'P.S. I Still Love You' disappointingly uneventful

3 stars

Have you ever done something you wish you hadn’t, but everyone knows about it and it follows you everywhere? Especially something on the internet, like an embarrassing video, picture or tweet? Yes? You mean Lara Jean Song isn’t the first and only person this has ever, ever happened to?

“P.S. I Still Love You” by UNC graduate Jenny Han had potential to be a good read. Well — I wanted it to be a good read. I gave the first book in the series, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” only two stars when I read it earlier this year. I was annoyed by Lara Jean’s whining and indecisiveness, and further annoyed that Han couldn’t match her strong concept with a strong plot.

Lara Jean is back with Peter, this time for real, and everything seems great. But it’s not great, and that becomes apparent to LJ very quickly.

Remember the kiss Peter and Lara Jean shared in the hot tub during the ski trip? It comes back to haunt them both. Again. And again. And again. And again.

And while it definitely wasn’t something I’d forget any faster than Lara Jean did, I’d at least like a book that didn’t dwell on it. Over. And over. And over. And over.

To me, a video of the two of them kissing in the hot tub — which looked far more scandalous than a kiss — being spread across the whole school is bad. It’s certainly a speed bump for both of them. But what I thought was merely an obstacle on the path to a far more interesting plot line… Nope, it’s actually the driving force of most of the plot. How does that even happen?

Soon enough, Lara Jean cuts her losses with Peter and throws her time into planning a United Services Organization-themed party for residents at the retirement home and spending time with former crush John Ambrose McLaren. (You might remember him as a recipient of a letter in “To All the Boys I Loved Before.”) 

And things are going well. So well, even, that I forget how bored I was with the video plot.

But that’s in the last half — last quarter really — of the book. And who wants the only enjoyable parts of the book to happen in the last quarter? Not I. Who wants to be 200 pages into a 350-word book and still be waiting for something, anything, big to happen? 

Again, not I.

I wish I liked this one more. The hype was big; Jenny Han is a popular writer, recommended by many of my other favorite authors, and I loved Han’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series. I was ready to love this one, devour it and go back to reread the first book with an open mind.

But nope. That didn’t happen. 

I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it. Meh.

Disclaimer: A copy was sent through Flyleaf Books for reviewing purposes. Neither The Daily Tar Heel nor the writer was compensated for this review.