The To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy and I have a long and fraught history, filled with highs and lows, the fantastic and the terribly ugly, Peter K vs everything that constitutes a healthy and loving relationship.
I am here to detail my final stop in the trilogy. That is if we aren’t counting the movies that are coming out on Netflix, (which I am totally going to review).
And Always and Forever, Lara Jean was a ride, believe me.
First up, THE CHARACTERS –
Lara Jean was as charming as ever, pulling out an impressive amount of Hamilton references and being 10x more mature than anybody else in the novel. However, in this installment of the series, LJ was a complete pushover. And that isn’t to say that she wasn’t in the other books, because she always was a LITTLE bit, but not enough to seriously annoy me.
Most of this book concerned her and Peter’s relationship, which had been front in center in the other books, but never without it’s obstacles. A.K.A, the entire relationship being fake and JOHN AMBROSE MCCLAREN. And when seeing the relationship and their roles in it in without anything to shake it up, Lara Jean’s behaviour when it came to Peter was disturbing.
She is constantly forgiving him for being a jerk (“I don’t want to be mad. I just want things to go back to how they were before.”) and not expecting anything (“That’s okay I didn’t expect anything.”)
Maybe the worst of all, she spends most of the novel planning her life choices around Peter:
“You mean you and Peter have a plan. That’s why you’re holding back.”
“Okay, Peter and I have a plan. But it’s not the only reason.”
“But it’s the main one.”
All this for a relationship, even she at some point realizes is likely not going to last –
“I can see the future, Peter. That way lies heartbreak. I won’t do it. Better to part while we can still see each other in a certain way.”
Lara Jean takes a majority of the blame for anything that disrupts or causes trouble in their relationship, even if Peter was the sole cause of it. Peter is blameless and free of fault in the relationship and I do attribute most of the problems to Peter Kavinsky himself for being so terrible.
That brings us to Mr. Peter Kavinsky himself.
Lara Jean’s and his relationship is a whole other story, but Peter as a person has some major problems of his own. He must have some sort of anger management issues, he takes his anxiety and worries out on Lara Jean, while being thoroughly insecure about their relationship constantly.
However Lara Jean, who, unlike the first two books, seems to be secure and comfortable in her and Peter, (utterly refreshing by the way). Peter’s insecurity brought out some emotion that we never saw in Peter before and having a main male character be that vulnerable was the only upside to his character in this installment.
Taking on the Covey-Song clan as a whole, including Trina. LJ’s dad, Trina and Kitty were all written to perfection in the book, Kitty comes across as more mature and has considerably more time on page in this book which was a gift. Trina was the character you honestly didn’t know the series was missing, she adds the older, carefree, motherly type to novel, which adds really nicely into the Covey-Song family. LJ’s dad is still the sensible parental aspect and is always good for some comic relief.
Margot.
Margot drives me insane. She can’t seem to get behind the fact that her father is getting remarried, takes it out on Lara Jean and is patronizing and exasperated for the entire novel.
In this installation, there isn’t really anything else to say. Chris, Lucas and all the side characters are fine, you see a bit more of Chris, besides her convincing Lara Jean to go UNC, there was nothing that made me like her character more.
John Ambrose McClaren makes a few appearances in the novel, all of them much too short in my opinion. He shows up, once just talking to Lara Jean, and then a second time at Peter’s beach house during beach week, with his girlfriend Dipti, somehow making Peter jealous and that resulted in Peter and Lara Jean having a fight.
Apparently John Ambrose showing up and not going along with Peter when he teases him, results in LJ and Peter getting into a fight.
Makes you think about Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship.
Speaking of Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship, let’s talk about that.
Lara Jean and Peter are the main couple in the novel, the WHOLE series is about them and the trials and tribulations of their relationship.
I WOULD enjoy a sitcomy romantic trilogy.
If their relationship wasn’t a disaster waiting to happen.
LJ and Peter seem to be in a constant state of insecurity, in one book Lara Jean is insecure, then Peter is insecure, and then they break up or fight incessantly until the novel ends.
The people in the relationship aren’t the problem (I have a PERSONAL problem with Peter Kavinsky), it’s the way they function as a unit.
Peter and LJ can’t go two months without one feeling jealous or worried over what the other is doing. They both seem to have trust problems, believing the other wants to end things, doesn’t love them or is cheating on them.
They can’t seem to have a comfortable, secure relationship, letting the readers enjoy the couple without all the drama and worry that is a given with them.
The biggest problem I had with them in this novel, which I did talk about earlier in the post, was Lara Jean basing all of her choices on the movements of one Peter Kavinsky.
Peter had already made his decision, he was going UVA on a lacrosse scholarship. However Lara Jean spends all her time basing a decision that decides and changes her life on her HIGH SCHOOL boyfriend.
Even Lara Jean, as I pointed out earlier, realizes the relationship isn’t going to last, and that the future only contains hurt for them both, a conclusion that I highly agree with.
However they stay together and go off to different colleges, completely confident in their ability to maintain a long distance relationship.
*sigh*
The conclusion in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy is a slightly disappointing, not without charm, romantic comedy in which one half the main couple is utterly unlikable and throws everything off balance and ruins the relationship without even trying.
Everything else was good though.
An Overabundance of Opinions 