To All the Boys I've Loved Before | Review

Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Published: April 15th, 2014 by Simon & Schuster

Pages: 368

Date Finished: December 22nd, 2015

Rating: 5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 12+

This book was so adorable... It follows sixteen year old, sweet and immensely innocent Lara-Jean Song who has loved a total of five boys in her life. Every time a love comes to an end, she writes a farewell letter to the boy as a way of letting go and then she stows it away in the teal hatbox her mother gave her as a gift, never to be seen by anyone but her again. But one day something goes terribly wrong. Lara-Jean's hatbox goes missing along with all her love letters which the boys all secretly receive.

I loved this whole book, which was a surprise to me since I had seen a lot of negativity surrounding it. The characters were so likeable. Lara-Jean was such a sweetheart; I found Kitty to be mature beyond her years and although I didn't connect with Margot all that much, I still liked reading about her. Dr. Covey seemed like such a laidback character and I was rooting for both Josh and Peter to be with Lara-Jean. Josh was very protective of Lara-Jean and I found that to be really heartwarming. I just wanted to cuddle him and whenever him and Laura-Jean had a semi-romantic scene, you'd better believe I was squealing. Especially when the jealous kiss happened. Eep! In the beginning, I didn't like how cocky Peter was but as the book went on, his "tough guy" wall came crashing down and by the end, my heart was mush for him.

This book is just so cute! I can't wait to read the next one. :)

Different Stereotypes and Why I Hate Them

Hey guys! So... I'm currently reading a book that I got off NetGalley and it has me extremely frustrated. As I was reading, the author threw in two stereotypes that I didn't see necessary and they quite honestly ticked me off. That's why I decided to make this post because it got me thinking of all the times authors have thrown in useless stereotypes that not a lot of people can relate to. So here we go!


Race


The first stereotype is one of the most common ones that I've come across. In most of the novels I've read, the main characters are always white. This annoys me because I can't believe the world still sees problems with other races or views interracial/differently raced couples as a "wrong" thing. The world is much more diverse than most authors make it out to be and love is the same way.


LGBTQIA+


This brings me to my next point: LGBTQIA+ relationships in books. More often than not, most of the couples in fictitious novels are straight. Authors need to realize that not everyone in the world is straight and that some of their readers may not be able to connect with their characters. If they were more exploratory with what they wrote, that would be really awesome. Granted there are more books being published about gay and lesbian couples nowadays but there aren't many books for the less well-known sexual orientations and sexual/gender identities.


Physical Attractiveness


More often than not, the female protagonist in a book is super slim, tan, gorgeous, blond, has the perfect body and a bubbly personality. The male protagonist is a hunk with a defined six pack, sexy smile, sometimes he's a jerk or a bad boy, and he's almost always into sports. The majority of society is not like this. We come from all different walks of life; we're all different sizes and body types and most of us don't have the money to buy super expensive cars. The way these characters are built up is especially bad for younger readers because they think they have to be super fit or slim and look and act just how they think society "needs" them to be.




Those are just some of the stereotypes that come hand in hand with fictitious novels that I've read and they really annoy the crap out of me. I hope this post didn't seem too rant-y and I'll see you all next Wednesday. Happy reading!