The Summer I Turned Pretty Review

Description: 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: I’d been in love with this book for months before I finally got to read it. When I was in school, I would go to the local Barnes & Noble’s and read at least a chapter every two weeks. I felt guilty about that at first but I knew I was going to buy it eventually. I waited so long because I really don’t like hardcovers (or their prices at that point (because I’m a broke college student)), so I was waiting for the paperback to be released. I bought it as soon as the shipment came in.

What caught my interest at first was that the story had two brothers who grew up with the main character. That hit home, because most of my childhood was spent with two brothers. I and those brothers grew up, grew close, and grew apart. I regretted what happened with us and wanted to relive that part of my life again. I wanted to pretend that The Summer I Turned Pretty was our story, and that hopefully it would end differently than my real life.

Even though the two brothers were reason enough to find this book relatable, the similarities between my childhood and Belly’s grew as I continued to read. I remember there was I time where Belly wanted to go somewhere, a place that all the older people go to every summer. Now that she’s older she wants to go to but then she gets there and thinks “I should never have gone along. I could have predicted the whole night, right down to how invisible I’d feel.” Lines like that along with her feeling like the baby in her family/friend group made me adore Belly and this book.

It was also nice to see Belly grow up, and see the transition of her being the “baby” to her being “pretty”. I’m so happy there is a 2nd book, because I really want to know what happens with the characters, especially after a bomb was dropped at the end (not literally). Because of this secret that’s revealed, the characters weren’t acting like they normally acted during past summers. Now that the secret’s out, everyone’s situation has changed, so it will be interesting to see how everybody is in book 2. I’ll buy the next book soon, but I almost want to wait until next summer to start it. Thanks to the feel of this book, it’s just not summer without this book… Was that corny?..hmm. so what.