Romance Book Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a trilogy novel by Jenny Han, with Isabel Belly Conklin as the MC. More precisely, the stories in The Summer I Turned Pretty are all about Belly turning into a pretty and popular girl whom the three guys are battling each other to win her love.

Conrad, Jeremiah (or Jere), and Taylor are the three guys in The Summer I Turned Pretty who compete for Belly’s attention.

Like in other Jenny Han’s trilogies, this novel also shows us that Belly loves Conrad the most. Even so, in this novel, there are often scenes that involve her getting distracted by other hot guys who are suddenly becoming kind and warm-hearted toward her.

Being pretty seems to be the characteristic that Jenny Han wants to emphasize for Belly in The Summer I Turned Pretty. Let’s see if she could describe more about the relationship dynamics.

• Part 1: Meet The Characters Of The Summer I Turned Pretty
• Part 2: Story Of The Summer I Turned Pretty
• Part 3: Meet The Author Of The Summer I Turned Pretty
• Part 4: Alternative To The Summer I Turned Pretty

Part 1: Meet The Characters Of The Summer I Turned Pretty

Isabel Belly Conklin

Everybody in the trilogy, including The Summer I Turned Pretty novel, refers to Isabel Conklin as Belly. She is a teenager who loves grooming herself and flirting with the boys. In particular, this novel emphasizes more about the latter. This thing makes Belly appears more obnoxious and vainer when compared to other trilogy series by the same author

The Boys

The three boys who compete with each other to get Belly’s attention in The Summer I Turned Pretty are Conrad, Jeremiah, and Taylor. Even though each boy has girls and admirers, they seem difficult not to flaunt themselves in front of Belly and become Belly’s savior through many scenes in the novel.

Part 2: Story Of The Summer I Turned Pretty

In The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly has to get away from everyone around her. It is because Winter is the season that opens up the chapters in The Summer I Turned Pretty instead of Summer. There are no beach house holidays in Winter in any of Jenny Han’s trilogies, and as a result, Belly doesn’t spend much time with other family members.

Instead, the three boys Conrad, Jeremiah a.k.a Jere, and Taylor, are always there for Belly. So, Belly spends more time with them, particularly Conrad, in whom she has an interest. It doesn’t mean that Belly is not close to any of the guys in The Summer I Turned Pretty novel, though. After all, all guys eventually have their chances to get close to Belly.

I don’t think that Belly in The Summer I Turned Pretty book is close to any other girl characters. If there are any scenes involving other female characters, it seems that the scenes will be all about Belly shaming other girls for getting close to anyone from the three boys’ group.

Part 3: Meet The Author Of The Summer I Turned Pretty

Jenny Han, the author of The Summer I Turned Pretty, is one of the famous Young Adult novel authors who currently live in the U.S. According to her official website, immense warmth and sweetness are two characteristics that define Jenny Han’s writing pieces, and we can see it from the ways she pictures summer times in her entire trilogy novels.

Summer times have always been Belly’s favorite time. Jenny Han, the author of the trilogy novels with Belly as the MC doesn’t only picture the beach house as a family-owned property. Instead, she also writes in a personal way that I feel she is giving voice to Belly’s characters.

She can write about other supporting characters in her novels, and The Summer I Turned Pretty is not an exception, yet, I see Belly’s characteristics more in Jenny Han’s writing style.

Today, Jenny Han’s popularity for her trilogy novels, including The Summer I Turned Pretty, is increasing. After all, we can enjoy her works not only in writing forms, but we can also watch the shows in several platforms. Bonus point: Some of her works are also available in other languages than English.

Part 4: Alternative To The Summer I Turned Pretty

When we look at Belly and other supporting characters’ age groups, we will realize that The Summer I Turned Pretty is a teen romance story with summer times as the central setting for the novel. Being a teen romance story, you can expect love and rivalries between best friends and relationships with parents as the story’s elements.

So, I would recommend The Summer We Changed which you can read on the Dreame platform as an alternative to Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty. The similarity between the two novels doesn’t stop in the first two phrases (The Summer) of the novel’s title.

Instead, The Summer We Changed also tells a story about parents who are best friends with each other and their children also become best friends with each other.

Summary of The Summer We Changed:

Ella, Julian, and Sidney are three best friends who have children. Their children, Elena, Adrian, and Alyssa, are best friends, too. One of the major problems that we find in The Summer We Changed is that Elena is in love with Adrian. Such things are unlike what Ella experiences with Julian and Sidney.

Does such a problem pose questions that readers of The Summer We Changed should ponder, such as will Adrian return Elena’s feelings? Will any of the best friends turn into enemies in Elena’s journey or, will they remain friends with her? Will Elena be able to finally discover herself as she undergoes a self-love journey?

There are so many elements in Dreame’s The Summer We Changed that are similar to The Summer I Turned Pretty. Another thing: Elena isn’t as obnoxious as Belly!