Book #76: Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

Hooray! A third book about Lara Jean and Peter. This book takes place a year after the first two, nearing the end of their senior year of high school. They have been dating for a year and are cute and in love with each other. The plot of this book is mostly about Lara Jean's growing pains about where she should go for college, and what is going to happen to her and Peter when they go to college. Her plans don't happen--she doesn't get in to their planned school together, and they both begin questioning what is really going to happen or what they are going to do together. Also, her dad is seriously dating their neighbor Ms. Rothschild, and near the end of the book, they end up getting married and Lara Jean is planning their wedding. I liked Peter a lot more in this book than in the last one, and how he seems like he's actually nice and not a jerk-y popular kid. They have a cute relationship, watching their favorite movies with each other and him asking her to prom by re-enacting her favorite scene from Sleepless in Seattle. I loved how Lara Jean decides on what she wants to do for college and decides to love it and to love Peter, even if they're not in the same place, and how it somehow seems to work out.

This series was so cute. I felt like the first book started out with a catchy book jacket story--what would happen if a girl's love letters got sent to a bunch of boys at once? But what kept all three stories going was Lara Jean's sweetness and openness and curiosity. Her character kept me interested. I wonder how you can portray sweetness in a character as a writer. It's obvious how to write a character who's tough or brittle or angry at the world--just read any YA dystopian novel out there. But a character who is truly good, but not obnoxiously so, and is still fun to read and relate to--that's what Lara Jean is.

Side note: I liked how Lara Jean thought about the importance of having sex with someone and didn't just start doing it because she had a boyfriend. She isn't religious, but she didn't want to do it until she was really and truly ready and loved and was holding off until she wanted to. I think that's a really important moral that could be useful for many YA readers today--most YA readers are not going to be impressed with the idea of abstinence until marriage, but I'm sure the idea of abstinence until you're truly ready and in a healthy, loving relationship for a long time might be more palatable (and definitely better than doing it with whoever you want). I liked how this series actually addressed that question head on and how Lara Jean thought about it in an open, unembarrassed way (which worked perfectly with who her character was).