Welcome to a new feature on our blog where we compare the YA book with its movie adaptation. It’s hard to find a movie adaption that can compare to the book. Still, some are much better than others. Do you have a favorite book to movie (or TV show) adaption? Let us know in the comments.
Warning: Spoilers if you haven’t read or watched Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All The Boys #3).
1. UVA vs Stanford
In To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara Jean and her family live in Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s Lara Jean’s dream to go to the University of Virginia (UVA).
The movie changes the location to Portland, Oregon and Lara Jean dreams about going to Stanford. We wish the movie followed the book because so many movies are already set on the West coast. Not many are sent in Virginia.
2. UNC vs NYU
Another major difference was where Lara Jean chose to go to school after she was rejected from her first choice. In the book Lara Jean visits the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill with her friend Chris and chooses the school over William and Mary.
The movie has Lara Jean deciding to go to NYC. While the senior trip is to NYC in the book as well, Lara Jean had no interest in living there. We did like that the movie adaption followed the same theme of Lara Jean branching out and choosing the school that most made her feel at home and out of her comfort zone. Like NYU, in the books Lara Jean was immediately drawn to UNC and fell in love with the atmosphere.
Since Stanford and NYU are 3,000 miles away, it was a lot more dramatic than the four hour drive between UVA and UNC.
3. The Trip to South Korea
In the book we never got to see Lara Jean travel. Her trip was planned after graduation over the summer with her sisters.
The movie begins in Seoul, South Korea with Lara Jean and her entire family exploring during spring break. We actually liked this change because we got to see a change in scenery.
4. The College Party
The college party was less dramatic in the books. Chris and Lara Jean attend a small event at UNC. In the movie Gen takes them to an NYU rooftop party, which was way nicer than real college parties. We can see why the location was chosen, but it didn’t feel realistic.
5. Beach Week
After graduating, Lara Jean and her friends spend a week at the beach. This portion of the book was completely cut in the movie. Cutting the scene made sense for the movie’s timeline.
6. The Wedding
We were sad that a lot of the wedding planning, including the bachelor and Bachelorette party were cut from the movie. Peter even attends Dr. Covey’s party!
Also Margot was a lot nicer in the movie. In the books she was so mean to Trina, so we did enjoy that change. But the movie also erased her college boyfriend who we wish would’ve made an appearance in the movie. It would’ve humanized Margot a bit more.
7. John Ambrose
John had a small presence in the books. However, the third movie completely cut him out. While we obviously ship Peter and Lara Jean, we wish we got the updates on his life. His role in the books may be small, but he had a larger impact than what we saw in the movies.
Overall Opinion
This is one of our favorite YA contemporary series. Even though the movie missed a few things and changed too many locations, we still found ourselves swooning. The acting and casting are great. The ending left us emotional. We hope Peter and Lara Jean have the best time in college and stay close.
While not perfect, if you loved the book, still give the movie a chance.
I'm All Booked Up - a young adult book blog 
I absolutely loved To All The Boys on Netflix 😊❤️ definitely one of the best shows on there! Xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was so cute. Such great casting/acting.
LikeLike
It’s always a worry when they make an adaptation, isn’t it? But despite the differences, it sounds like they carried this one off well, and some of the variations made sense for the film such as keeping to the timeline? Great post – I look forward to seeing which others you do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Overall, it was a successful adaption and we did understand some of the scene cuts.
LikeLike
I haven’t read the book yet. I’m so behind!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s such a great series!
LikeLike
I adored these adaptations so much, and I think the last one might be my favourite. Possible the least faithful, but I think both versions did their own really wonderful thing – which is probably the highest compliment for an adaptation!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We agree, especially since the movies didn’t change Lara Jean’s personality. We actually think the second movie was the least faithful. It changed John Ambrose’s personality and his ties to Stormy. Plus, a lot of our favorite book scenes were cut.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. I almost feels like a separate movie – the thing I loved about the third was how many callbacks to the first!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is such a great idea! Although I haven’t read or watched any of your suggestions, I really enjoyed reading your thoughts. Thanks for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
I’ve always wondered what are the major differences between the book and the movie! I’ve read the first two books and have yet to read the last one, so reading your comparison makes me more intrigued to finally read it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’re excited to see your thoughts on the final book! We hope you enjoy it.
LikeLike
I think I just spoiled the movie a little for myself by reading this, but now that I know, I will watch it from a different perspective! x
LikeLiked by 1 person
We still hope you enjoy watching the movie.
LikeLike
I enjoyed the movie, though I haven’t had a chance to read the books yet. By what you described I think I would like the books even more than the movies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We hope you give the books a chance. They go more in-depth with character development.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the idea, the book sounds lovely and relaxing..
LikeLike
This book has had good success in movie form. It has hit a nerve with young women.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s been very successful. Netflix chose a good book series to adapt.
LikeLike
These were one of my favorite series that I read in recent years, and they have a place of honor on my bookshelves. (I actually got these books the day that they came out) I do agree with some of your points. I wished that they had kept the location to Virginia, and had Lara Jean go to UNC. I do like where the movie went with it all, but I still wished that they kept the locations the same.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s one of our favorites too. Plus Jenny Han is from Virginia so we like that she took pieces from her own childhood and put it in the story.
LikeLike
The movie was good, but reading this review makes me want to read the book as soon as possible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We hope you like the book!
LikeLike
Great review! I loved reading what you liked/didn’t like and what was changed. I wasn’t a big fan of the books, but I did love the first movie, guess I will have to watch this one and the other one soon. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You should watch the other movies and see how they compare.
LikeLike
It’s been some time since I read these books,but I’m really looking forward to watching this movie!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We can’t wait to see your thoughts!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I watched this movie last night, but I haven’t read the book yet so it was fun seeing how they’re different.
I did like the movie & I’ll definitely be reading the book because there are more scenes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’re glad you enjoyed the movie. We hope you like the books as well.
LikeLike
I had always wondered what was the changes from the movie to the book. Personally the first movie was my favorite out of the series.
LikeLike