Synopsis
"A young adult romance, The Summer I Turned Pretty follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin’s journey to adulthood over one unforgettable summer. As Belly navigates the challenges of growing up and her first love, she recalls moments from summers past that have affected her relationship with the Fisher brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly learns that change is inevitable and what it means to take risks for what one wants."
Genre
Young Adult
Drama
Awards For The Summer I Turned Pretty
Best Books For Young Adult (2010)
Review
This novel had all the makings of a good coming-of- age story. A love triangle, a young girl going through life, and a summer that changed everything. This book felt real to me simply because of that turn from innocent childlike factors turning into more serious adult decisions. This is the first book that I have read of Jenny Han and it seems like she coming of age and romance is her forte. Han also wrote the "To All The Boys I Loved Before" series and I recognize the similarities between story and character. The story being in Belly's perspective was done well. Belly is a fresh teenager so she have fresh eyes on the situation and the handling of her emotions. She was definitely making mistakes and doing things that a teenager would so, therefore, it was nice to read a story in that perspective. The novel was very sweet and the story was very interesting to see unfold.
A lot of criticism from Goodreads about this book is the disconnect from Belly to the readers. Personally, even though I couldn't always connect with Belly, I still cared about what happened to her in the end. However, the love triangle trope was very hard for me to believe in this novel. I actually found myself annoyed with Belly at some points because she loved both , Conrad and Jeremiah, and believed that both belonged to her. She can't have both boys, that is impossible, especially since they are brothers. Another big thing that wasn't really working in this book was the ages of the main characters. Belly is around 15 16 years old. I just think that this age is too young for Belly to have 'boy drama'. Then, Conrad and Jeremiah is about 17 or 18. It was very weird trying to imagine people this young express very strong feelings towards each other. I just wanted Belly to focus on herself as a girl more rather than he story revolve chasing boys all summer.
Something that I wish was different about this book is the story in terms of something different happening. The book didn't have that much action in it which is why at some point I was getting fatigue of the plot. I know that this is a romance book, but, I think adding more would help out the story. I also wish that Belly wasn't so dismissive towards her mother, Laurel. I could tell that Laurel really cared for Belly. Belly seemed to connect with Susannah, Conrad and Jeremiah's mother more. That irked me a little because she only sees Susannah in the Summer so how could she like her more than Laurel? And the switch up was quick and didn't feel right to me. Overall, I thought this book was a nice light read. Something different for me and a great first book for the New Year!
Rating
I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was okay, but not great.
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