To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Fiction | Novel | YA

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Chapters 41-45

Chapter 41 Summary

Peter asks Lara Jean for help studying, but he doesn’t show up at her house when he says he will. Much later, he texts her saying that something came up. Lara Jean can sense that the something is Genevieve. Lara Jean is taken aback and even though they’re in a fake relationship, her feelings are hurt. It is rude to leave people waiting and to cancel on them at the last moment, she thinks. Furthermore, if Peter is with Genevieve, it calls their whole fake relationship into question. If Peter continues to go back to Gen, and Josh and Lara Jean go back to normal, there’s no point in continuing the façade of their relationship. The next morning, Lara Jean gets a ride with Josh without telling Peter, and Peter ends up late to school. He admits that he was with Genevieve, that she needed him, and he couldn’t not be there for her.

Chapter 42 Summary

Josh’s parents have a history of fighting with one another. Sometimes the fights are small, but other times, the arguments escalate. Lara Jean knows when they’re fighting and often Josh would come stay the night at the Covey house. When Lara Jean hears his parents fighting, she turns the light on in the dining hall, the sign that Josh can come over. Josh is happy to take cover at the Covey’s, and he and Lara Jean chat about extracurricular activities she could try to get involved in. When Josh leaves, Lara Jean goes upstairs and finds Chris, another hideout, tucked into her bed.

Chapter 43 Summary

It’s Halloween, and Lara Jean is dressed up as Cho Chang from Harry Potter. Lara Jean only ever chooses Asian characters to dress up as, to avoid the annoying question “What are you?” She is waiting for Peter in her costume when she sees Josh go to his car. Coincidentally, Josh is dressed up as Harry Potter. He asks Lara Jean if she wants a ride; Peter is late, as usual, but Josh is on time. Lara Jean declines, and when Peter finally arrives, she tells him she wishes he wasn’t always late.

There’s a costume contest at school, and Peter and his friends win the group contest: Peter unveils himself as Peter Parker, and his other friends are similarly disguised superheroes. Later, in the hallway, Josh and Lara Jean jokingly put spells on one another, and Peter points out he should be jealous that Lara Jean is in a couple’s costume with another guy. Peter and Lara Jean ease the tension by joking around, and Peter runs after her down the hallway to tickle her.

Lara Jean wants to stay annoyed with Peter, but she knows it’s no use. She doesn’t hold onto anger, and he is personable and fun. When Peter passes her daily note, Lara Jean decides she wants “to keep it so when this is over, I can have something to look at and remember what it was like to be Peter Kavinsky’s girlfriend. Even if it was all just pretend” (232). The note promises her that the next day, Peter will be on time.

Chapter 44 Summary

At the end of the day, Peter drives Lara Jean back home, and Kitty runs over to the car to see his costume. She asks him to stay over and see “the dance,” and even though Peter has conditioning for lacrosse, he says he can stay a bit. The dance is a little jig Margot and Lara Jean made up a few summers ago when they were bored. It’s fun for the girls and silly for the audience, and Peter laughs and applauds at the end. He asks Kitty to teach him one of her moves, and even though she seems shy about it, he makes her feel more comfortable. When Lara Jean is saying goodbye to him at his car, she tells him she doesn’t think it’s a good idea for Peter to hang out too much with Kitty because it will hurt and confuse her when the fake relationship is over. Peter makes a joke about joint custody, and Lara Jean impulsively gives him a kiss on the cheek. He’s surprised, and she’s embarrassed, but she couldn’t help herself given how kind he is to her sister.

Chapter 45 Summary

Margot’s car is now fixed. Lara Jean does need to go to the grocery store, but she’s even more anxious about driving than before. She realizes she has to face her fear and get better at driving for her family, but also for herself because eventually she will not be able to rely on Peter for rides. She and Kitty go to the store, and even though Kitty gets impatient with how slow Lara Jean drives, they get to the store and back without a problem. Lara Jean cooks rice balls her mother used to make, an expression of love for Kitty.

Chapters 41-45 Analysis

Chapters 42 through 45 demonstrate new developments in Lara Jean’s fake relationship with Peter. After so much time together, any past awkwardness or shyness is gone. They bicker almost like a real couple; Peter sometimes gets on her nerves, and Lara Jean sometimes gets on his. Even though they remind themselves often that they’re not a real couple, they can still bother or hurt each other like a real couple can. When Peter blows Lara Jean off to spend time with Genevieve, Lara Jean’s feeling are hurt, even though she tries to understand that this is all part of her role. Similarly, when Lara Jean and Josh both dress up as Harry Potter characters, Josh is annoyed that Lara Jean has a more demonstrable connection with Josh than with him. This new burgeoning jealousy is uncharacteristic of a mere friendship; thus, Han uses these chapters to imply that Lara Jean and Peter are beginning to get a little lost in their fake relationship.

Boundaries continue to blur as Peter spends more time with Kitty. Furthermore, Lara Jean’s desire to keep the notes that Peter gives to her is a sign that she’s starting to enjoy being in this relationship, even if it is fake. This poses a warning to the reader because if Lara Jean continues to cherish her time with Peter even when he is annoying her, their breakup will be much harder to bear than she perhaps thinks. The notes Peter writes to Lara Jean act as a motif for the friendship and love that does actually define their fake relationship. Just as Peter has a part of Lara Jean with him in her letter, so will Lara Jean have a part of Peter in his notes. This method of communication is old-fashioned and therefore romantic, implying that Peter and Lara Jean do have some feelings involved in their friendship.

In Chapter 42, Han reveals that Josh’s homelife can often be so disruptive that he stays at the Covey’s. This reveals a new layer to Josh and his relationship to Lara Jean’s family because Dr. Covey is not just Josh’s girlfriend’s father, but a man who has given him shelter when Josh felt unsafe. This highlights the cruelty of the situation for Josh. Even though the reader can only truly see the story from Lara Jean’s point of view, Chapter 42 provides insight into how much Josh truly loves and needs the Coveys.

Lara Jean’s confidence is growing, perhaps because of her new-found friendships and social life. She decides to tackle her anxiety about driving and realizes that it’s important for her own independence to master this fear. Whereas earlier in the book Lara Jean believed she needs to fake confidence in order to truly grow into confidence, here, she realizes that she can breathe through the fear, tackle it head-on, and discover that bad things won’t necessarily happen. It is important to note that when Lara Jean decides to try driving again, it is Kitty who she brings along for emotional support, not Josh, Peter, or Chris. Even though Kitty doesn’t provide a calm atmosphere for Lara Jean, they go through Lara Jean’s fear together and come out of it stronger. To express her gratitude, Lara Jean cooks her mother’s special rice balls for Kitty. Lara Jean hopes that Kitty’s heart will remember the rice balls, a clear expression of food as a symbol for love and family.