Written by contributor Elena Horne
To All The Boys, a trilogy of YA novels by Jenny Han, went from a bestselling book series to popular Netflix movie series. This contemporary YA follows the life of Korean-American teen, Lara Jean Covey. The middle child of three sisters, Lara Jean’s quiet life is turned upside down when her collection of secret love letters to every boy she’s ever crushed on are mailed out and she has to deal with the consequences. With fake dating, love triangles, and an exorbitant amount of baking, Lara Jean navigates first love, friendship, growing up, and leaving home in this contemporary YA trilogy.
The three books, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, P.S. I Still Love You, and Always and Forever, Lara Jean each include stellar characters turned into a stellar cast in the three corresponding movies. Led by Lana Condor (X-Men: Apocalypse) as Lara Jean and Noah Centineo (The Fosters) as her loveable jock boyfriend Peter, To All the Boys will fill you with warm fuzzies in both book and movie form. For fans that want a sampling of both, here’s a rundown of what the books and the movies each do best.
Warning: Major spoilers for To All the Boys (books and movies) ahead!
What the Books Do That You’ll Miss Out on With the Movies:
John Ambrose McLaren’s Plotline in P.S. I Still Love You
P.S. I Still Love You revolves around a love triangle between Lara Jean, Peter, and John Ambrose McLaren (Jordan Fisher, Liv and Maddie), another recipient of Lara Jean’s love letters who resurfaces only after she starts to date Peter. While the adorkable John Ambrose is easy to fall for in both book and movie, it’s hard to get to the second movie without feeling like poor John Ambrose never gets a real chance in the screenplay. Book John Ambrose is, for a time, Lara Jean’s pen pal turned almost boyfriend when she and Peter break up. The two have some sweet romantic moments together; the snow globe he gives her for her birthday, the 1940s uniform he dresses in for the USO party, and their first kiss in the snow are all so adorably sweet. Even their eventual “break up” has a bittersweet, amicable, we-missed-our-timing feel to it. Movie Lara Jean, on the other hand, runs away from her first kiss with John Ambrose straight back to Peter, leaving every Covinsky shipper happy, but the rest of us filled with outraged hurt for poor movie John Ambrose.
The Never-Ending Bake Parade
A big part of Lara Jean’s personality is her love of baking. Her elaborate bake sale contributions, Valentine’s cherry turnovers, and Christmas cookie parties, the books will make you hungry for all things sweet and conveniently offer cookie recipes at the end of book one. Netflix glosses over Lara Jean’s love of baking in the first movie, but progressively gets better at showing it off with each successive movie. The cherry turnovers make an appearance in P.S. I Still Love You and Lara Jean’s quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie in Always and Forever is briefly mentioned. If you love Lara Jean waxing poetic over cookies though, this is best dished out in the books.
Virginia vs. Oregon as the Setting
The books take place in Charlottesville, Virginia. The movies are relocated to Portland, Oregon, perhaps because Vancouver (where the majority of filming took place) looks more like Oregon than Virginia. The only significant way this location change affects the story is in the going to separate colleges storyline in Always and Forever. Book Peter is accepted to the University of Virginia in their hometown, where Lara Jean wanted to go until rejected. She decides to go to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after falling in love with it. This is significant as Lara Jean has talked of going to college close to home since her older sister Margot left for college in Scotland. By choosing Chapel Hill, homebody Lara Jean chooses the less safe option away from both her family and Peter. The movie includes this storyline in a more dramatic fashion with Peter going to Stanford and Lara Jean to NYU. A significantly larger distance, even if fictional characters falling in love with New York is a tired cliché.
The Assassins Game in P.S. I Still Love You
Book two brings Lara Jean and Peter back together with their childhood friends to open a time capsule at a neighbour’s treehouse. This leads to a friend reunion and a new version of their favourite childhood game, Assassins, an elaborate, over-several-days-sabotage-encouraged game of tag where every person draws a target’s name from a hat and they all connive to tag each other until there is one player left standing. It just sounds so incredibly fun, and the way some of the characters go about tagging each other is delightful. I am still disappointed that the movie version didn’t even give a quick montage of this.
The Margot/Trina Drama in Always and Forever, Lara Jean
When Lara Jean’s widowed father (John Corbett, My Big Fat Greek Wedding) falls in love with and becomes engaged to their neighbour, Trina Rothschild (Sarayu Blue, I Feel Bad), Lara Jean and younger sister Kitty are thrilled. Older sister Margot (Janel Parrish, Pretty Little Liars) is less so. As Margot has been away at college for their entire relationship, Margot returns from Scotland and feels awkward having Trina live in their home, leading to a lot of tension with her future stepmother. After a fair amount of bickering, Trina and Margot come together in a hilarious moment at Trina’s bachelorette. The movie addresses these two in brief conversation, but they never fight, so the reconciliation makes less sense. The storyline between Margot and Trina also gives both characters depth, which is sadly glossed over by Netflix.
What the Movies Do that You’ll Miss Out on in the Books
Anna Cathcart as Kitty Song Covey
Her name is Katherine Song Covey, Kitty to her friends, and she is the youngest and funniest Covey sister. Played by the brilliant Anna Cathcart (Disney’s Descendants) Kitty is filled with sass, comedic timing, and one-liners that will have you laughing. A lovable character in both books and movies, Kitty is always unapologetically herself and razzes on her family and sisters’ boyfriends in hilarious ways. Anna Cathcart as Kitty is an absolute scene stealer. If you watch the movies for no other reason, watch them for Kitty.
The Movie Plot of Always and Forever is More Coherent
Always and Forever, Lara Jean the book sometimes feels like a book-length epilogue. It moves around through light plots about wedding planning, cookies, and prom with an episodic feel. The third and final movie ties a lot of these stories together into one story. In doing so it does axe some of the post-graduation shenanigans as well as most of the sidestories that don’t centre around Peter and Lara Jean. While I still wish we got to know new stepmom Trina better, the movie turns this fun epilogue book into it’s a full story.
Lara Jean and Gen’s Friendship Comes Full Circle
Gen (played by Emilija Baranac, Riverdale); the middle school BFF turned stereotypical high school mean girl starts as the enemy in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Her passive aggressive attitude towards Lara Jean continues in P.S. I Still Love You, and her continued connection with Peter is what drives him and Lara Jean apart for a time. While Lara Jean comes to understand and sympathize with Gen, the movies show their friendship heal with both a sweet heart-to-heart in the famous treehouse and several friendship moments in Always and Forever. My favourite of these is when Gen compliments Lara Jean’s shoes, coming full circle from her character intro in the first movie where she mocks Lara Jean’s footwear. With so much focus on Lara Jean’s romantic relationships throughout the series, seeing a female friendship go through hard times and heal was a wonderful touch made better in the final movie.
Trevor and Chris’s Love Story
Movie fans might be disappointed to learn that the BFFs-in-love story with Trevor (Ross Butler, 13 Reasons Why) and Chris (Madeleine Arthur, Snowpiercer) is a Netflix invention. While Trevor appears in book 2 and participates in the time capsule party and game of Assassins, he and Chris’s romantic relationship is entirely a movie invention. This is sad for a few reasons, but most importantly: Trevor’s hilarious and adorable promposal is not in the book, and neither is the bouquet of Subway sandwiches. Fans will have to stick to the movies to get their adorable Subway product placements.
Peter’s Yearbook Note/Love Letter
No matter how much you love Peter and Lara Jean, the break up/make up in every book/movie can get exhausting and worrying. My comfort is that whenever they do get back together, it’s usually pretty adorable in both the books and movies. The romantic gesture at the end of Always and Forever the movie, however, completely blew all other romantic gestures of the series out of the water. Peter’s love letter in Lara Jean’s yearbook is so perfect and romantic it’ll leave you in tears and rooting for them in this final chapter.
Jenny Han’s books and the subsequent movies tell a beautiful love story three times over. It’s charming and funny with loveable leads, stellar side characters, and a sweet romance that’ll remind you of a John Hughes’ movie in all the best ways. Whether by book or movie, you’re in for a treat. Snuggle up with some chocolate chip cookies and enjoy.
