Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1)
Jenny Han
Contemporary romance

Some summers are just destined to be pretty.

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?

Hey people. It's May and you know what that means.... every high schooler in the northern hemisphere's nightmare. So as you saw for the last two weeks I'll be blogging a less. Also, in between every new book I'm rereading a TMI novel to refresh before City of Heavenly Fire. 

So. The Summer I Turned Pretty. At one point a few years back this series was all the rage. I'm so glad I finally got to read it.. it really was a sweet read. The setting was absolutely gorgeous- a beautiful beach house, hot boys and summer. Also, I loved how Belly already has a long history with Jeremiah and Conrad in the book's beginning because it added depth and believability to the relationships. 

As for the characters, I almost fully approved of Belly. She was smart and sweet, girly but tough. Quite honestly, the only thing I didn't like about her was her friendship with Taylor from back home. Taylor is a bitch and I really didn't see what Belly liked about her. She mainly used Belly during the flashbacks in which she appears. Not to mention, who someone is friends with usually says a lot about a person in my opinion so I really thought that relationship was out of place. Unfortunately, it seems like we'll get more of her in book #2. 

Jeremiah... I love you. I was backing him the whole way. Strong but funny, confident but not cocky unless joking. He was always there for everyone in the book. #TeamJere 

Cam- I relatively liked him, but not especially. I did think it was cool and exotic how he's Japanese and speaks tons of languages. 

And Conrad. Fans of the book may scream at me, but I just didn't get what I was supposed  to love about him. As both Belly and Jeremiah mention in the book, he's been brooding and acting like a jerk. Even in the flashbacks, he had little dialogue. It was more like, Conrad danced me around the room. Conrad laughed and told Jeremiah to... it made it impossible for me to love him like Belly did. 

The ending- was kinda horrible. And not in the it-was-random-and-stupid. As in it was beautifully sad. I hadn't realized when picking up the book that it wouldn't be all light and fluffy so I really wasn't prepared for that. It still was beautiful, though. 

The POV- I didn't love the fact that sometimes the chapters were from age 11 and 14. I didn't want to read from the POV of a kid or read about the characters as kids. It felt unnecessary and kept interrupting the story I was enjoying. Of course, sometimes this arrangement works wonderfully, but not in this case for me. Rating:


Love, 
Esty