The first-person protagonist of the narrative, Lara Jean is a senior in high school when this book begins, living at home with her father and her younger sister, Kitty. She has a popular boyfriend and splits time between his friend group and her old friends. She enjoys baking and crafting and is not interested in parties or school spirit but participates to show her support of her boyfriend’s lacrosse team. Lara Jean believes in love and the importance of romantic relationships, as well as the importance of family love. She lost her mother to cancer several years ago and is determined to keep her Korean heritage alive for her little sister Kitty, whose memories of their mother are more tenuous.

Lara Jean is generally a warm and kind person. She could be described as congenial; there is not much to dislike about her, but she is also not incredibly bold or unique as a character. She rarely gets into arguments with people unless she’s really provoked, and she sees the good in most other people. The one person she cannot seem to get along with is her former best friend, Genevieve; Gen was in a long-term relationship with Peter before Lara Jean, and she still compares herself to Gen. For example, Lara Jean is still a virgin, but Peter and Gen had sex; this is a point of contention for them.

Lara Jean begins the novel trying to perform out of her own preset playbook: She will go to UVA with her boyfriend, she will lose her virginity while in college, and she will stay with Peter throughout. After this first goal is disrupted, and she must go to another college, she starts to reconsider her original plan. Loosening her grip on what she thinks “should” happen shows maturation and development as a character. 

Lara Jean’s boyfriend, Peter is also a senior in high school when the narrative of this book begins. He plays lacrosse, has a scholarship to UVA, and is committed to the sport. After he meets with the team, he begins an intense regimen including exercise and diet to keep up with his teammates and rise to their level. He is popular and well-liked, and other students find him to be kind and thoughtful, crowning him prom king.

He is dedicated to Lara Jean and is a good boyfriend. They do not fight often, and he is gentle with her both physically and mentally. He is kind to her younger sister, Kitty, and includes her when it is appropriate. He and Lara Jean have not had sex, though he has had a sexual relationship in the past, and he and Lara Jean love each other. He respects her boundaries and is waiting for her to be ready. He pays attention to her and throws her a birthday party based on her favorite movie scene; he also throws her father’s bachelor party, a dinner at a steak house, showing him to be more considerate than the average teenage boy.

Peter lives with his mother and brother, with an absent father who has remarried. He does not have a good relationship with his father, and their history together is painful for him. Sporadically, his father shows desire to reconnect with his son. Lara Jean pushes him to meet with his father, but he resists; he never wants to be the type of dad his own father has been to him.

A warm-hearted man who works as a doctor, Daniel is almost singularly referred to as “Daddy” by his daughters. He is getting remarried in this book to his neighbor, Ms. Trina Rothschild. He loves her, and his girls love seeing him happy after they were all left brokenhearted by the death of his first wife, their mother Eva Song. He is devoted to his daughters and is a good father; he is filled with dad jokes, responsible bedtimes, and logical reasoning. When he does get exasperated by them, Trina is usually able to quickly bring him back to a reasonable position.

Daniel is an easygoing man who seems committed to his fiancée and his children. He knows what he wants from his life but is pretty low maintenance, so those goals are generally achievable. For example, he wants to get married, but he’d prefer to keep it simple with a backyard wedding and a barbecue, rather than an ornate ceremony. He is a good father and a dedicated partner, but he is not really given room to evolve in this narrative, as it is told from the perspective of his teenaged daughter.

Margot is Lara Jean’s older sister, who is enrolled at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Her former boyfriend, Josh Sanderson, lives next door to the Coveys and was a recipient of one of Lara Jean’s love letters in the first volume in the series. She and Josh broke up when she moved to the United Kingdom, and she is now dating Ravi, a British man of Indian descent. Margot is mature and independent. Her refusal to warm immediately to Trina’s presence in the Covey home is a source of background conflict in the novel and mirrors Lara Jean’s own resistance to change. When she returns with Ravi over the holidays, she pushes boundaries between herself, her father, and Trina. For example, her father expects Margot and Ravi to sleep in separate rooms, but Margot sets her own terms for the couple—just as she feels that she’s being pushed out of the family by Trina, she’s asserting her independence as an adult.

Margot acts as a touchstone for Lara Jean, available for advice at a distance on Skype. Her words are influential to Lara Jean, who tends to repeat things Margot has said and initially rely on her advice to make her own decisions about college. Margot is confident and reliable with Lara Jean, but she has insecurities about her new place in the family now that she has moved abroad. These feelings escape in negative ways with her interactions with Trina, Kitty, and her father; ultimately, though, she’s able to regain a sense of self in the Covey family and come to terms with her father’s remarriage.

Kitty is the youngest of the three Covey sisters, and in many ways is the most outspoken and confident. She enjoys her sisters’ company, feels comfortable around Trina, and likes being around Peter—especially when he invites her to ride in his car. Like many youngest siblings, Kitty feels older than she is and can become upset when she is not allowed to participate in some things her older sisters and the adults can, such as Trina’s bachelorette party. Lara Jean finds Kitty annoying at times, but as a family-oriented character, she is very generous with her time with Kitty. They enjoy watching weekly films together with Peter, and Kitty is always ready to volunteer to taste anything Lara Jean is baking in the kitchen.

Kitty often says what she means even if it is insensitive. As a result, she can hurt people’s feelings, but she is well-intentioned and not unkind. She is still a child. Kitty likes to go against the grain, often at Lara Jean’s expense; she knows how to provoke her family members and does so fairly regularly. However, Kitty is fiercely loyal to her family and defends Trina to anyone who would question her position within the family. Kitty was very young when her mother died, so Trina has become a mother figure for her more so than she has for Kitty’s two older sisters. Kitty has her own sense of style, protesting the choices Lara Jean tries to insist upon during the wedding planning. For example, she refuses to wear a traditional dress to the ceremony, opting for a tuxedo instead. She knows this upsets Lara Jean, but as Trina and her father don’t mind, she does it anyway.

Trina Rothschild is the Coveys’ former neighbor and was known to them in this way before she started dating Daniel Covey, Lara Jean’s father. She is pretty, and she keeps up with her fitness by attending regular SoulCycle classes. She is a strong female role model for Kitty, and she feels comfortable around Lara Jean and in the Covey household. She moves in with the Coveys partway through the book, and this does not seem to be a huge change for her as she’s been spending most of her time in their home for a while now. For example, Margot points out (to her chagrin) that Trina has made space for her own soda in the refrigerator.

Trina has truly embraced the Covey family and as far as stepparents in literature go, she is easy to get along with. She holds back when her opinion is unwanted, but she is able to give Lara Jean solid help when she’s figuring out her future with Peter. Kitty trusts her and relies on her, and she gives Kitty the attention she desires. They have built a strong relationship with one another. We see her being affectionate with Daniel Covey, and they balance each other out as a couple. It is clear their feelings for one another are mutual, and they genuinely enjoy each other’s company and want to spend time together with the girls.