What if I came here and I ended up loving it? What if, after a year, I didn’t want to leave? What then? But wouldn’t it be great if I loved it? Isn’t that the whole point? Why bet on not loving a place? Why not take a chance and bet on happiness?

Always and Forever, Lara Jean

And there’s still so much to look forward to: a class trip to New York City, prom with her boyfriend Peter, Beach Week after graduation, and her dad’s wedding to Ms. Rothschild. Then she’ll be off to college with Peter, at a school close enough for her to come home and bake chocolate chip cookies on the weekends. Life couldn’t be more perfect! At least, that’s what Lara Jean thinks . . . until she gets some unexpected news. Now the girl who dreads change must rethink all her plans—but when your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

Always and Forever, Lara Jean was hands down my favorite in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series. It opens a year after the events of P.S. I Still Love You. Lara Jean and Peter are well into their senior year of high school and dealing with everything that goes along with that; waiting for college acceptances, senior class trips, prepping for prom. Although it’s been nearly ten years since I was a senior in high school, reading Lara Jean go through all of the ups and downs of that year brought me right back. And I think that was my favorite part of this book and why it ended up being my favorite in the series. 

I’ve never fake-dated my middle school crush and had that turn into a real relationship—and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that not many other people have, either—but almost everyone has gone through the panic of graduating from high school. Reading this book, I remembered the anxiety that went along with waiting for college acceptances, the joy of watching my friends get “promposed” to in elaborate ways, and the paradoxical feeling of both excitement and terror at the fact that everything was changing. 

Always and Forever, Lara Jean is raw, real, and relatable in a way that the first two books were not but still had that same charm. Lara Jean and Peter’s relationship is as adorable as ever—minus the bumps along the way—and the side plot with Lara Jean’s dad getting married is heartwarming. As always, I loved Lara Jean’s dynamic with her sisters and her friendship with Chris and Lucas, as well as the growing relationship she has with Trina. As I mentioned in my review of P.S. I Still Love You, the series was intended to be two novels, not three, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in the series, I couldn’t have imagined the series without the third installation. It’s a perfect way to wrap up the series and say goodbye to the characters I’ve grown to love.