Tuesday 10 June 2014

THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY SERIES REVIEW by JENNY HAN

*This will be a trilogy review of The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han, so if you have not read all three books then you may get spoiled*


The Summer I turned Pretty
by Jenny Han
Published: June 2010 (UK)
Publisher: Puffin
Genre: YA, Contemporary 

"Every year Isabel spends a perfect summer at her family friends' house. There's the swimming pool at night, the private stretch of sandy beach ...and the two boys. Unavailable, aloof Conrad - who she's been in love with forever - and friendly Jeremiah, the only one who's ever really paid her any attention. But this year something is different."- taken from Goodreads

I had read this book back in 2012 but after this series receiving a bit of buzz around the internet lately I decided to re-read this and to read the two other books, which I didn't even know had been published! 

Belly, the main character goes to the same summer house every year with her brother and mother to meet up with her mother's best friend, Susannah, and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Although this year, something has changed, Belly has turned 'pretty'. She is also completely in love with Conrad, despite the fact that he is clearly not interested, or at least until she turned pretty he wasn't. That's the main thing that bothered me about this series in general is that neither of the brothers gave her much of a glance before she turned 'pretty'.

The relationship between the characters was very heart-warming and was what saved this book from being a complete blow-out. It's clear that they go way back and all care a lot for eachother.


3/5 STARS



It's Not Summer Without You
by Jenny Han
Published: May 2011 (UK)
Publisher: Razorbill 
Genre: YA, Contemporary

"One girl. Two brothers. Which one will she choose? Isabel's lazy, long hot summers at her family friends' beach house are over. Conrad - sexy and unavailable - is the only boy she's ever loved. He's left for college, taking her heart with him. Jeremiah, his gorgeous brother, is still Isabel's best friend - but maybe friendship isn't enough for him anymore ...Isabel just wants everything to stay the same, because change means moving on. But if she stops looking back, will she find a future she never knew she wanted?" -taken from Goodreads

This one was probably my favourite of this series as you know the characters well enough by now to just jump straight into the story and the character building was a lot better in this book. Although Belly is still very childish for her age and her constant dialogue of being the third wheel got a little tedious. 

The loss of a prominent character is extremely upsetting and a constant reminder to Belly that stuff happens outside of summer that isn't nice. Even so, she is STILL obsessing over the two brothers instead of being at home with her family, I don't know but throughout all of this series I could never like Belly.

Also the fact that Conrad treats her like complete crap and yet she still loves him, baffles me. She had to beg him to take her to prom and yet she still loves him? He completely ignores her for months and yet she still loves him? It just doesn't make sense and seems desperate. 

This book also has different POV between, Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad, I thought this was a good touch to the story as you could obviously what they all think through their own eyes instead of just Belly's distorted and sometimes pathetic view.


3/5 STARS

We'll Always Have Summer
by Jenny Han
Published: 2012 (UK)
Publisher: Razorbill
Genre: YA, Contemporary 

"Isabel has only ever loved two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. One broke her heart; the other made her happier than she ever thought she'd be. But each brother is keeping a secret, and this summer Isabel must choose between the Fisher boys, once and for all. Which brother will it be?" -taken from Goodreads

This is the final book in this trilogy and by this point I feel that you know that characters pretty well at this point. Belly has finally moved on from Conrad, or so she claims. Although the story line of this book is ridiculous... "Oh Jeremiah cheated on me so lets get married instead even though I am still in love with his brother and have a whole load of angst about him, yeah this is a great idea!" is basically all I took from this. 

Also, I feel as though Jenny Han really, really tried to push the idea that Conrad is the better brother because in this book Jeremiah basically had a personality transplant, the Jeremiah in books one and two would never have cheated on Belly or acted like a major jerk. Instead Conrad was suddenly being pushed as the perfect one who loved Belly. I don't know but I feel as though it ruined the characters. 

The ending was pretty satisfactory although very soppy, but then with a trilogy entitled The Summer I Turned Pretty, what did I really expect? 

3/5 STARS

So all in all this series is a light, summer read. It is probably better if you don't think much into the plot because its hardly intellectual reads but then its not supposed to be. The characters are real and that adds a point of realism about it.

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