The Summer I Turned Pretty
By: Jenny Han
Published Year: 2009
Publisher: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers
Pages: 276
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When each summer begins, Belly leaves her school life behind and escapes to Cousins Beach, the place she has spent every summer of her life. Not only does the beach house mean home away from home, but her favorite people are there: Susannah, her mother's best friend, and her sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has been chasing Conrad for as long as she can remember, and more than anything, she hopes this summer will be different. Despite distractions from a new guy named Cam and lingering looks from Conrad's brother, Jeremiah, Belly's heart belongs to Conrad. Will he offer his to her? Will this be the summer that changes everything?
Summer Book Club
My friend Stephanie has discovered a local bookstore in South Georgia called The Bookshelf. They often do these book clubs where you can buy a collection of books and then they do Zoom meetings to discuss them. Stephanie did one last year which was a year long YA book club. This summer they are doing the Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy and Stephanie asked if I wanted to join. Since I have read and enjoyed Jenny Han’s other books and I believe read the first one around when it first came out, I decided to join her.
The first story follows Belly as she returns to her mom’s friend’s summer home like she does every summer. She, along with her mother and brother go to their mother’s best friend’s summer home every summer. Susannah has two boys around the same age as Belly and Steven and Belly has always been in love with the eldest of the two. But this summer, the brother’s notice her for the first time as something more than an annoying little sister.
I did enjoy this book and flew through it, even though there were some flaws. Keep in mind that I am not 16 and therefore a little older than the intended audience. I honestly didn’t understand the appeal of Conrad at all. He was moody, bratty, rude, and pretty much ignored Belly. Jeremiah was so much better and Belly didn’t care to give him the time of day. I also thought it was an interesting choice to give Belly a brother but then write him out within the first few chapters.
I enjoyed the family drama a lot more than the romance side. Han did a great job with the friendships and relationships as well as the ups and downs of growing up. While the romance was a little bit of a weak spot for me, it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the book. I am excited to read the next two books in the series and see where everything goes.
This was definitely closer to 3.5 stars for me. I really enjoyed getting to talk about this book with others and see whether or not they had similar opinions. It also was interesting getting to hear the parts that stuck out more for others than for me. I wasn’t as annoyed with Belly’s immaturity as others were, but I also was more annoyed with Conrad than some other people were. I’m looking forward to reading and discussing the next book a well as watching the show that is coming out this summer. It will be interesting to see how they modernize it because, even though the book was published in 2009, it very much has a 90s feel to it.