The Summer I Turned Pretty

by Jenny Han

276 pages

(Summer, #1)

Published: May 5 2009

  

Blurb:

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.

Rating:

Thoughts:

So, first of all, I recommend this one to anyone on vacation. It tends to be difficult, reading a fantasy or anything with heavy content on a plane or by a pool. This book is very light, and written in a way that makes you turn the next page barely after you've started the last one. 

The thing I liked most about this book is that there was plenty of character development. You could tell what kind of person each of the characters was, which really helps you catch on and start enjoying the book almost immediately. Jenny really has a way of making you either want to scream at a character, or pull them into a loving embrace. I, personally, adored Jeremiah. For reasons I will not state in a no-spoiler review :). I also found Belly very relatable and funny. Jenny also stuck in many scenes from the previous summers Belly had been at the beach house, which I simply loved. 

Now onto why I didn't give this book a perfect rating. These are very simple things I thought would've made the book better if done properly. When it came to the flashbacks, I thought things were a little messy. It wasn't very hard to follow, but perhaps arranging the events in chronological order would've made me enjoy the book better. Organisation is key! Next, I found Belly overdramatic at times. Of course, that is very common with main characters, but I felt like it could've been taken down a notch. Also, this book contained a lot more dialogue and character thoughts than actual description of their surroundings. Since it is a very contemporary, summery novel, I felt like it would've added an extra something to the mood. 

If you're looking for something short and fun, it's definitely a book you'd want to check out!