Reviewed by jesstheaudiobookworm on
Oh. My. Heck. I was going to wait until the morning to review this, but I just couldn't. Because, think of all the lives this review could change in the next 12+ hours. You need this book. You will wonder how you ever survived without this book. It's like cotton candy for the soul. It makes you giggle. It makes you LOL at 1am when you're so tired but can't bring yourself to part with this book, even for a few hours. It makes you wish you had sisters. It makes you wish you had a dog named Jamie Fox Pickle.
I know I sound dramatic, but I got more sheer pleasure from this story than any other before. It just made me so HAPPY. I'll expand on this review tomorrow morning and critique it like a real reviewer and all that jazz, but in the meantime I'm starting the sequel. Actually I'm returning to it, but more on that tomorrow. YOU NEEEED THIS.
PS: Choose the audiobook version. The narrator is positively delightful!
PPS: Yes, I've had a lot of sugar.
The next day...
This audiobook. This freaking audiobook. It's 8 hours and 22 minutes of sheer and utter delight. Funny story, I accidentally listened to half of this story's sequel (P.S. I Still Love You) before realizing that it wasn't the first in the series. Normally, that would make me flip out. I hate listening to a series out of order. But you know what? It wasn't a huge setback like I would have anticipated. It's really a credit to Jenny Han's writing ability that I was able to [inadvertently] jump into the middle of the story and not even notice for several hours. Han has described this series as "two halves of a heart" and that's exactly what it feels like. The two blend so seamlessly that I couldn't tell the middle of the story from the beginning. Once I finally realized my mistake and started this⬆︎ story, I was able to get more details regarding the background of events that I heard in the first half of the sequel. Am I confusing you? Suffice it to say that this series is so incredible that not even I could flub it up by hearing it out of order. Never have I ever wanted to give an audiobook more than five stars (on a five star scale) until this one. It's just so cute! It's fluffy without being obnoxious and had me giggling every five minutes. Sometimes I'm in the mood for something serious and thought-provoking, but other times I just want something that will make me smile. This is definitely the latter. It definitely fell under the category of "Daytime Listens" (something I can listen to during the day, without requiring much concentration). It was a super easy listen and I don't think I've ever quite enjoyed something this much.
Narration review: Laura Knight Keating's narration skills absolutely blew me away. Particularly, her ability to give each character an incredibly distinct voice. The voice distinction between characters was so significant that there were a couple of times I wondered if she was sharing narration duties with another voice actor. I also appreciate the tone she used to voice the 16-year-old protagonist, Lara Jean. It was youthful, upbeat, and innocent, without being juvenile, whiny, or annoying. A narrator really has to have a solid grasp on a character's personality in order to convey it through voice alone. I felt that Laura Knight Keating excelled at accomplishing this feat, which instantly makes her one of my favorite narrators. As excellent as Jenny Han's writing is, Keating's narration brings so much more to the audiobook than could ever be available in written format. Final verdict, choose the audiobook! ♣︎
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 30 January, 2016: Finished reading
- 30 January, 2016: Reviewed