When movies are based on books, they tend to leave some things out. This makes sense. Movies and books are different formats, after all. There’s only so much you can fit into a movie, while a book can be a lot longer. Still, fans of the books never like when things are left out or changed in the movie.

The To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie is no exception to this rule. There are things that are changed and others that are left out of the movie entirely from the books. Let’s get into the changes from the book to the movie.

What was changed from the book in the ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ Netflix movie?

There are a few major changes made from the book to the movie. For example, in the movie, Josh and Margot, Lara Jean’s older sister, have a fight before breaking up. In the book, they don’t, at least not as far as Lara Jean knows. Margot just breaks up with him so she won’t have a boyfriend when she goes off to college.

The distribution and discovery of the letters also happens a lot faster in the movie than it does in the book. In the movie, Lara Jean sees Josh coming with his letter just as Peter is confronting her about his. Lara Jean then kisses Peter to make it look like they’re together. In the book, Lara Jean runs home after Peter confronts her and Josh doesn’t talk to her until the next day at school, which is when she kisses Peter.

What did the movie leave out?

First of all, the movie focused heavily on the romance between Lara Jean and Peter. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it does mean that other aspects of the book were not given too much screen time in the movie. For example, there were not as many moments of family bonding between Lara Jean and her father and sisters as there is in the book. The movie even leaves out the fact that Margot, since the girls’ mother died, has been acting as a mother figure for Lara Jean and Kitty, since their father is often busy with his duties as a doctor.

Lara Jean especially feels lost when Margot first goes off to college, having to do so many things that her older sister once took care of. The movie also leaves out the mystery of the letters getting out, at least from an audience perspective. In the movie, it’s easy to suspect that Kitty did something when she snuck into Lara Jean’s room, but in the book, Lara Jean and the readers have no idea how the letters got out until Kitty admits it towards the end.

What else do movie fans not know?

Another detail that’s left out of the movie is Kitty’s age. In the book, she is 9 years old. She also has different motives for sending out the letters in the book: she wants to embarrass Lara Jean for teasing her about her crush on Josh in front of him. Yes, that’s right, in the book Kitty does not have a good motive for sending out the letters.

In the movie, Peter drives Lara Jean and Kitty to school. Yet the movie left out one heartwarming detail from the book. You see, in the book, Peter’s car only has two seats and therefore can’t fit both Lara Jean and Kitty. So he switches with his mother and takes her minivan to school instead so both Lara Jean and her sister can fit.

As you can see, fans of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before Netflix movie are missing out on some details from the book. While it’s understandable that not everything can fit in a movie, it’s still nice to know what you’re missing. And perhaps some fans of the movie will be inspired to read the book now.