Where to Start with Jenny Han: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Jenny Han — whether to begin with To All the Boys I've Loved Before, The Summer I Turned Pretty, or P.S. I Still Love You. A complete reading guide.
Jenny Han (born 1980) is the American young adult and children’s author whose To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy — adapted as a Netflix film series beginning in 2018 — became one of the most widely streamed YA adaptations of its era and introduced Korean-American romantic leads and family dynamics to mainstream popular culture. Her debut series, The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy (2009–2011), also became an Amazon Prime Video series (2022). Han writes warm, emotionally precise coming-of-age romance focused on the specific textures of adolescent love — secret feelings, complicated friendships, the particular grief of summer endings — with Korean-American family life as an integral element of her protagonists’ identities.
Where to Start: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2014)
The essential Han — and the novel that brought her to global attention through the 2018 Netflix film starring Lana Condor. Lara Jean Covey keeps her feelings safe by writing love letters to every boy she has ever loved — five in total — then storing them in a hatbox in her closet, never intending to send them. When all five letters are accidentally mailed, her life becomes complicated in every direction simultaneously: by Josh (her sister’s ex-boyfriend, who has now received a letter), by Peter (the popular boy at school who offers to fake-date her to make his ex-girlfriend jealous and also received a letter), and by the other three recipients.
Han’s strength is the emotional precision of Lara Jean’s interiority — the gap between what she feels and what she’s willing to acknowledge, the specific anxiety of having secrets exposed, the comfort of fantasy compared to the risk of reality. Lara Jean’s Korean-American family (her widowed father, her older sister Margot, her younger sister Kitty) is the warm centre of the novel; the family dynamics are as compelling as the romance.
To All the Boys works as a complete standalone with a satisfying ending, though the series continues.
P.S. I Still Love You (2015)
The second novel — set after the events of the first, as Lara Jean and Peter’s fake relationship has become real, and a new complication arrives in the form of another letter recipient who re-enters her life. Han introduces a more substantive rival for Lara Jean’s feelings and develops the question of what she actually wants. The middle book of the trilogy.
The Summer I Turned Pretty (2009)
Han’s first series — the beginning of the trilogy following Belly Conklin and her summers at Cousins Beach with the Fisher family. More character-driven and more melancholy than the Lara Jean books; the summer setting is vivid and the emotional content of adolescent friendship and first love is observed with precision. The Amazon Prime Video adaptation is somewhat different in tone but captures the series’ atmosphere. Best for readers who want something slower and more reflective than the Lara Jean books.
Always and Forever, Lara Jean (2017)
The conclusion to the To All the Boys trilogy — senior year, college decisions, and the question of what happens to Lara Jean and Peter when they face going to different universities. Han resolves the trilogy with characteristic warmth and emotional clarity.
Reading Jenny Han
Begin with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before — it is the most widely read entry point and the novel that established Han’s signature voice. Read the trilogy in order before starting The Summer I Turned Pretty series, which is best approached as a separate experience. Both trilogies are complete with satisfying endings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Jenny Han?
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2014) is the most widely recommended starting point — Han's novel about Lara Jean Covey, a Korean-American girl whose secret love letters are accidentally sent to their five recipients, forcing her to deal with feelings she has been keeping private. The novel became a Netflix film phenomenon in 2018 and introduced Han to a vastly wider audience than her earlier books had reached. The Summer I Turned Pretty (2009) is the alternative for readers who want something more character-driven and less plot-dependent.
What is The Summer I Turned Pretty series about?
The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy follows Isabel 'Belly' Conklin across three summers at Cousins Beach, where her family spends every summer with the Fisher family — including brothers Conrad and Jeremiah, both of whom Belly has loved in different ways for as long as she can remember. The trilogy is a coming-of-age story about summer, loss, and the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The Amazon Prime Video adaptation (2022) brought a new generation of readers to the series.
Are Jenny Han's books standalone or series?
Both of Han's main series are trilogies that must be read in order. To All the Boys I've Loved Before is followed by P.S. I Still Love You (2015) and Always and Forever, Lara Jean (2017). The Summer I Turned Pretty (2009) is followed by It's Not Summer Without You (2010) and We'll Always Have Summer (2011). Each trilogy tells a complete story across three books; the individual books end at natural stopping points but are designed to be read consecutively. Han has not written books outside of these two series in YA fiction.
What is Han's writing style like?
Han writes warm, character-focused contemporary YA romance — more interested in emotional interiority than plot mechanics. Her protagonists are thoughtful, somewhat passive girls who are very good observers of their own feelings; the drama comes from the gap between what they feel and what they're willing to act on. The writing is clean and accessible; the emotional specificity of teenage feeling is precisely observed. Han doesn't write villains or melodrama; her conflicts are relational — two people who want different things, or who can't quite communicate what they want.
