The Summer I Turned Pretty: Book Review by Abby Bello

 

    The Summer I Turned Pretty by: Jenny Han is a coming of age novel written about the main protagonist Isabel (Belly) Conklin and her summer experiences. Every summer, Belly, her mom Laurel, and her brother Steven  all take a trip to Cousins Beach where they spend their time with Laurels childhood friend Susannah (Beck) and her two sons Conrad and Jeramiah Fisher. This book is mainly about Belly navigating her life through her transition of becoming a young woman and creating new relationships with people. This novel reveals the themes of romance, friendships, childhood, and personal growth. For Belly, she is caught in a tough situation. She has always had a crush on Conrad Fisher who has always been there for her however, this summer is different. Conrad is distant because of his parents divorce and because of health complications with his mother. He always idolized his father but now he doesn't know how to feel about the situation as it is sudden for him. Belly notices this and tries to relate to help Conrad feel better. When he ignores her she notices his brother Jeremiah in a new light and develops a liking for him. Jeremiah is the more bubbly out- going brother and usually is the one that is the most liked around Cousins Beach. Now that Belly sees him differently Jeremiah begins to take advantage of that and gives Belly attention that she appreciates very much. As this book has a lot of romantic relationships in it, it also has new friendships and evolved relationships with family. 

    I enjoyed this book because it captures Belly's coming of age story in such a realistic and relatable way. It flashes back to memories of all of the kids together in summers when they were younger and really shows that although growth is scary its necessary in these years of their adolescence and in many aspects of their life. I also really love that this book is a tv show series and is very popular. When a novel has any type of cinematography that you can see the characters interacting with each other I enjoy it because you can see your imagination and predictions of the images come to life. The author Jenny Han is known for her books that are created into television series and I think its very fascinating that she writes, directs, and produces all of these. I did watch the show before I read this book but Jenny does have another book series that has a tv show which is "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". I cant wait to check out those books and the next book in the TSITP series! 💗😊✨