The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han: Review

  

Synopsis (Goodreads): 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.

  This book was an extremely cute contemporary read. The boys were definitely swoon worthy and Belly was a very relatable main character.  She was whiny at times, but I understand how hard it is to be the only girl around boys who wont let you do ANYTHING with them all summer. So sometimes I understood where she was coming from. Plus, I know Steven was supposed to be the protective older brother, but he was so freaking obnoxious. Sometimes he went a little bit to far when he was trying to prove himself to Conrad. Plus, I hated how he just worshiped Conrad. Like, he's not a god. 
  I wish there had been more of a love triangle. Jenny Han tried to make it seem like Belly was torn between Jeremiah and Conrad, but she only ever talked about Conrad. And, I'm kind of sad to say that she described Cam so well, that I was team Cam for most of the book, so the ending was a little bit disappointing. 
  However, I did love the descriptions of the Beach House. It made me just want to go lay out on a towel in the sun and drink lemonade next to the pool. 
  I also really enjoyed reading about Susannah. I felt like her relationship with Belly was very well done, and you could tell that Belly really cared about her. I had a feeling of what was going on with her from the second chapter, but I don't feel like it took away my enjoyment from the book; it wasn't supposed to be a mystery, after all. 
  I do wish that we had learned more about Belly and Steven's father, though. I feel like she talked about him for two pages, and then he hardly ever came up again. However, since the novel was more focused on Belly's love square, I didn't mind too much. 
  This book was extremely good, even with it's flaws, so I would give it a 4.5/5.