The Summer I Turned Pretty

By Jenny Han

Summary: Some summers are just destined to be pretty

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer -- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

My Thoughts: We meet Belly who is turning 16 this summer and she knows this is going to be a great summer. She knows that things will be changing soon and not all of the normal Cousin's family will be back again. The Cousin's family consist of Belly, Belly's brother Steven, Belly's mother Laurel, Laurel's best friend Susannah and her two boys Conrad and Jeremiah. Conrad is a year and half older than Belly but she's been in love with him since she was just a kid. I truly enjoyed this book. It was beautiful. I liked both Conrad and Jeremiah but for the most part but I felt the better match for Belly was Jeremiah. They were more in sync with each other. Maybe it was mostly because Conrad was kind of a jerk that summer and he just didn't treat Belly that great. Most of the time, it just felt like he thought she was invisible. Why was he a jerk you ask? Read the book to find out all the details. Belly starts to date another guy named Cam. Cam was sweet but I just didn't feel like he was made for Belly either.

The one thing I had a hard time following was the flashbacks. I just didn't find myself enjoying them more. I did like a few, such as Belly's first kiss. But most of the flashbacks I could have done without. They were essential to the story so we could learn more about the relationships between all of the kids but I just didn't find myself enjoying them as much as the present.

We do find out why everyone wants it to be the perfect summer and I thought this story was amazing. I can't wait to read It's Not Summer Without You. I hope to see more of Jeremiah.

Overall: Loved it a lot. I'm team Jeremiah!

Cover: I really like it a lot! It's really cute and I like how his hand is on her shoulder.

What I'd Give It: