To All the Boys I've Loved Before: Chapters 11–27

by Jenny Han
Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean writes letters to the boys for whom she has romantic feelings — letters she never intends to send. When someone starts secretly mailing the letters out, Lara Jean and one of the recipients, Peter, decide to team up and fake a relationship to make their current crushes jealous.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–10, Chapters 11–27, Chapters 28–40, Chapters 41–72
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. trifle
    consider not very seriously
    Kitty might be the baby of the family, but she is not someone to trifle with.
  2. meek
    evidencing little spirit or courage
    Meekly, I say, “Good night, Kitty,” but she’s already running up the stairs, and she doesn’t reply.
  3. begrudge
    be envious of or feel annoyance toward
    How could I begrudge Margot a first love?
  4. covet
    wish, long, or crave for
    Margot’s been gone less than a week and look at me, how fast I cave. How fast I covet. I’m a betrayer of the worst kind, because I’m betraying my own sister, and there’s no greater betrayal than that.
  5. postscript
    a note appended to a letter after the signature
    I suppose there’s only one thing I can do. I’ll write him another letter. A postscript with as many pages as it takes to X away whatever feelings I have left for him.
  6. revelation
    an enlightening or astonishing disclosure
    In the wake of the Josh revelation, I’d forgotten all about Kitty.
  7. flounce
    walk in an emphatic or exaggerated way
    But then she flounces away, and with her back to me she says, “I’m not speaking to you. You know what you did, so don’t bother trying to get back on my good side.”
  8. entail
    impose, involve, or imply as a necessary result
    Knowing Josh, he would show up with a shovel or a rake or whatever tool the chore entailed.
  9. gruff
    blunt and unfriendly or stern
    Gruffly he says, “Listen, it’s no big deal; I just hope you’re not going around telling people—”
  10. impromptu
    without advance preparation
    Not that anything exciting happened, for instance an impromptu game of spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven—two possibilities for which us girls had prepared for with gum and lip gloss.
  11. fluke
    a stroke of luck
    Maybe he’s spirited my hatbox away somewhere safe, and the Peter letter was just an unfortunate fluke!
  12. dignify
    give status or attention to, often undeservedly
    I don’t even bother dignifying it with an answer.
  13. serendipity
    good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries
    The way it happens is a strange sort of serendipity.
  14. nonchalant
    marked by casual unconcern or indifference
    I can feel tears coming on so close that if I break concentration even for a second, if I waver, I will cry and that will make everything worse, if such a thing is possible. I must be cool and breezy and nonchalant now.
  15. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    The way he’s looking at me now, I’m suddenly in a time warp back to a summer day when I was fourteen and he was fifteen, and we were walking home from somewhere. He was looking at me so intently I was sure he was going to try to kiss me.
  16. quirky
    strikingly unconventional
    “Look,” he says kindly. “I think you’re cute. In a quirky way. But Gen and I just broke up, and I’m not in a place right now where I want to be somebody’s boyfriend. So...”
  17. aback
    by surprise
    Now it’s Peter’s turn to look taken aback.
  18. undertaking
    any piece of work that is attempted
    I think about doing my clothes too, but that’s no small undertaking.
  19. frittata
    Italian omelet with diced vegetables and meats
    On Saturdays we usually have something good for breakfast, like pancakes or frittata with frozen shredded potato and broccoli.
  20. brine
    soak in water containing salt
    My dad’s made bo ssam, which is pork shoulder you slice up and then wrap in lettuce. He brined it last night in sugar and salt and it’s been roasting in the oven all day.
  21. amorphous
    having no definite form or distinct shape
    “Right,” my dad agrees. “And look, relationships are incredibly amorphous. They could get back together. They could stay friends. Who’s to say what will happen in the future? I say we don’t count Josh out just yet.”
  22. homely
    lacking in physical beauty or proportion
    Before he can say another word, I grab my phone out of my jacket pocket and say, “That’s Peter calling me right now, so I guess he does like homely girls.”
  23. insufferable
    extremely unpleasant or annoying
    Ugh! He’s so insufferable.
  24. grudging
    unwilling or reluctant
    He gives a grudging nod.
  25. saunter
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    He slings his backpack over his shoulder and takes his time sauntering over.
  26. drawl
    speak in a slow and drawn out way
    “So what’s up?” he drawls. “Let me guess. You’re here to back out on me, am I right?”
  27. smug
    marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction
    He’s so smug, so sure of himself. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of being right.
  28. vain
    having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
    Ha. I knew that would get him. Peter’s so vain.
  29. prim
    exaggeratedly proper
    Primly I say, “It’ll help us remember.”
  30. tangible
    perceptible by the senses, especially the sense of touch
    They were proof, solid and tangible, that someone was thinking about her.
  31. gusto
    vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
    “I’ll write you a note a day,” Peter says suddenly, with gusto.
  32. homebody
    a person who seldom goes anywhere
    Now that Peter and I have everything worked out, I can triumphantly crow all about it. That’ll show him for thinking I’m just a homebody no boy would want to date.
  33. sage
    having wisdom that comes with experience
    “Only the artist knows,” Daddy says with a sage nod.
  34. enigmatic
    not clear to the understanding
    I give an enigmatic shrug.
  35. incentive
    a positive motivational influence
    “No. The incentive is me helping you convince Daddy to get a dog, and also you not being so babyish anymore.”
Created on Tue Apr 09 09:23:40 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Apr 09 13:11:56 EDT 2019)

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