The Summer I Turned Pretty Series Review

My thoughts on the Summer I Turned Pretty books by Jenny Han. This series follows protagonist Belly who is torn between two brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah.

The order of the trilogy is...

1. The Summer I Turned Pretty

2. It's Not Summer Without You

3. We'll Always Have Summer

Be prepared for spoilers and please keep in mind that these are just my own views and opinions!

I thought Belly was an okay protagonist and that it was interesting to see how her thoughts flowed and moved the story along. It felt like she made some naive decisions in this series but that may have been because she's young. I do think she was depicted as being immature even as she strived to catch up with the boys and prove she was mature.

In general, I would give the whole series 3/5 stars. It just wasn't that interesting to me, and I didn't connect to a lot of the characters; so, it felt pretty meh. But I will try to go book by book and give you my feelings for each.

Book 1: The Summer I Turned Pretty Spoilers/Review Section

Specifically focusing on the first book

• I liked the writing style and how some chapters showed past summers that Belly had at Cousins. I think that added to the story in a fun way.

• I liked Belly's interactions with Susannah and her mom and how that showed it wasn't just a story about love but about family and people who care about you. Belly, Steven, Laurel and Susannah, Conrad, and Jeremiah always come back to the summer house, and seeing them having familial interactions and traditions showed how special they all are to each other. I think that this aspect of the story added to the drama of Belly having to pick a brother as she has a connection to both that goes back years and years, and it was easy to understand her indecision.

I'll admit: in the first book, I didn't really get drawn to either brother. I didn't really see enough of Conrad to really feel confident about her choosing him over Jeremiah. I know she loved Conrad since she was little, but I felt like there wasn't much added to his character. I felt like Han chose like the typical bad boy love interest who is acting out and only shows his feelings in little overprotective spurts(not saying we don't like that, but I think I needed more to be sold on him). Of course, I understand the broody, mysterious attraction to the self-destructive love interest, but I felt like there almost wasn't much depth added to Conrad. I liked him but I didn't love him.

Honestly, I didn't care much for Jeremiah either in the first book. Again, I liked him but didn't love him. He was friendly, and it was obvious that he was paying more attention to Belly now that she was prettier, but I still got the best friend feel for him more than a love interest feel. I saw how much he cared about her, and when he admitted his feelings, I felt bad because I was getting sort of the same vibes from him as the golden retriever character and everyone(or at least me) loves that character.

So, in the first book, The Summer I Turned Pretty, I didn't get much out of the romantic turmoil and tension going on. I did like Susannah a lot though. I called it pretty early on that her cancer came back, but that doesn't mean I didn't feel sad when it was revealed. Her character was just so fun and I really think she carried a lot of the story, and spoiler in the other books too, when she died, she still carried a good portion of the story.

Overall, I think I give this book 3 stars because I felt pretty so-so about it.

Book 2: It's Not Summer Without You Spoilers/Review Section

Okay, let's get right into it.

For this book, I was expecting more romance details since Conrad and Belly had been sort of together at the end of the last book. Instead, we just got little snapshots of when they were together, and they are broken up now too. This didn't do much to endear me to their romance since as you probably know, I was on the fence about it last book. I think that their break-up showed how Belly kind of acts out and says things she doesn't mean a lot. I think her doing this made me conclude how she's pretty immature and doesn't think before she speaks.

As for the sudden romance between Jeremiah and Belly in the last bit, I thought it was a bit cute but still felt meh about them. I think it was good of Belly to try and move on from Conrad since it didn't feel like he was in the right headspace for a relationship then. I liked that she wanted to try things out with Jeremiah because he seemed ready for a relationship and was always sweet to her. I still got more of the best friend vibe from him though.

Side note: I think there is a pattern that the romance is a bit unclear in the last bits of both The Summer I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You. They both mostly hint at the start of a relationship but don't really say it outright.

Something that really connected with me was Susannah's death. It was right in the first few pages, so I felt sad about it. Everyone was filled with grief(as they should be) for a lot of the story which is why I think Susannah still carried a lot of the story and was still a powerful character.

I liked the plot line about how Jeremiah and Belly discovered that Conrad's disappearance to Cousins was because Mr. Fisher was trying to sell the summer house. I think that the way they banded together and Laurel came to back them up felt really powerful. Even in all of their grief, they defended their place, Susannah's place, and I really liked that.

If I'm being completely honest, this book felt a bit like a blur to me. It only takes place over a few days and is just about 200 pages which isn't a lot to me. I think that I would rate it either a 2 or 3/5 stars since it also felt so-so, and it went pretty fast.

Book 3: We'll Always Have Summer Spoilers/Review Section

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Honestly, it didn't even feel like it was Jeremiah in this book. In the previous books, he had some sad moments, but in this one, it just felt like he was a completely different character. He argued, cheated, and didn't really have the sunshine, silly moments that he had in the last few books. Get ready for the rant.

First off, he slept with a girl over spring break and didn't tell Belly which is a no-no. If he didn't want to tell her, then it either wasn't "nothing" or he couldn't handle being honest or he thought Belly was gonna make a big deal out of it(nevermind the fact that it is a big deal now that he didn't own up to it and left her to find out on her own and wonder why he wasn't upfront about it). Either way, that was a big red flag. Then, he kept trying to convince Belly to forgive him, and he literally gave her a ring trying to console her that he wanted to be with only her. He shouldn't offer a ring to convince her. I totally agreed with everyone when they said they were too young and that if they really were convinced they'd still be together forever, they'd wait. He should have offered Belly the respect to turn away. It just felt really naive of her to accept it.

Overall, my main conclusion is that Belly and Jeremiah's relationship felt kind of toxic in this book. It was obvious they cared about each other, but they wanted different things(shown with the apartments and the wedding planning) and there was a kind of resentment when they wouldn't get what they wanted(Jeremiah said Belly should be happy because she always gets her way).

I actually did kind of warm-up to Conrad in this book. He took care of Belly and tried to do right by her. He also admitted that he loved her. We found out that he even okayed Jeremiah to try and pursue something with Belly in the second book because he wanted to take care of them both. I also liked his relationship with Laurel, Belly's mom, because it was comforting to know they had each other to talk to. Additionally, I really liked reading the letters he sent to Belly at the end of the book. I think those made me like him more too. Again, there wasn't that much on him and Belly ending up together: just that they got married in the end.

I also didn't really like how Belly's relationship with her mother got strained(to put it mildly). It felt like their relationship in the last few books was getting stronger, so to see it kind of get tossed aside for a big portion of this book felt wrong.

Overall, I would rate it 2/5 stars. It felt so-so but didn't live up to the others that much.

Please remember this was just my opinion on these books. As always, feel free to comment your thoughts.