P.S. I Still Love You | Book Review

Title: P.S. I Still Love You
Author: Jenny Han

Series: To All The Boys I've Loved Before #2

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Chick-Lit

Pages: 337 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.3/5

My Rating: 3/5

From Goodreads: 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?

I really loved To All The Boys I've Loved Before (review here), so P.S. I Still Love You was underwhelming and a disappointment. What I loved in the first book was missing. There was less humor and the romance wasn't very interesting. In the first book I really enjoyed reading about the sisters' bond but this time the story focused more on the love triangle and the romance.

Lara Jean was very childish throughout out the novel. I kept waiting for her to grow up and go through some character development but she never did. She stayed her childish, petty self. On the topic of characters, I didn't like Peter either. He was a really fun, cute character in the last book while in this book he was the stereotypical "popular jock". There was nothing unique about him.

I never understood the connection between Lara Jean and Peter. Even in TAtBILB I didn't think they had any chemistry but I still though they were cute. In PSISLY their relationship didn't make sense. They didn't communicate and weren't a good couple. The addition of the love triangle was pointless. It didn't add anything but unnecessary drama to the story. The way Lara Jean handled the love triangle was irritating as well.

While I did have quite a few problems with the novel, I did enjoy it. I like the tone of the books and how they're not stereotypical, cliche chick-lit. The books have a personality which I really enjoy. This novel also continuously discussed sexism and double standards which was a great addition.

I love this series, however, if you haven't read any of the books yet I'd recommend just reading the first book.

Fangirl | Book Review

Title: Fangirl 

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Series: N/A

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 434 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.20/5
My Rating: 4/5

Cath and Wren are identical twins. They do everything together, that is, until they went to college. Wren decides she wants to become independent - meet boys, go to parties, get drunk - all activities Cath doesn't enjoy. Cath is shy, has social anxiety, and writes fan fiction. Without Wren, she's lost. Completely out of her comfort zone, she doesn't know if she'll be able to survive college on her own.

This was such a fun and relatable book! I love Rowell's characterization and how she describes people. Instead of saying something like "he was tall and lanky" she writes something unusual and abstract but still makes complete sense. As strange as this sounds, when I like a book I physically feel something in my chest (what, I don't know), and this book did the trick.

The main reason I enjoyed this book so much was because of the relatability. Cath suffers with social anxiety, something I experience as well. There were many moments in the book where I was Cath. She said things I've said and did things I've done in order to get out of social situations. While her reluctance to do anything social was a bit more extreme compared to me (she did everything she possibly could to make herself exempt from social situations whereas I at least try occasionally to be social), the relatability was immense.

Now while I did enjoy this book a lot, I had quite a few quams with it:

1. The characters. I felt all the characters, minus Cath, lacked dimension and, well, character. All of the characters (Levi, Nick, Laura, Reagan, etc.) did have their own unique personalities, however, they could have been fleshed out more. A few of the characters, especially Nick and Laura, seemed to be there only to add a little bit of conflict. They didn't really further the plot or help instigate character development. Also, Levi. He's the "perfect" guy. What could be wrong with him? That's precisely the problem. No person in real life is that perfect. People are flawed, broken, or at least have problems of some sort not revolving around the love of their life. Levi's perfectness didn't do it for me. I would have preferred a more rounded, flawed, character.

2. The length. The book was too long. I mean, a 400 page contemporary? Some of the plot lines felt stretched and could have been scratched out completely.

3. The fan fiction. While an avid reader and lover of fan fiction, the Simon Snow excerpts and fan fiction just didn't cut it for me. When I read a fan fiction, I have already created a strong connection with the characters and want to know more about them. Not having read the fictional Simon Snow series, I couldn't do that. I didn't feel anything for the characters so the excerpts and fics bored me to the point where I didn't even read them after a while.

4. The ending. It wasn't satisfying to me. It felt too abrupt and cheesy. It left quite a few loose ends, for example, what happens with Laura and with Carry On?

Despite the many problems I had with it, I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, quirky, and a good read overall. I don't think everyone would enjoy it but I definitely recommend at least trying Fangirl out before giving judgement.