Book Review: 'P.S. I like you' by Kasie West

a sweet, smile-inducing, feel-good YA romance

published on Jan 7, 2022

approx. 8min to read

How the story is set up

Lily is the slightly awkward and refreshingly witty main character (and POV character) of the young adult contemporary romance novel ‘P.S. I like you’. She is a junior in high school and has to take chemistry which is neither her strong suit nor in her field of interests. That is why she likes to spend these lessons doodling in her notebook where she keeps her ideas for writing songs – her passion – and clothes she would like to sow. When her chemistry teacher catches her one too many times and he forbids her to bring her notebook along to his lessons so she is forced to start paying more attention, she frustratedly scribbles a lyric to her favorite song on her desk. The next day she discovers that someone continued the lyrics, and soon she and the anonymous writer start being pen pals by tucking letters under their shared desk for one another. They exchange the names of their favorite bands since they bonded over their shared taste in music, they tell each other funny stories and they even write about their secret wishes and sorrows. Lily notices herself falling more for this stranger with every letter she gets but she’s scared she could never be as confident and cool in person as she appears to be on paper. Meanwhile, she finds an ad for a songwriting competition that would gain her money to support her super loud, crazy, turbulent, and loving family and a chance to earn a scholarship to a prestigious music school. She struggles to muster the courage and confidence to enter, especially since she has never actually finished a song or played something for anybody. But when she suddenly finds out who she has been exchanging letters with, everything plunges into chaos.

Characters and dialogue

I really liked Lilly. She felt real and was alarmingly relatable. She’s quirky but not in a fake or mopey way, more in an awkward and self-depreciatingly funny way. Her thoughts were quite hilarious and the sarcasm was spot on. That she never wanted to show anyone her songs was disturbingly relatable as well as the way she murmured or laughed about things that seemed completely nonsensical to anyone who couldn’t read her thoughts. She puts her family and friends first, and (very relatably) her self-esteem wavers. I will say that I was annoyed by how much she chose to hang onto her (false) assumptions though. She was judgmental, which didn’t bother me that much in the beginning because people are judgmental and flawed, but after about two thirds of the book it got quite annoying for a while because it seemed like she just saw what she wanted to instead of what was there and it bothered me that she clung to seeing only the bad side for so long. The character development in that regard was too little and too late but I was so invested in everything else that I was ready to overlook that;)

Of course, I have to mention her family here as well. They are highly present in her life which I loved and her interactions with her three siblings and her parents (as well as their interactions and relationships among themselves) were so accurate and relatable. They are funny and wild and messy and random and it was great to read.

I especially liked the dialogue. Although the characters fit right into the stereotypes of an awkward teenage girl who’s into music, bubbly best friend, and bully with a tragic past which usually quite annoys me, it worked out well here. The dialogues made them feel real and palpable.

The Writing

This story had me in its grip from its first few pages to the very end. I read it in half a day and the pages just kept turning; I couldn’t stop and put it down. The writing is addicting, captivating, and smile-inducing. It was what I expected and so much more. I was bursting with anticipation for the next letter, the next interaction, the next friggin words on the friggin page, and the progression the story would take and I was never disappointed.

The scenes that were embarrassing or awkward were especially well written. Lilly felt so much like a seventeen-year-old in the way she thought and reacted, and I felt with her. I hated and loved it at the same time. There was a good flow right from the beginning, at one point I thought it dragged ever so slightly, but generally, it felt like things happened and it made sense that they happened.

pen-pal chemistry

Listen to ‘Bloom’ by The Paper Kites, that’s what (most parts of) this book made me feel like.

The letters

My favorite part of the book probably was the letters. I loved how many there were and they displayed gorgeously how naturally the pen pal’s trust developed. The things they shared were authentic to their character but especially the way they did it, the language they used and the humor felt so real. I enjoyed the talks about music.

The resolution of the who-is-answering-to-my-letter-mystery was no surprise but it wasn’t meant to be. It’s a romance, so I’m very ready to forgive predictability. I knew who her pen pal was almost instantly but that heightened the tension for me because I could get giddy over every interaction they had in ‚real life’ as well. The interesting part was how they would find out who the other was and what they would do with this information, and what the exact road to getting together, in the end, would look like. Once again, this ‘road’ was authentic to the characters and the anticipation nearly killed me. When they finally got together I was so happy, grinning from ear to ear like a fool. I shipped them from the beginning, their chemistry was great and they made me smile so much. I laughed out loud multiple times. Once I caught myself bursting out into laughter in the middle of the night in my bed with everyone asleep except me.

Themes

One theme is being true to yourself, even when you don’t fit in and the other is Lily gaining confidence and learning not to jump to conclusions about people (and treating them harshly as a result). It’s a cute message which matches with the cuteness-overload of so many other things in this book.

And the music was a theme, of course. I loved that we got to read actual lyrics by Lilly. Here is an excerpt:

❝ I’ve turned waiting into a form of art
Tied twisted lines around my broken heart
To keep me hanging on for one more day
I’ve painted on a crooked smile
Hung the tears to dry awhile
Because I knew that you’d come back to stay ❞

I really would have liked an epilogue at the end to see the outcome of the competition but I also get why it wasn’t included.

The main points of this review

This book made me happy. It was dreamy, sweet, absolutely adorable, heartwarming, and filled me with joy. It took me away from reality. Although it might be a little forgettable and I would have liked some more character development, that didn’t bother me while reading and I definitely recommend it.

I’m not gonna lie, I love a lot of books and I love them for all kinds of reasons, I love them even if there are things I don’t like about them but this one, this one genuinely made me feel so good. I laughed and smiled and giggled and awwed and I loved it. I really did. It was exactly the kind of sweet, feel-good romance I wanted.

My rating