The Summer I Turned Pretty

It’s July, it’s the middle of summer, and it is really really hot. I hope you’re having a great time and hacking away at that TBR. To speed up the process, I’m here to deliver The Summer I Turned Pretty book series. It’s a 3 in 1, first, in honour of the last season of the show by the same name coming out this month and second, due to the way the story feels like a single entity, so for continuity purposes, here we are! Also they read fast so I was able to squeeze this for the July episode.

If you already don’t know this, Jenny Han is the author behind the series. She also wrote the famous To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy. She has other novels published but none as popular as those two series. The Summer series came out between 2009 to 2011 so it really took a few years to get it out for television. The first novel, The Summer I Turned Pretty won the ALA Best Books for Young Adults in 2010 as well as the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in YA Literature that same year.

Now let’s get into it. I’m going to give you a summary like always, then I’m gonna move on to the review for each book, so if you want to avoid spoilers, just stop after whatever book you don’t want to go beyond.

First up, Book 1: We start off with Isabel Conklin (or Belly) visiting her mother’s bestie’s summer cottage in Cousins Beach. She returns this summer all transformed and now has to navigate boy world as she starts getting noticed by the sons of said bestie: Conrad and Jeremiah.

Ok it’s kinda hard to start off because I have so many thoughts but I will say this, and it applied to the whole series: Belly loves Conrad and we know about it every few chapters!! It’s getting really annoying, especially when she tries to convince herself she’s done with him. Because we know she’s not and she’s lying to herself, aggravating the whole situation. So it’s safe to say, this book (and series) does not lack repetition. Belly is clearly shallow. But I don’t really blame her. Susannah’s sons only notice her that summer that she became pretty. They also don’t see her in everyday life so it’s hard to gauge everyone’s attitude because they’re all on vacation mode, taking it slow. The first book is the best in my opinion because it’s the one that makes the most sense. Now that the boys are noticing her, she wants to start being included in the activities and feel like she belongs with the more mature kids. As is her right, but the fact that now they sort of let her more than before reinforces that it’s just because she’s pretty and it’s because they see her as a potential romantic partner rather than just a family friend.

The novel feels like a true coming of age, it reads fast, and I think it deals with themes a lot of teens and young adults can relate. My advice is, if you didn’t really vibe but still enjoyed the novel, stop reading the series now, it will only get worse. The TV show is much better, primarily because the diversity we seen in characters’ identities and the music and visuals can really help place us in the scenes. I do find Belly’s best friend Taylor, more annoying in the novel, but she feels more real. Belly notices how their friendship is deteriorating and will never go back to what it was which is not the case in the TV show. Friends come and they leave, things happened and I find more realistic to just stay good friends rather than besties with your childhood BFF. Character-wise: I hate Conrad for being so moody and inconsiderate. He is dealing with an internal conflict and he has the right to feel what he is, but this angry projection on others is bad behaviour and he needs therapy or some common sense knocked into him. Jeremiah is sweet and I do get the feeling he was always nice to Belly even when she wasn’t pretty. At this stage, I’m 100% team Jere. And the last important character: Steven. He is Belly’s bother, he’s ok, normal American sibling behaviour like name calling and bickering. He felt more protective and like a true brother in the show rather than here in the books. The moms are chill. That’s it for book 1. The next few parts will contain spoilers, so proceed at your own risk. If you decide to end the episode here, thank you for listening, I hope the info was valuable and I hope to see you around next month.

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My advice is, if you didn’t really vibe but still enjoyed the novel, stop reading the series now, it will only get worse.

Next Book 2, titled It’s Not Summer Without You: With Susannah now having passed away, Belly is hoping to return to Cousins Beach one last time and have a summer adventure with the boys before they all move on with their lives.

The book starts with Belly having flashbacks of her time with Conrad. She was dating him during the winter, which was very welcome to me. They got to experience time with each other outside of the summer season where the vibes are different. As the novel progresses, we get more flashbacks about what led to them breaking up. During this second summer, Conrad is dealing with an internal struggle that he never shares with anyone, AGAIN. This boy never learns. Like dude please stop. You wasted all last summer being angry and moody with your mom and everyone that you didn’t get to enjoy her last moments alive. Do you want a repeat of that? He is acting very primal and immature. I’m still team Jeremiah. He was able to put aside the fact that Belly dated Conrad to recruit her to help find out where Conrad went after he decided to be moody about his problem and leave school with no contact. This whole adventure was a really good test for Belly to find out which bother suits her best. Here are some actual quotes and context for you to see the kind of behaviour Conrad marvellously masters:

Exhibit 1: When Conrad finds out Belly took the necklace he was going to gift her in the last book for her 16th birthday, he gets mad. She gives it back, and he verbally attacks her, saying that it didn’t matter, she should keep it now. He gets mad she took it (which lowkey, yeah like girl what are you digging in his drawers AND THEN TAKING THE STUFF!!!, please confront him instead of taking it next time). In that same moment, Belly concludes: “That’s when I finally got it. I finally understood. […] The intent behind it wasn’t enough. Not for me. Not anymore.” BS Belly complete BS. While she realized in that moment that Conrad didn’t care for her she will continue to make excuses and long for this man. Girl get a grip! He’s not some sweet angel like Cameron (Belly’s ex from the first novel) who I guess you didn’t like because of his softer personality. Conrad is just cruel and brutal.

Exhibit 2: At Susannah’s funeral, he goes all out with the verbal abuse on Belly, forcing her to curse him and get the whole gathering mad at her for being insensitive. Plus he brought another girl with him that he got together with after calling it quits with Belly. Amazing :)

Exhibit 3, this time to prove how “really really” done Belly is with Conrad: The 2 brothers and her are on their way back to Conrad’s school after they find him and deal with his problem. As she gets in the car, she says quote: “I looked at him, and I felt so sad, because this thought occurred to me: I will never look at you in the same way ever again. I’ll never be that girl again. The girl who comes running back every time you push her away, the girl who loves you anyway.” Again, complete crap because yes she does, she still has feelings for him and she will never stop feeling like that. She will always revert to a what-if. What if she ended up with Conrad, what-if he changed and now he’s ready to love me. Girl, you snooze, you lose. He treated you like completely trash and now that he feels threaten that you might be taken, he decides to pounce? Again, he showcases this possessiveness with snarky remarks because of course, it’s Conrad.

All in all, this whole second book is super slow in terms of plot. Lots of repetitions about loving Conrad, then being done with him, and the loop goes on and on and on. I feel like Belly had a 5 to 10% character evolution. The parents are again on the sidelines, which highly contrast with Lauren’s story in the TV show. Do not waste your money buying this, feel free to take out a loan the library.

If your journey ends here, thanks for listening, and make sure to tune in next month for a review on A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

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Finally Book 3, titled We’ll Always Have Summer: Belly is now in a lasting relationship with Jeremiah and in an ultimate push to show their love for each other, and for Belly to convince herself she is over Conrad, they decide to get married. Now facing backlash from their families, Belly and Jeremiah are figuring out if this is the right move for both of them.

I became instant Team Conrad at this moment and never looked back

One word for this book: PROBLEMATIC. They should have never gotten engaged. She is 18, barely in college and does not have her life together. I really feel like she is doing this for the wrong reasons. Now I have to spoil the beginning a little bit to give you some context. It’s basically the trigger for their engagement and it happens early on. Jeremiah cheats on Belly. Yup, I said it, maybe you knew from online spoilers about the show but it’s a very big mistake and so unlike Jeremiah (at least in the novels). Here’s the context: they had a fight before he left on spring break with his fraternity and their sister sorority. They never said they were over and clearly Belly was still in love with him but he slept with Lacie, from the sorority. Not only is this super wrong on basic principle, but it’s so much more damaging because he never did it with Belly while they were together. I became instant Team Conrad at this moment and never looked back because maybe Conrad was super mean and horrible to her but not so much so as to do such a horrible thing while they were still in a romantic relationship. Jeremiah decides to propose as a way to keep Belly and show his love for her. She did wrong by accepting. She is not mature or ready for marriage because I don’t believe she is at that stage in her life.

The whole novel is about them trying to get over their parents’ anger and frustration all while planning the wedding. Of course, Conrad comes back into the picture and Belly starts doubting herself for the millionth time. You might think, isn’t this last novel just about Belly and Jeremiah (mainly)? Nope…..Conrad will always be in the picture and ready to ruin or at least shake things up. Here we go with the exhibits again:

Exhibit 1: When Conrad confronts Jeremiah about his engagement, we get the chapter from his POV and he says after their convo he thinks to himself, quote: “He was marrying my girl, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I just had to watch it happen, because he was my brother, because I promised.” Boy, you’ve been passive, lazy, and out of it for the last 3 years. Snap out of it! First of all, he should be talking Jere out of this nonsense to purely avoid a disaster, not even to get Belly for himself. But also second, yeah he needs to fight for her if he keeps claiming he’s loved her since forever. Despite all this I’m still team Conrad for this last novel because Jeremiah did Belly wrong. First by cheating on her and second by being mad and insecure that she would do the same with Conrad. She went to the Cousins’ House over the winter BEFORE THEY WERE NOT TOGETHER and Conrad also spent some time there. They didn’t do much together or interact a lot yet Jeremiah is still mad at her. Which lowkey now I’m think it if it was part of what Jeremiah though it was ok to cheat on Belly.

The best parts of this book (which is a 2/5 for me) is when Belly and Taylor put Conrad back in his place. Belly finally gives Conrad the truth about how he treated her and other people. Quote: “Don’t you get it? You will never be what Jere is to me. He’s my best friend. He loves me no matter what. He doesn’t take it away whenever he feels like it. Nobody has ever treated me the way he does. Nobody. Least of all you.” You go girl!!! Tell him. I mean it’s very late for that now but I’m glad he got to hear it. In Taylor’s case, she uses her bossiness for good this time to tell Conrad, quote: “I’m warning you Conrad. Leave her alone. You’re confusing her. Again.” And then quote: “You treat her like a toy that you just pick up and play with whenever you feel like it.” FACTS. ABSOLUTE FACTS. Please tell him and smack him while you’re at it because he needs a wake up call and he needs it NOW.

And you’re wake up call is to not ready this series. Sorry Jenny Han, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is much much better. The first Summer I Turned Pretty novel is good and ok, but the other two felt like a big waste of time. If you are still listening, I thank you, it means a lot given the huge episode we’ve just had. Enjoy the rest of the summer, go out there and read, and I’ll see you back in August for the next episode!

Until then, keep exploring those pages!