Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

Challenge #9 ~ “A book you associate with a specific season or time of year.”

alwaysandforever

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

My opinion in three sentences:

It’s an enjoyable and quick read, but I think that’s about as far as I can go with my praise. The characters, particularly Lara Jean, don’t feel like the characters I got to know in the first two books, and in some cases, it’s like there have been some undisclosed events between books 2 and 3 that never get revealed. When it comes to plot, I’m in two minds, for it had elements of an acceptable storyline for a novel, but whether the balance of focal points (which seemed to heavily lie with the wedding) was right for the conclusion to this series, is a matter for debate.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

It was readable, I didn’t get bored, and there were some of those very cute and definitely enjoyable moments I remember fondly from the first two instalments. That doesn’t sound like high praise, but as books go, it’s a difficult one to communicate my feelings on. It did enough to warrant three stars, let me assure you, and at no point did I actively hate reading it, but as the final book in a trilogy I had previously really enjoyed, the disappointment rather eclipses most else.

A warning for the book:

Lara Jean is not the Lara Jean you’ll remember from the first two books. All of a sudden she’s going to hear bands over checking out college campuses and fixating over cabinets instead of going to college information sessions, neither of which sat quite right with my interpretation of the character. As a way of avoiding thinking about the future, perhaps, but for a book told from her perspective, we don’t really get much of an impression of the supposed anxiety or concern over college and so said excuse doesn’t really wash. She’s not the only character that doesn’t match up with my recollection, but definitely the most obvious, and whilst it still proved an enjoyable read, I was looking for a conclusion to these characters’ trilogy not just some namesakes.

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