To All The Boys I've Loved Before – Jenny Han

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

Dear Lara Jean,

You are a wonderful person, I think sometimes you don’t realise that about yourself. You are genuinely a lovely person who does try to see the best in everyone. This is shown in the letters you have written to the boys you have loved, you do sometimes reveal your hurt about the circumstances which occurred, but you show that you see the wonderful things within that person for loving them in the first place. You are funny and quirky, and that is most definitely a good thing. You have an amazing fashion sense, you should count yourself lucky for that. You have the most wonderful sisters ever, another good thing for yourself as you have people who will be there for you no matter what, so don’t forget that and don’t keep everything so secret. You are an awesome baker, that is great, especially since cake is your favourite food. It is also just an excellent skill to have in general.

I think you need to remember you are a separate person to your sister, you should stop comparing yourself to her, especially in terms of what makes you a good sister to Kitty. Kitty loves you regardless of what type of person you are, she knows you aren’t Margot, and she doesn’t need to you to be, because she already has Margot as a sister, just as you do. You are a fantastic sister who is helping to encourage her independence and to encourage her to take action to get things for herself, the puppy issue is a prime example of this. Never forget your sisters love you, no matter what you do or they do, you are all bonded together, even if you don’t see each other for a while. They can forgive you anything as long as you aren’t malicious in your actions.

You do need to learn to be more adventurous, though. This is shown by everything that happens with Peter, you need someone like him to encourage you to leave your comfort zone. You obviously like to stick with what you know, and trust me, I’m with you there. Sometimes you need to do something you would not normally wish to because the amount of fun you might have could surprise you. And, as always, if you don’t like it at least you have reached an informed decision as to why not.

You are such a lovely person. I know you think you are selfish and are not always the best older sister that you can be to Kitty. What I want to tell you is you don’t have to try and be Margot, no matter how in control and perfect she appears she is still just a person, just like you. I know Kitty loves you so much, and she does not think you are a bad sister. You are a person who sometimes takes a joke too far or whose words hit a little too close to home, but you are a good sister who is trying to do right by her family. That is obvious with your actions in regards to Josh and it is obvious in everything you do for your sisters and your father.

I think you are a girl with a wicked fashion sense and a great quirky sense of humour and who is a mean baker, and really, what more does a person need to be. I think you have often fallen in love with the image of a person as opposed to the person in front of you. Since you avoid situations where there is an unknown level of risk involved you have distanced yourself from people, and so you create an image of others in your mind and expect the people the image is based upon to live up to it when they were never that person to begin with. You have done that with every boy you have loved, you have seen fantastic sides of them and created that to be their entire person. You need to remember that just as you are flawed, so is everyone around you. I think you are finally beginning to realise that, but it’s a difficult path you have had to follow to get there, and more hurt is still to come, but you will get through it as you are strong and you have fantastic friends and a loving family behind you.

Lara-Jean, I cannot wait to read the rest of your story.

Love,