The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty
Author: Jenny Han
Series: Summer #1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: May 5, 2009
Genre: Romance; Realistic Fiction; Contemporary; Young Adult
Pages: 276
Format: Hardback
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 terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
Summers are what Belly waits all year for. Summer means swimming. Summer means tans and beaches and bikinis. And most of all, summer means Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. Spending summer at her mother’s best friend’s beach house is what Belly looks forward to all year. But this year is going to be different. With her everlasting crush on Conrad spiraling out of control and new summer loves blooming, Belly must figure out how to hold her life together, even when it’s falling apart at the seams.
First off, what is with the name Belly? Belly is a weird name, isn’t it? I mean, you have to read half the book just so you can finally learn that Belly is not her actual name. (It’s Isabel, by the way. Just thought I would save you the trouble.) Secondly, the boys. Conrad is, shall we say, a jerk. He’s moody and dark, and in the book they play that up to be a good thing. Maybe it’s just me, but I would like my boys to be a bit nicer. Like Jeremiah is in The Summer I Turned Pretty. Just a note to the author, if you want one love interest to be the one all your readers are rooting for, don’t make the secondary love interest so much more likable! I was rooting for Jeremiah the whole entire time. I wanted him to win. Not Conrad the Jerkish. Jeremiah was perfect, and I mean perfect, boyfriend material.
The main problems that I had with this book mainly involved the characters. Belly was, throughout the entire book, immature. As in, spoiled little kid immature. And she was constantly complaining about how she was treated like she was immature. Which was simply annoying. Conrad was, as previously mentioned, a huge jerk. Jeremiah was perfect, but undermined and ignored. While the characters left a lot to be wanted, the plot was okay. I liked how this was not just another summer romance. The subplot that dealt with family and devastation and real-world problems left this book with a few more degrees of realism.
I don’t count on reading the sequel, but if the opportunity presents itself and I have nothing else to do, I may. Maybe. Probably. I mean, this book wasn't absolutely horrible. Just not absolutely fabulous.
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