The two best things in this book are Kitty and Peter Kavinsky. Peter is such a sweet guy. He's not perfect, but he tries his best to make his relationship with Lara Jean work because he likes her so much. And he's a great friend! Even though Genevieve's a total bitch and totally doesn't deserve such a beautiful name, Peter still supports her when she's having troubles at home. He knows that she can be manipulative and doesn't hesitate in calling her out, but when she genuinely needs someone to listen to her, he's there (as a friend). Lara Jean, of course, misunderstands the situation and thinks that he still has feelings for Gen, even though he insists that there's nothing between them (which is completely true). But Lara Jean's suspicious when he refuses to tell her the exact reason he still hangs out with Genevieve, saying that it's not his secret to tell (which is also completely true). Meanwhile, he's being such a good boyfriend to Lara Jean: calling her every night, letting her take the charge in the relationship. I love that he respects Lara Jean's decision and never pushes nor pressures her to have sex.
Which brings me to Lara Jean herself. I find her naivety kind of endearing in the first book, but in this one it starts to irritate me. I love that the 'hot makeout sesh in the hot tub' video leak makes her realize the double standard in how society treats 'slutty' girls and boys. In the first book I thought that she was a little bit of a slut-shamer in how she thinks about Chris and Gen, but now she realizes that "they're all the same". I also love how this book is realistic in that Lara Jean would have had some insecurities in seeing Peter hanging out with Genevieve, but I only like it in moderation. This book gets a little too overboard with it, which in part is fueled by Lara Jean's naivety. She needs to learn to trust Peter a little, since she constantly thinks the worst of him yet every time he constantly proves himself to be better than beyond her wildest dreams. I know that Lara Jean still has to reconcile the Sweet!Peter that she knows now and the Douchebag!Peter that she thought he is, but come on girl, I thought we solved all that in the first book. Give the boy some credit where credit is due.
Plot-wise, I like the first parts, but as we get to the end, things starts to drag. The love triangle is unnecessary and only adds needless drama. It throws off the pacing, imo, and only serves to make me think that Lara Jean is a indecisive simpleton. You can erase John Ambrose McLaren and there wouldn't be any difference to the plot or the characters whatsoever. If he's not there, I wouldn't even notice. I wasn't even interested in seeing his letter; I didn't even realize that we didn't see his letter in the first book. The much-hyped 'love triangle' is virtually nonexistent since the guy only showed up in the 200th pages or so. If you're a k-drama addict like me, you would know that by virtue of screentime alone John Ambrose doesn't have a chance in hell to be a worthy rival for Lara Jean's affections. Also, I think he's bland and boring and unremarkable. When he told Peter K that he'd treated Lara Jean badly, I want to smack him in the face. If anything, Lara Jean has treated Peter badly by constantly thinking the worst of him and not trusting him when he hadn't give her any reason not to doubt him.
I also like how the romance is realistic in that it isn't always perfectly lovey-dovey, but again the drama gets too overwrought in the end. I do love how they have a talk about girls being in charge of their bodies, of how society views girls and sex, of all this 'YAY GIRLS AND FEMINISM!' talk. Lara Jean doesn't want to have sex not because she's not that kind of girl, but because she's not ready yet. And it's okay if you're not ready yet, you'll just have to wait when you decide for yourself that you're absolutely sure that you want it. And you have to have protection of course. In the words of the great Paris Geller: no glove no love.
The ending too fits the book perfectly, but I hate the needless love triangle, and John Ambrose's blandness and Lara Jean's naivety annoys me, so I'm giving this a lower rating than the first book. I'd still recommend anyone who's interested in contemporary YA to check this book and the first one, because it's so refreshing and different than any other YAs that I've read.
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