To All the Boys I've Loved Before (1) - Softcover

Review

For every book I write, I create a playlist that I go back to again and again to help transport me into the story and into the main character's mindset. The To All the Boys playlist is a blend of songs that Lara Jean would listen to, songs that remind me of her, and songs that score certain scenes in my head.

• 1. "Please Speak Well of Me" by The Weepies: I came back to this song again and again because I could picture Lara Jean listening to it as she wrote her letters. It's so sweet and full of yearning.
• 2. "Crazy" by Alanis Morissette: This song has such great momentum. You feel like something big is on the verge of happening. It's a great song to listen to if you're writing a book and you need something big to happen.
• 3. "Only in Dreams" by Weezer: I could completely picture Peter driving around in his mom's minivan listening to this song at top volume.
• 4. "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O’Sullivan: Lara Jean has been in love a lot, but she's always alone in love, and she doesn't actually mind it much. I can see her singing along to this song and smiling.
• 5. "Teenage Love Song"by Rilo Kiley: Jenny Lewis has the sweetest voice, and this song tells a whole story of love lost. I like that it takes teenage love very seriously because I do too.
• 6. "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" by Betty Everett: This song is on the Mermaids soundtrack, which Lara Jean listens to while organizing her first-week back-to-school outfits.
• 7. "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel: Lara Jean loves to bake and she would definitely bake to this song.
• 8. "Our House" by Crosby, Still, Nash & Young: Lara Jean is a girl who loves to be at home, to be cozy and putter around the house. For me, this song is the embodiment of that feeling.
• 9. "Thirteen" by Big Star: There is no song more nostalgic than this. It feels like a high school experience I never had but wish I did. "Won't you let me walk you home from school? Won't you let me meet you at the pool?"
• 10. "Love That Girl" by Raphael Saadiq: This is so Lara Jean to me. It's modern but it feels vintage at the same time, with the Motown claps and call and response choruses.
• 11. "Heartbeats" by The Knife: I listened to this song over and over while writing this book. It's very angsty and emo and kind of tough.
• 12. "I'm Gonna Get You Yet" by The Dixie Cups: In a lot of ways, Lara Jean is a throwback kind of girl. She loves ‘60s girl groups, vintage clothes, and the romance of a different time.
• 13. "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: This song of course appears in Dirty Dancing, the quintessential coming of age movie for teenage girls who dream big.
• 14. "Love on Top" by Beyonce: I love how hopeful this song is. It's so driving around with your sisters with the windows all the way down.
• 15. "P.S. I Love You" by Nellie McKay: An open window, a breeze, and a glass of lemonade – that is this song. And incidentally, the sequel to To All the Boys I've Loved Before is called P.S. I Still Love You.

About the Author

Jenny Han is the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series; Shug; the Burn for Burn trilogy, cowritten with Siobhan Vivian; and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. She is also the author of the chapter book Clara Lee and The Apple Pie Dream. A former children’s bookseller, she earned her MFA in creative writing at the New School. Visit her at DearJennyHan.com.