“ I got out of the car and slung my bag over my shoulder. They didn’t even notice me walk up at first. But then they did. They really did. Conrad gave me a quick glance-over the way boys do at the mall. He had never looked at me like that before in my whole life. Not once. I could feel my flush from the car return. Jeremiah, on the other hand, did a double take. He looked at me like he didn’t even recognize me. All of this happened in the span of about three seconds, but it felt much, much longer.”
This trilogy beginning with the book ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty”, is the ideal summer read. It’s very sweet, romantic, and descriptively written. It takes place in a summer vacationing spot called Cousins Beach. Belly Conklin is a 16 year-old girl who has spent every summer as long as she can remember at Cousins with her brother Stephen, her mom Laurel, and Laurel’s best friend from her youth, Susannah Fisher. Susannah has two sons around Stephen’s age, Conrad who is a couple of years older than Belly and Jeremiah, who is about a year older. They stay in Susannah’s house, which is almost directly on the beach. It has a pool that Belly loves to swim in, particularly on nights when something is troubling her and she can’t sleep, which over the course of this series, is fairly often.
She is torn between the two boys throughout the series. One might think the obvious choice for Belly is the sensitive yet goofy Jeremiah, rather than the moody and selfish Conrad. However, the affectionate way in which Belly describes the often mysterious Conrad redeems him in our eyes. Many of Belly’s stories starring Conrad portray him as tempermental and very cryptic, choosing when he wants to be nice to her and when not. I was frequently shocked by how hypocritical the characters are throughout the series. Conrad constantly calls Belly childish, which is true, and yet when he drinks too much, he looks for fights, and behaves in other immature ways. This is, however, a fairly realistic depiction of confused teenagers. There is nothing mysterious or scary about these books, and yet you can’t stop reading once you begin. Belly is such a believable, insecure teenager, you might think Jenny Han was one herself when she wrote the novels.
To be honest, the first time I read the first book (I’ve read it multiple times since), I was a little confused by the frequent use of flashbacks. Once I read it a second time, I came to appreciate the author’s masterful use of this technique. She casually mentions things that have happened in previous summers, causing us to wonder what the characters are talking about, until everything is made clear in the following chapter’s flashback. In one instance, Conrad reminds Belly of when she was eleven, and he taught her a beach dance called ‘the shag’. “He spun me around, and I felt dizzy. With pure, absolute joy” (pg.194).
The first book is about changes such as how the characters and relationships evolve. At times, it’s a hopeful book, showing that Belly’s childhood dreams of being a part of the fun with the boys finally did come true. At other times, it can be a bit disheartening to read, because it’s sad to think that the main reason both Fisher boys begin to have feelings for her was because her appearance changed. “They had looked at me like a real girl, not just somebody’s little sister” (pg. 9).
There is a more profound level to the book when someone vitally important in all of the main characters’ lives is diagnosed with cancer. The second book reveals the outcome of this person’s illness and how it affects the characters. There’s a fairly surprising romantic storyline that leads to the plot of the third book, which occurs, of course in the summer, after the romance has had a year to grow.
After readers have witnessed love affairs between Belly and both Jeremiah and Conrad, the last book is as suspenseful as a summer read can be, in which the two brothers compete in a race to have Belly’s heart once and for all.
What are your favourite summer reads of all time? Comment and let me know!
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