“I thought this summer was going to be like all summers, but it’s not.”

I wasn’t a big reader growing up. I never found it fun and I just hated the idea of sitting still and looking at words, but recently that’s changed. About five months ago, I began to get back into reading. In the past, when I would read a book, I would take my time, so I wouldn’t bore myself, but when I read the trilogy book series The Summer I Turned Pretty, I found myself reading it everyday, rushing through the pages to find out what happened next.

During the span of two months, I read the entire trilogy series of The Summer I Turned Pretty: 

The Summer I Turned Pretty

It’s Not Summer Without You

We’ll Always Have Summer.  

I had never read any of Jenny Han’s books before. She also wrote the famous book: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.

The Summer I Turned Pretty tells a story of a girl named Belly who travels to Cousins Beach every summer to spend time with her family and her mom’s best friend’s family. Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher always saw Belly as a kid and nothing more, but now that she’s 16 and has grown up, that’s changed. In this book, you will read about a love triangle and challenges between friendships and family. 

My aunt, Kelly Rucka, suggested that I watch the Prime show of the book series with her and we both instantly loved the show. The drama, the romance, and the friendships lured us in. After watching the series, my aunt bought the books, and after reading them, let me borrow them. 

Although there is a show and book series, they are not exactly alike. In the show, you find out that Jeremiah is bi-sexual, where in the books, he is not. Also, in the show, Belly has a debutante ball, where in the books, there is no mention of a ball at all. I liked that, when reading the books, I got surprised with new events, instead of the same plot from the show. I also loved how short the chapters were. I found it very easy to read because of that. It never felt like a chapter was never ending. 

Some things I didn’t like about the books was that it was annoying seeing Belly always choosing both brothers when it wasn’t fair to either of them. It was always “omg I love Conrad” and then “omg I love Jeremiah” and so on. In the end of the series, you do finally find out who she chooses though. 

This book gave me so many emotions. I felt happiness, sadness, and curiosity all throughout. I would rate this book a 5/5 and I would definitely suggest people to read the first book, as well as the other two! And while you’re at it, go watch the Prime show of it as well.