The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Little late to the game with this one, but all summer, in the background noise of my social media, I kept hearing the buzzing of the sounds of the premiere of season two of the series based on The Summer I Turned Pretty book trilogy by Jenny Han. As a huge fan of Han’s To All the Boys books and movies, I kept thinking to myself, “got to read that one, got to read that one,” and in January 2024, I finally did. 

The Summer I Turned Pretty, published in 2009 before the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in 2014, has all the ingredients of a great YA romance: Isabel “Belly” Conklin, our protagonist going through changes, growing up and falling in love; an idyllic summer time setting in the town of Cousins Beach where Belly and her family have vacationed every year Belly can remember with her mother’s best friend’s family; a love triangle with the two boys Belly grew up with, Conrad and Jeremiah and the addition of another possible summer love interest, Cam;  and a possible mystery to figure out in the sudden sullenness of Conrad–why did he quit football? Why is he smoking and drinking so much? 

So everything is there to make this a great book. There are some great lines: “It’s the imperfections that make things beautiful.” There are some lines that can relate to anyone who is or has gone through the pains of adolescence where everything changes, lines like, “She and I were still friends, but not best friends, not like we used to be. But we were still friends. She’d known me my whole life. It’s hard to throw away history. It was like you were throwing away a part of yourself.”  

Even though all the great elements are there, the plot and characterization don’t come together as tightly as To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I kept wanting to understand Conrad and his change more, and trying to find out was definitely something that kept me reading, but this reveal happened so late in the novel and I wish I had been fed pieces earlier to keep that development interesting instead of frustrating. I also wanted to like Belly more. There were times when she came off as whiny, and in some of those times I could chalk it up to typical sibling interaction with her brother Steven, and other times where I couldn’t help but wonder why is she acting this way? What happened to make her like this? For example, her parents are divorced and her dad is dating someone new, but the effects of the divorce on Belly and her brother as possible character development feel rushed. The issues of social class also feel rushed, although they are there. 

The story I really wanted to read was the backstory of Belly’s mom and Conrad and Jeremiah’s mom.  There seems to be a really interesting story lurking there, especially when we learn that at first Belly’s mom was dating Conrad and Jeremiah’s dad then set him up with their mom–maybe a prequel with a really great (I’m guessing) late 80s/early 90s soundtrack? This was a relationship I most wanted to know more about. 

This was a quick read, short chapters, great one for lounging on the beach or poolside, and I’m going to check out the rest of the trilogy, but not one that I’m going to read multiple times.