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Book Summary
Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?
In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing.

Flo's Review
I gave the first book in this duology, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, 3 stars. And I think that rating will stay steady for this book. I got all caught up in the rush of excitement for this release that what I forgot for awhile was that while I liked the first book, I didn't love it.

Then when I started reading this one, I remembered. Again, it was cute. This is a cute story. Lara Jean is cute and her family is cute. It's kind of hard to describe, but even though there were things happening in the story, I kind of felt like there weren't. I felt as I was reading through it that I was just reading Lara Jean's diary or seeing a snapshot of her day to day life. Which is okay, I guess. But it didn't really hold my interest. This book took me a long time to get through. I never felt like I had to pick up to see where the story was going to go. In the end, what motivated me to pick it up was that it was due back to the library.

All the above being said, I enjoyed many things about this book.  It has an overall safe and homey feel to it. Lara Jean reminisces a lot with other characters, and it's to happy, carefree childhood days. I loved hearing the stories from her and John Ambrose McClaren. Speaking of John Ambrose McClaren, he's the best. And there is a line from Peter at the end of this book that still makes my little heart swoon just thinking about it.

Conclusion: Not a page turner, but a smile bringer. And that's good, too :)

Book Summary
If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

Flo's Review
I was in the library hold queue for this book and literally picked it up on the way to the airport to fly back to my parents' house. I'm really glad I got it! I enjoyed the twelve stories a lot. Some of them had some fantastical elements, and while those were fun, I think I tended to like the straight up contemp stories the best. And now I will try to rank them, starting with my most favoritest. Here goes!

It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins 

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell 

Angels in the Snow by Matt de la Peña 

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White

What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter 
Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire 

Polaris is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han 

Krampuslauf by Holly Black 
Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan 

The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor 

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link 

Summary
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

Flo's Review
If you skin through the reviews on Goodreads, you see a lot of, "This was cute." I think cute is a good way to describe it. First of all, I love the idea of writing letters to your exes as your final hurrah, and then putting them out of your heart forever. (Well, or trying to. At least out of the front of your mind.)

When I was in middle school, I had a slumber party at my house. My friends locked me out of my room and read my diary. This incident scared me away from writing for many years and basically sucked. I share this horror story with you because I know what Lara Jean was going through. There are some thoughts, feelings, that are meant for you and you alone -- at that time. Not to say that they can't be shared later or differently, but in some moments they should be yours and yours alone. 

Lara Jean seemed a little.....childish? to me. But then I had to keep reminding myself that she's, what, 15 years old? She is still a child. I'm not really a fan of Peter K. I'll try to keep this spoiler free, but I just don't think he's right for Lara Jean. I'm a fan of Josh, but I'm always a sucker for the boy next door. I loved reading about the relationship between the sisters and how they looked out for each other and for their dad. The letters played out to different endings, and I really liked that some letters played a major part in the story line while others got a quick resolution, or no resolution at all. That is very true to life. 

I was really surprised to find out that this is duology! Happy surprised, because I didn't love the way this one ended. So bring on P.S. I Still Love You, so I can continue to have hope for my ship! LOL

I (Flo) loved, loved, LOVED this book and am super excited for the opportunity to share it with one of our readers! Click here to read our review.

TO WIN THIS PRIZE: Leave a comment telling us your favorite memory from Summer 2011. Don't forget to include your name and email address so we can contact the winner.

Lesson learned. When several other book bloggers who often have similar tastes in books as I do rave about a certain book or series -- I need to read them! I'd had Jenny Han's Summer series: namely, The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You, and We'll Always Have Summer, on my TBR (to be read) list for quite awhile. When the summer started, I told myself that I would read them sometime this summer. So when I found out that my local library had the CD for The Summer I Turned Pretty, I picked it up, along with the second book.

The Summer series tells the story of Isabel, known as Belly, and her summers. Belly admits that she kind of lives her for for the summers, as she spends the year looking forward to going to the beach house in Cousins Beach where she goes every summer with her mother and her brother Steven. The beach house belongs to her mother's best friend Susannah, who always comes with her two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has been in love with Conrad for almost her entire life, but the summer of her fifteenth year, the summer she "turned pretty," everything starts to change...

First of all, I want to take a road trip to Cousins Beach right now. Han describes a cute little beach town where everybody knows everybody and all is laid back. She paints a beautiful picture in the readers' minds of lazy summer days filled with lying by the pool, walking along the beach, and eating a lot of junk food. Belly's summer world is so cozy, so intimate, so imperfect that it envelops you and you want to be there.

You can probably guess that the heart of the story lies with Belly figuring out her true feelings for the brothers -- Conrad and Jeremiah. Both of these boys were so real. They were your typical high school boys -- immature, moody, silly, fun, and fiercely protective of Belly. For those who are wondering, I loved both of the boys, but my heart belongs to Jeremiah. As the quiz on Jenny's website revealed to me:

"Jeremiah is totally your type! It's so easy to be around him, he's the life of every party. And he's sweet, too. It's too bad he's always surrounded by a ton of admirers…things can get a little crowded." 

(That actually sounds like an exact description of my past two exes. Ok, this is kinda creepy...moving on...)

I would have to say that It's Not Summer Without You is my favorite book in the series. I loved The Summer I Turned Pretty, but I didn't love the girl who was doing the narration on the CD. I was so invested in the story, though, that I ditched the CD and finished reading it on my Nook. I immediately picked up the second book and started reading it. I got through one chapter, since it was pretty late by that point, and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up and read the entire book in a few hours. I went out for about an hour, came back, and read the entire third book. Book 3 was based around a storyline that I didn't really like. I understand why Han brought it in, but it seems a bit unrealistic to me. I didn't like it, but I loved all the characters, and that's what redeemed the book for me.

So now I am becoming one of those book bloggers who is raving to you about a series. Read the Summer series! I loved it, and I think you will, too.

~Flo~