To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Fiction | Novel | YA

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Chapters 8-12

Chapter 8 Summary

Lara Jean agrees to meet Chris at the mall, even though she is frightened to drive on her own. She is an inexperienced and nervous driver, and she accidentally hits another car on her way to the mall. The car she hit is fine, so the man drives off, but Lara Jean’s car has a big dent in the side. Lara Jean feels dejected and unable to rise to the responsibility of driving a car. Lara Jean is terrified of her father and Margot finding out, even though she understands that they will have to. Her first call is to Josh, who drops everything to go help Lara Jean. While she’s waiting for Josh, Peter Kavinsky drives by and stops to see if Lara Jean needs help. She and Peter used to be part of the same group of friends in middle school (and he was her first kiss) but have since grown apart. He is handsome and nice, but in a different social world than Lara Jean. Josh arrives to help, and in the car, they discuss his break-up with Margot.

Josh asks Lara Jean if she thinks there’s a possibility that he and Margot will get back together. When Lara Jean hesitates to answer, Josh understands it’s because Margot is a decisive person. Josh expresses concern that he won’t be close with Lara Jean, Kitty, and their father now that Margot has broken up with him, but Lara Jean reassures him that they’re all still good friends. Lara Jean comforts him through his pain, all while feeling the flutter of love in her chest.

Chapter 9 Summary

Now Lara Jean must share her father’s car or get rides with Josh while her is in the shop. Margot calls from Scotland, but they avoid telling her about the accident. Lara Jean spends the rest of her evening creating a scrapbook for Margot and includes Josh, even though they’ve broken up. She believes that they’ll get back together one day, but even if they don’t, he is still an important part of their lives.

Chapter 10 Summary

Josh, Kitty, and Lara Jean go to the movies together. Lara Jean used to go with Josh and Margot because Margot didn’t want her to feel excluded. Even with Margot on her mind, Lara Jean enjoys herself and realizes how nice it is to be the one to sit in the passenger seat now. When she returns from the movies, Chris calls her to tell her that Genevieve and Peter Kavinsky have broken up, with a rumor that Genevieve met an older college guy. Chris has access to this kind of big-deal rumor because Genevieve is her cousin, even though they don’t look or act similar. Genevieve has a better reputation than Chris, who is still unable to shake off a rumor from freshman year that she had sex in the bathroom.

Chapter 11 Summary

Josh joins the Coveys for family dinner and hangs out with the girls while Kitty makes her dog collage. She dreams of having an Akita, but tension grows when Josh asks her what she wants to name it. Lara Jean says Kitty wants to name it after her crush, which embarrasses and angers Kitty. The girls spar a bit, but Lara Jean keeps Kitty’s secret, which is that Kitty has a crush on Josh. When Kitty leaves, Josh and Lara Jean discuss crushes. Lara Jean reveals that her first real crush was Peter Kavinsky, and Josh shockingly reveals that his first real crush was Lara Jean. Josh also acknowledges how much he has relied on her support since the breakup with Margot, and Lara Jean thinks to herself how if it had been her instead of Margot, she would never break up with Josh.

Chapter 12 Summary

The girls first met Josh when his family moved in next door several years earlier. Lara Jean was 11 and Margot was 13 years old. They were playing tea party in the backyard with Kitty when Josh came over to introduce himself. Their mother had died the year before, and as the girls grew tighter in response to the tragedy, Josh was introduced to their lives.

Chapters 8-12 Analysis

Lara Jean is learning to navigate her newfound responsibilities and believes herself to be a failure almost right away. Although no one was hurt in the car accident, Lara Jean is very hard on herself, believing herself fundamentally flawed. The first person she calls for help is not her father, but Josh, highlighting how important Josh is to the fabric of the Covey family and to Lara Jean. In her moment of fear, self-hatred, anxiety, and danger, she knows she can rely on Josh. Lara Jean can be vulnerable around Josh, and Josh also confides in Lara Jean. Han uses Chapter 8’s plot point as concrete evidence for the reader that Lara Jean and Josh are close in important ways.

Before Josh shows up to the scene of her accident, the reader meets Peter Kavinsky. Peter is athletic, classically handsome, and an all-around typical popular high school boy. He and Lara Jean used to be in the same circle of friends in middle school, but Han characterizes their dialogue in Chapter 8 as though the two were passing acquaintances. Lara Jean also used to be friends with Peter’s girlfriend, Genevieve, who is also Chris’s cousin. The transition in and out of friendships between middle and high school is a relatable plot development, and Han uses this classic trope to identify how much lonelier Lara Jean is now with only one friend and her older sister gone. It is also notable that Lara Jean characterizes Peter’s good looks with detail, while she characterizes Josh as physically quite average. This physical juxtaposition between the boys gives Han the opportunity to show the reader that Lara Jean is not vain or superficial. Lara Jean cares about how a person is rather than what they look like.

Lara Jean and Josh discuss his breakup with Margot, but Lara Jean partly believes that they’ll get back together again, even though Margot is a decisive person. This may be Han’s way of demonstrating how hard Lara Jean is on herself—even though there is a window of opportunity for her and Josh, she represses it in her mind. This highlights Chris’s point that Lara Jean should explore the world more; with only one boy prevalent in her life, Lara Jean needs to try to make new friends in order to get over Josh. Han also helps the reader to see that it will not be easy to shake off her feelings for Josh because Josh is such an important member of the family. Having known him since childhood, Josh’s presence at Sunday dinner is as natural as Kitty’s. Margot and Josh’s breakup does not prevent Josh from remaining an important person to the Covey family, but it does complicate Lara Jean’s friendship with him.