if these books aren't your cup of tea, the movie is still worth a watch. I'm looking forward to reading the last book in the series once my library reservation comes in!