Book Review: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

Good Afternoon readers!

Today I'm going to be reviewing and discussing P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han!

 

This is the sequel to To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. I reviewed the first book and I really enjoyed it, so I was so excited to jump into this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodreads Summary:

 

 

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

 

 

My review:
 

First I'd like to say that the covers are GORGEOUS. The colors are my absolute favorites.

 

Next....This books was just as good as the first! I didn't find that this did not suffer from second book syndrome, as so many second books do. 

In this book, we see the same characters: Lara Jean, Peter, (older sister), Kitty, Genevieve, and (boy next door's name), and the girl's father. We also see a little more of the girls across the street neighbor in this installment.

 

I really enjoyed seeing the relationships from the first book wax and wane.

 

 

There are still a couple of things that I hope Han will change in third and final book. For one, I really hope that Lara Jean matures in the next one. She was just as immature in this one as she was in the first. Now I can't say that this drove me coo-coo crazy, but it did annoy me at times.

I also hope that Han gives the girls' father a bit more of a parental role. A real life parental role. He was definitely more present in this book than he was in the first, but it could still be improved.

 

Neither of these things made me dislike this book in the least! I loved it! And if you loved the first one, you'll love this one too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HERE COME THE SPOILERS!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler-y Discussion:

 

 

So...I usually get into detail on what I think of each character.
I'm not doing that this time. We have the same characters as we had in book one. This story picks up within a few days of the last book and there aren't really changes in our characters.


We are introduced to one new character, John, and he's really great. The opposite of what we see in our other male characters. He's mature in a way that Peter and Josh are not.
When he was introduced, I wasn't sure how I felt. I was dead set on Peter being with Lara Jean. I was torn for a period of time because of John.

I did decide that Peter was still the one for Lara Jean. Definitely.


I also kinda want to mention evil heifer. (Y'all know who I'm talkin about.) Her dad is an ass. He is such. an. ass. I mean what decent cheats on his wife with a girl his daughter's age.... Hmmmm?? WHO?????!!
I 100% get that Peter wanted to be there for her during this since she is his friend. But he should have told Lara Jean what was going on without REALLY telling her. It would have saved them both a ton of heartache.

The end of this book was awesome. I'm beyond pleased with the way the relationships turned out. If Peter had not ended up with Lara Jean I would have died. DIED.

I can't wait to read the last one!  

 

 I apologize for the shortness of this post. I just didn't have a ton to say that I didn't say in the discussion for the first one.

 

 

Here is the entire series, in the correct order.

 

(The picture above was found by google search. It is not my personal photograph)


I hope that you enjoyed this short discussion on P.S. I Still Love You.



Book Review: Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

Hi everyone! 

I know that I've been gone for a bit, but I have several new book reviews coming because I've read FIVE books in my absence. 

First, let me talk about my July and August book club books. 

The first one was Pride and Prejudice, which I won't be reviewing because just about everyone knows the story. I wasn't a fan of having to read it. I prefer the movies with this one.

The second was  called My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier. I won't be doing a full review on this book. I didn't enjoy it at all. The narrator and main character was the whiniest, most naive man on the face of the earth. I couldn't stand it. I wanted to punch him in the throat the entire time I was reading. 

I won't be picking up any classics for a while. (Unless they're by Jules Verne.) 

The third book was the one we are about to discuss. 

Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell!!! 

Goodreads Summary:

For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer.

But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along.

The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe.

With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?"

My Rating:

5/5

My Thoughts:

So obviously this is a Peter Pan retelling. 

It. Was. AMAZING! 

Roles are completely reversed in this book and I couldn't have loved it anymore that I did. It had everything you could possible want. All of my favorites from the movie were in this book and it was obvious who was portraying who, which I really liked. The only characters missing were Smee, John, and Michael.  

Even the crocodile had a counterpart!! 

Lastly, before we get to spoilers, the ending was great! I was definitely pleased with it. This is the first book that I've read in a long time that didn't leave me crying my eyes out. 

If you like retellings, and you like Peter Pan, you need to give this one a shot. I don't think anyone will be disappointed.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

5.....

4.....

3.....

2.....

1.....

Spoiler-y Discussion:

Lets talk about the portrayal of our favorites and some of the story line. 

Gwendolyn:

Wendy was Gwendolyn. She was great, though she made a couple of stupid choices in the book.

She finds herself in Neverland by kidnapping. Yeah. Kidnapping. By these giant faceless, hairy, creatures with wings and they sounded like rusty hinges when they spoke. (Definitely didn't speak English.) 

Hook saves her and Gwen thinks he's the villain because of the story of Peter Pan that we all know and love. She comes to her senses. Thankfully. 

Captain Hook:

Hook was still called Hook. Our hero....Yes, you heard me correctly....HERO. And a badass one at that. Hook saved Gwen from the creatures that took her from her world. He is a gruff guy and he's probably somewhere around 19 years old. He's been stuck in Neverland for a long time. (I won't spoil all of his story for you, because it's cool as all get out.) 

When Hook first arrived in Neverland, he was a lost boy. Hook left Peter when he started to remember who he was and where he came from. (See, Neverland makes you forget everything from before you got there.)

Peter comes on board Hook's ship and takes Gwen with him to his island. On the way out, Gwen sees hook breathing in this weird, floaty, gold stuff that just came out of a dying boy. The stuff was retrieved from the kid by a weird creature that had originally kidnapped Gwen. Gwen immediately thought Hook was the one that was evil and she went with Peter.

I LOVED Hook. Loved.

(How I think Hook looked in the book <3. I'd marry him right this second.)

Peter Pan:

Peter was, of course, Peter. He was our villain. I hated him. He was such a dick.

First, you should know that Peter is human. He was taken from earth by the queen of the Fae that lived on Neverland because she slept with the king of the Dark Fae and they split up and she couldn't bear to look at her real son. 

Then Peter locks up the queen when he's old enough to get some power, and never lets her out. 

 Second, He's stealing his lost boy's lives to live. Little bitty kids. It's terrible. 

Third, he had Gwen and her friend (we'll discuss her later) kidnapped because apparently, the queen of the Fae's REAL son had a daughter with a human woman. He wants to steal the child's soul so that he'll be just as powerful as the queen.(I'm not telling you which girl the child is)

(Basically how I pictured Peter)

Lost Boys:
All that you need to know:
1. They are blood thirsty little scaries.
2. They don't remember their mothers (=why they're blood thirsty little scaries)
3. They're basically being eaten by Peter Pan.

Gwen's Friend:

When the girls were kidnapped, Pan ended up with Gwen's friend. She was brainwashed by Pan and she only remembered who she really was a couple of times throughout the book. 

The final time was at the end. It was sad, and I don't want to give anything else about the ending away. 

Tinkerbell:

In the book, she was a b***h. Seriously the worst. She wanted Gwen dead for the duration of the story. 

Tick Tock Crocodile:

Our beloved croc was actually a super huge, bloodthirsty sea hag with three heads. So there's that.

Soooooo basically, the whole book is intense. 

HUGE ENDING SPOILER:

At the end, Hook is seriously injured saving Gwen from Pan. Then Pan is killed by Tinkerbell. Then Tinkerbell is killed by Hook because she was gonna kill Gwen. Then the queen busts up in there and tries to kill Hook, but the weird creature thing kills her. 

Gwen's friend was basically being murdered by Pan because he was stealing her soul the whole time she's been captive. At the end, Gwen gets ready to bring her back to their world, but she's literally falling to pieces and she can't make the trip. 

Gwen tells her that she loves her and that she won't ever forget her. She then leaves with Hook and they live happily ever after. 

Nailed it. *Mic Drop*

THE END!! 

I hope you enjoyed this brief discussion of Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell. I know I gave the ending away, but I tried my best not to give away too many details about all of the big things that occur mid-book. 

I really do recommend that you all pick this book up if it sounds like it might be your cup of tea. I loved it and I wish I had read it sooner! 

Happy Reading, and talk to you soon! 

XOXO,

Eden

Book Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Hey Readers!!!

Today I'm coming to you for a book review/book talk for To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han!

I'm really excited about this review and this series because I haven't read a contemporary in a LOOOONG time, so it was so nice to fall in love with one again.

So here we go!

Goodreads Summary:

"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."

My Rating:

5/5 Stars!!!!

Book Review:

I really enjoyed reading this book! Lara Jean is your typical, albeit immature, teenaged girl. She has all the drama every girl goes through, and it really brought me back to my teenage years when I had to deal with crushes and first love.

There were some things that I struggled with in the book. As I have already briefly mentioned, Lara Jean is really immature for a girl her age when it comes to boys. Most teenagers are when they are dealing with crushes, but this is on the ridiculous level. This is something that I really struggled with while reading this book, but I was able to look beyond it because I loved the humor and the story itself. 

I am so glad that this is part of a trilogy and not a stand alone, because the book ended way too soon for me and I am dying to see what happens for Lara Jean in the next books.

If you like contemporary, young adult, romances, I think that you will really enjoy this story. It is such a wonderful book. I definitely recommend it! 

Spoilers Ahead!!!!

Continue at your own risk!!!!!

Turn back!!!!!  You've been warned!!!!!!

Book Talk:

So here we are, in the spoiler-y section. If you've come this far, I assume you've read the book, because I'm probably going to ruin it for you if you haven't, which means you gots to go! 

Lara Jean:

First of all, lets talk about Lara Jean. She is your typical teenager when it comes to family struggles and falling in love at the drop of a hat. She has fallen in love 5 times in her short life time, and it is 100% relatable. I swear I fell in love that many times, if not more, in high school. I honestly wish I had though of writing letters to the guys I "loved" in order to get over them. It's kind of genius. 

Something that drove me a little crazy about our dear Lara Jean was that she was pretty immature around  and about guys. She said and did some things that were just unbelievably immature, but who doesn't as a teenager?! The immaturity that drove me crazy was the thoughts that went through her head about the boys. Things like "Boys backs feel so different from girls backs..." or something to that affect.... I mean....of course they do. We are made differently! 

I admired that Lara Jean cared so deeply for her Dad and her sisters, Margot and Kitty. I loved the family being involved in the story like they were. It was nice. 

I really thought that she would end up with Josh for a while at the beginning of the book. I'm glad she didn't, because her relationship with Margot would have been RUINED if she had. I'm glad she fell in love with Peter instead. I really like Peter! He's a nice guy and not the typical "jock" stereotype you find in YA novels, which is refreshing! I hope that she and Peter get together again in the second book! I'll probably lose my crap if they don't. 

Peter:

I love Peter!! I want him with Lara Jean! They are beyond cute together and I just can't even. He is more that your typical jock, which as I said above, is really refreshing because most YA contemporaries have the jock stereotype in full force. I liked the sweet gestures he made to Lara Jean, even though the relationship was all for show at first. It was precious. The notes in the locker, the comments about her being cute and the little kisses. Ugh! SO CUTE! I ship Peter and Lara Jean for sure! No doubt! I was so sad when Lara Jean asked him to leave her alone at the end. 

Poor guy is too hung up on Gen. She's a psycho b***h. For real. So vindictive and mean! He needs to let that go ASAP. 

Josh:

So Josh was dating Margot for a long time. Something like three years?? Margot broke up with him before going away to Scotland for college and he got one of Lara Jean's letters. He kind of realized he might have feelings for her and it was super awkward and intense between him and Lara Jean for a while. 

Margot comes home for Christmas break and she finds out that Josh kissed Lara Jean and she loses it and is soooo angry with Lara Jean. She found out because Josh was arguing with Peter at Lara Jean and Margot's recital party and she overheard. Stupid Josh...and stupid Peter. 

I think Josh and Margot will work it out and get back together, and if not I think they'll at least be friends.  I hope so anyway! 

Josh is cool. I like Josh. 

Margot:

This girl stresses me out! She's a bit too uptight for my liking. I think thats because she had so much responsibility on her shoulders after their mother passed away. She was basically her sister's mother and she had to help take care of their dad as well. 

I still don't know why she broke up with Josh.....it's really not very clear. We only know that Josh thinks its because they had sex and Margot was scared off by getting close to him. Which makes sense, but I want to know for sure! 

Kitty:

OMG I love Kitty! She adds so much comic relief to  the story and thats always nice to have. She's so sweet  and innocent but also so grown up. I think its adorable that she has a crush on Josh, and Im pretty sure she gets a crush on Peter too. 

I like that she invited Peter to the recital party for Lara Jean behind her back to try to get them to fix their relationship. So cute!

We find out at the end of the book that Kitty is the one who sent Lara Jean's letter out and got this whole ball of poo rolling. She was so sorry about it and genuine. Lara Jean couldn't even stay mad at her cause it was so sweet! I like that we found out who was responsible at the end so that we weren't left wondering. 

I've covered all of the main characters! The only character I didn't discuss was Chris, and she's a supporting character and I don't have a lot to say about her honestly. She's a bad influence. 

In the next book I'm hoping for Peter and Lara Jean to get back together and for Margot and Josh to work things out. 

I want the girls' dad to find a girlfriend because its so sad that he's alone. 

I hope that you've enjoyed this review/discussion for this wonderful book! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!

I can't wait to pick up the next books in the series and I hope that you all do too! 

Happy Reading!!!!!

XOXO,

Eden

Book Review: Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

Hey readers!

Finally you all get to hear about my most recent read! "Etiquette and Espionage" by Gail Carriger! I read this book for my stitchy book club for November/December.

Goodreads Summary: 

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

"Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education."

My Review: 3/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

As you saw above, I gave this book 3 out of 5 possible stars. In my book, 3/5 means the book was ok, but not one of my favorites. I did find this book to be enjoyable. I giggled at several things during the book, and I found a lot of the names in the book to be extremely amusing. I definitely plan on picking up the next two books soon. I really want to know what happens. 

A negative thought I have for this book was that it was really slow in the beginning. It took quite a while for it to pick up. This lost the book 1 star. 

There were a few things that confused me in the book. Mostly terminology. I do wish it had been explained more. This is the reason for the book losing the second star. 

The book turned out to have a steampunk-ness to it that I wasn't expecting. There are lots of mechanical things involved in the story, and I liked how they came into play. 

This story takes place in the way back, so this is before women were allowed to be interested in certain things because back then it wasn't proper. They were meant to look pretty and have good manners and raise children and love their husbands. The main character is sent to the finishing academy because she did not meet her family's standards for how she should behave and look. Also because of the time period, there are some things that could be taken as racist by side characters, but the main character is not in any way racist. She likes the different kinds of people she meets in the book, whether male or female, no matter their ethnicity, and no matter their occupation. I like this about her. She doesn't care about the rules and standards of her time. She's a little rebellious and it's so great to have that in a book! 

I ADORED Bumbershoot, the little mechanical dog, or mechanimal as they call them in the book. He's so cute and precious! And he comes in handy at a certain point in the book. 

I hope that Bunson's school for boy's comes into play more in the sequels, because the only reason it was in this one seems to be because the girl's school needed a boy's equivalent. 

I want to know more about what the school actually does besides training women to be sneaky and deadly. I need more! It's such an interesting concept. I also need more werewolves and vampires. Definitely more. The fact that there was also a supernatural aspect to the story thrilled me. There just wasn't enough of it. We pretty much just found out that they existed, and then that was it. 

I wish that there had been a little bit of romance in this book, but sadly there isn't. It does lay some groundwork for a possible romance between two characters in the sequels. We will see. 

CAUTION: SPOILER AHEAD

I am so freakin happy that Monique got shown up at the end of the book. I could not stand her and her uppity, "too good for anybody else" attitude. Ugh. I don't like petty in real life or in books. Haha! I'm wondering if she will be in the sequels and whether or not she will come around and be a decent person. 

XOXO,

Eden