Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Summer I Turned Pretty
    Unavailable
    Summer I Turned Pretty
    Unavailable
    Summer I Turned Pretty
    Audiobook7 hours

    Summer I Turned Pretty

    Written by Jenny Han

    Narrated by Jessica Almasy

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Read the ebook instead

    About this audiobook

    This bittersweet novel by Jenny Han recounts the summer of Belly’s 16th birthday. When she and her family arrive at the beach house that June, her longtime summer pal Jeremiah appears standoffish and awkward in her presence. And his older brother Conrad—her secret crush—seems distant and cold. But her blossoming beauty isn’t the only reason for their change in behavior. For as Belly enjoys the sun and surf, she’ll ultimately learn the painful secret that dampens the spirit of her childhood friends.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books Audio
    Release dateNov 6, 2009
    ISBN9781440774331
    Author

    Jenny Han

    Jenny Han is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series, now Netflix movies. She is also the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Summer I Turned Pretty series, now streaming on Amazon Prime, as well as Shug, and Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream. She is the coauthor of the Burn for Burn trilogy, with Siobhan Vivian. Her books have been published in more than thirty languages. A former librarian, Jenny earned her MFA in creative writing at the New School. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

    More audiobooks from Jenny Han

    Related to Summer I Turned Pretty

    Related audiobooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Friends FOREVER

      Mar 31, 2021

      Friends FOREVER
      9 min read

    • Article

      Friends FOREVER

      Jul 25, 2023

      Friends FOREVER
      9 min read

    • Article

      Festival

      Sep 15, 2018

      My husband, who loved festivals, who was a great fan of festivals, wanted to get to the square in time for the first band at eleven o’clock. From bed, the dog and I watched him dress. He tried on various T-shirts, declaring some of them too tight and

      13 min read

    • Article

      Could Do Better

      Jan 17, 2020

      Could Do Better
      5 min read

    • Article

      How Long Does GRIEF LAST?

      Sep 23, 2021

      How Long Does GRIEF LAST?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Kings

      Jun 5, 2023

      1.Kings lie down to zip up their jeans,buy Cetaphil, candy, magazinesat Walgreens because they canwalk there unsupervised, describeblowjobs they’ve given to seniorsin cars, spend what they think of astheir own money. Home sick from school,they learn

      6 min read

    • Article

      LOVE, Virtually

      Feb 16, 2020

      LOVE, Virtually
      5 min read

    • Article

      Now I know GRIEF LASTS FOREVER

      Jul 25, 2023

      My brother Tim was larger than life. I know it’s a cliché, but he really was. He was tall with dark hair, a large grin and loud. Really quite loud. Funny, caring, always up for whatever life threw at him. Except for what happened one January evening,

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Day At The Beach For Aphrodite

      Jul 1, 2023

      A Day At The Beach For Aphrodite
      14 min read

    • Article

      Soggy CHIPS

      Oct 19, 2022

      Soggy CHIPS
      7 min read

    • Article

      Jenkins

      Feb 4, 2021

      Jenkins
      6 min read

    • Article

      Justin Timberlake and the Whoever of Whatever: Fame Drags You Down.: Fame drags you down.

      Sep 19, 2013

      About six years ago, I was putting a new roof on a 200-year-old house on an island in Maine when I got a call from Justin Timberlake’s cousin and assistant, a girl named Melissa. I put down my nail gun, told my boss I was taking five, and answered.

      22 min read

    • Article

      Bag Lady

      Jun 15, 2021

      Bag Lady
      6 min read

    • Article

      Jon Richardson

      Apr 17, 2023

      Jon Richardson
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Inherited Imagination

      Aug 18, 2020

      The Inherited Imagination
      9 min read

    • Article

      Remembering Trent Riley

      Jul 1, 2021

      There are so many things I could say about my lover boy, Trent Riley, but we already know how truly special he is. There are so many stories, secrets, inside jokes and memories I could mention, but for some reason, they seem too intimate to share. Th

      17 min read

    • Article

      Swisher Sweets

      May 1, 2022

      Swisher Sweets
      17 min read

    • Article

      Notes on Etiquette

      Mar 1, 2019

      Notes on Etiquette
      10 min read

    • Article

      Tomorrows

      Mar 15, 2022

      The night, as most nights, was like a dream. At ten, once I’d fed the dog the last scraps off the stove. Once I’d cursed the cat for scratching up my mama’s antique furniture, then welcomed him back into my arms. Once I’d slicked my hair into a ponyt

      26 min read

    • Article

      ‘Sing to It’: Featured Fiction from Amy Hempel

      Mar 25, 2019

      If she was home at night in her husband’s bed, did he care what she did with her days? The post ‘Sing to It’: Featured Fiction from Amy Hempel appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      All-inclusive

      May 9, 2019

      All-inclusive
      9 min read

    • Article

      Cross My Heart

      Sep 1, 2022

      Cross My Heart
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Playing The Game

      Nov 1, 2019

      Playing The Game
      3 min read

    • Article

      The One That Damned Me

      Jun 10, 2022

      “Sent u email about Jesmyn. Please read.” S The text from the Ex was short and sweet, like Susan used to be. The message nearly sobered me up. I was suddenly warmer, the friction of memories rushing back from five years ago. The flip phone in my hand

      9 min read

    • Article

      Bead, Bed, and Alley

      May 30, 2019

      Bead, Bed, and Alley
      12 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      Jan 20, 2020

      My year off was also interesting, in that I didn’t feel any less loved, or cherished, or wanted. Why? Because my life is already rich with soulmates, and I got the chance to behold that. You don’t have to shag someone for them to be a soulmate. We do

      7 min read

    Reviews for Summer I Turned Pretty

    4/5

    174 ratings43 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      It's so beautiful and real! Highly recommend! People will love it!
    • 2/5
      Light heart but a confusing read, especially as an audio book listening to them go back and forth through scenes. I didn't love the characters, each one needed more to help me understand their individual story.
    • 4/5
      Lovvvve! Read multiple times and listening to the narration was just as good
    • 2/5
      So disappointed in this. There were parts that kept me interested enough to finish it, but overall this was boring and lackluster. I felt no connection to the characters. I kept hoping it would get better, but unfortunately for me, it did not. And the narration was quite possibly the worst. I feel bad saying that, but I seriously cringed the whole way through listening to it. I had to speed it up to 1.8x speed to make it somewhat manageable and so that I could just get it over with quicker. I thought maybe it was solely the narrating that was turning me off from this and thought maybe I'd read the rest of the series instead of listen to them, but quite frankly, I just have no desire to spend any more time on this storyline and/or the characters.
    • 3/5
      Very fun and addictive read! Great read for the summer!!!
    • 4/5
      The Summer I Turned Pretty is an awesome book that peaks into the life of 15 year old,Belly, who stays in a beach house every summer with family and friends. However this summer is different because Belly is maturing into a young woman. She's no longer the girl who runs around outside like a child. Belly becomes aparts of a love triangle with Jeremiah and Conrad... Hmmmm who will she choose? I wouldn't necessarily use this book for instruction but I would recommend it to my students to read over the summer.I enjoyed this book! It was an easy read and page turner. This book actually made me reminisce on my teenage years!
    • 4/5
      Belly is a girl who has spent every summer of her life in a beach house full of boys. She's always been the odd one out. But this year, the summer she turns 16, is going to be different. Because she's pretty now. Hence the title, The Summer I Turned Pretty, written by Jenny Han. Or at least that's what she thinks. And some things are different. She dates a neighbor, Cam, who really likes her. Except she's really in love with Conrad, one of the guys who lives in the beach house. She thinks she's loved him since she was 10 years old. He's perfect to her.And then there's Jeremiah, Conrad's brother, who confesses his love for Belly. Obviously this makes things way more complicated. And when Susannah, the boys' mother, admits that her cancer has returned and is spreading very aggressively, things really fall apart.Maybe my review of this book sounds shallow, all about boys and Belly finally knowing what it's like to be pretty. But I really enjoyed this novel. It was easy to read, with a plot that kept me wanting more. I loved the way Han alternated Belly's perspective from the present summer with memories of summers past. What didn't I like? That this novel is a trilogy. I almost didn't read it for that sole reason. The ending was very confusing and not wrapped up at all, because obviously you're supposed to read the next book in the series. But I don't really want to. I'm not good with reading series, because if I really loved the first book, the next ones are not as good as I expect.
    • 5/5
      Such a good-easy read book! Can't way to read the rest of the series :)
    • 5/5
      This is the perfect book to read during the Summer time. Filled with romance, and the beach, this is truly one book of Summer Romance. I know I am a guy and sometimes the romance can be all to much for me, but this book was one I fell right into and couldn't stop until the end. Belly is a girl who is very unknowing of things and when heading to the beach, for what she thinks will just be like any other summer, she will see that she turned indeed "pretty." I don't know which guy I wish I could root for, because I will be going for one brother and than the other one comes out of no where and surprises me. However, by the end, I know who I would hope Belly would choose and I stick with that answer. This book is filled with happiness but sadness follows close in the shadows. The Summer I Turned Pretty is a book people can relate to when they grew up and even now when they grow up they can still relate to as well. Filled with the Summer bursting out of its pages, this book is a must-read for every summer. I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series, and i yuo haven't stumbled across this book yet, swing by your book store and pick up a copy to read. I give this book 5 souls!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Words can't describe how much I fell in love with this book, the blurb doesn't do this book any justice. I totally expected something and got something completely different, but I was absolutely delighted! This book had everything, it made me laugh, cry and had me hooked from the beginning. I loved how the book flipped between Belly's life, so you got to know the whole back story. I can't wait for "It's not summer without you" to find out what happens next
    • 4/5
      I have always wanted to experience a summer away from home in a wonderful beach house with my family and cute guys, and this initially peeked my interest in this series. I really liked the setting of the house with a pool right on the beach, and I easily found myself deciding between Jeremiah and Conrad. :) The flashbacks were nice, but sometimes they were a little confusing. I would like to have seen the different voices used in this book like Han does in the other books in the summer series. One thing I did not like was that Belly seemed to only have one comeback, and that turned into some whining when dealing with the boys. I'm sure my students will enjoy this series.
    • 2/5
      To be frank, I cannot say how many things about this book that irked me. The first, was that we did not find out what Belly's real name is, until the middle of the book! I'd love to know at least the first name of the protagonist if I'm going to read the book! Also, I feel like the switching back and forth between past and present was really confusing and choppy. Most times it just made me dislike Belly and the overall book more. Belly, or as I finally found out, Isabel COMPLAINS NON-STOP. Nothing is ever good enough. Ugh! Get over yourself. You have two, no wait... three, (don't forget her little summer fling, Cam!) guys hanging off your shoulder and all you do is complain about them. Gosh, I'm ranting a lot in my reviews lately... sorry guys! Anyways, Belly states that the best part of the year for her is summer, but I didn't really get that vibe. She never seemed truly happy. I felt as if her thing with Cam, the whale-watcher guy, was sort of random and didn't end smoothly -as in, I didn't know if it was over or not until almost the end, because it wasn't very clear. I really liked Susannah though. She was really the only character I cared about in the entire novel. But then, it felt like that was the same for Belly, now didn't it? There are then the boys. Jeremiah was sweet and funny, Conrad was moody and deep and Cam was just a fling. Her brother Steven made me stop and think about how my little brothers will be like when they're older, and he seems to be a pretty good fit. Then, there is Belly's mother. I felt so bad for her. She didn't deserve the way her daughter treated her! No mother who secretly buys her daughter a dress that is much to fancy, deserves being treated like dirt.Honestly, I think the thing that made me dislike this novel the most was the characters. Should I start rating separate parts of a book on here? I could do characters, voice, setting, plot, etc. If I'm ever confused about how I should rate a book, that's what I do on a piece of paper and then average it out. Maybe I will begin to do that, in my next review. For now, I'll say this: I liked this book enough, but I probably won't ever read it again. I will try and read the next two books, but they are not my first priority. Jenny Han is a good author, but I felt as if this book was just a bit weak. There are tons of mixed reviews on this book. Some people giving it a 4 or 5, others a 1 or 2. So I thought I'd go in the middle!
    • 4/5
      Book review by Sarah B., posted by CA Library:"The Summer I Turned Pretty is a fictional book, written by Jenny Han. Every summer since Belly was young she was going to a family friends beach house. The characters in the story are believable because Belly and there family friends, Jeremiah and Conrad, are all teenagers, what makes them believable is the things that they do. They have dates and go to party like most teenagers. Jenny Han makes the story interesting and you never know what’s going to happen just like in real life.In the story The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly wants to be treated like a real teenage girl from her brother Steven, Jeremiah and Conrad. She is the youngest and wants to show them that she can asked older than they take her for. To achieve her goal Belly goes to party’s and does things with the boys that they can see how she has changed since she is now 16. The main character Belly develops though the story by learning how to control the way that she says things and become a better person with the help of her summer boyfriend. Belly has made her way through the summer with Steven Conrad and Jeremiah, then bad news happens, they are never going to go to the summer house for any other summer because Beck, Conrad and Jeremiah's mom, had passed away from cancer, and Conrad had ran away. They then have to look for him in the next book Its Not Summer Without You."
    • 3/5
      Isabel's nickname all her life has been Belly. Every summer she can remember, she and her brother Steven have traveled with their mother, Laurel, to Cousins Beach. There they've spent the summers at the home of the Fishers -- Laurel's best friend Susannah and her two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah, who have been like brothers to Belly. Now that all four children are teenagers, things are different between them, and the adults in their lives are changing as well. Susannah is battling cancer, and Laurel has been through a difficult divorce, but somehow when everyone arrives at the beach house, they return to their summer selves, with the jokes and the freedom that summer always brings. Lots of drama, with serious issues threaded through stories and memories. Some language and situations, for 8th grade and up.
    • 2/5
      Halfway through the book and Belly, the main character, sounded really shallow. The other characters in the book are really two-dimensional as well. I might pick this up again, if only just to find out what happens in the end, but I'll put this on hold for now.Edit: Okay, I finished it after all. zthe end was a bit better, but didn't manage to redeem the book. Things tie up too easily amd there doesn't seem to ne any consequences of Belly's actions. Unrealistic and unsatisfying. I felt that this book had so much more potential.
    • 5/5
      Two words...... SUPER AMAZING!!!!! I can't even believe how much I LOVED The Summer I Turned Pretty!!! It is much more than just a love triangle story. It is deep and I totally related to Belly. I love her name BTW. Not that her name matters much but I just think it was very creative and unique. All the characters are likeable and very believable. I felt like I was right there with Belly being excluded of all the boys activities when she was a kid (HAHAHA sounds like my childhood) all she wanted was to be noticed and fit in. On the summer Belly turns 16 everything changes, not only does Belly starts to get noticed by everybody but Conrad, the guy Belly is in love with like only her whole life, is acting strange and Belly realizes that things may never be the same again.Conrad is so mysterious and rebellious, a perfect bad boy, can she fix him??? Or is she going to go for Jeremiah the patient, funny, super cute and also her best friend???? And who is Cam??? And Y is her mother asking Belly to stay at home when she FINALLY got a life??? Those where the questions I kept on asking myself while reading this book. I cannot wait to read the next one (It's Not Summer Without You). I read this soooooooo fast and I can't get enough of Belly and her summer world.The Summer I turned Pretty definitely won a place in my heart!!!! ****** 6 stars ******
    • 3/5
      I've literally had this book sitting on my shelves for years and after hearing so many people with similar tastes talk about how great it was I finally decided to pick it up. Sadly while not a bad book I was not as blown away by it as I was expecting. Perhaps it was a problem of going in with too high of expectations since everyone built it up to be this 5 star, totally awesome, must read book. It did contain all of the elements I enjoy in young adult, chick lit type books. There is the girl who blossoms and all of a sudden finds herself the center of romantic attention from several boys and she's torn between who she really loves. The problem for me was there was no unique twist and to be honest I did not really care for Belly. She was so self-centered and totally oblivious to what was going on around her. There was obviously something wrong with her mom's best friend, Susannah, but Belly who even at one points thinks she loves Susannah the most, is so busy obsessing over Conrad that she doesn't notice. She also talks about one summer that was ruined when she invited her best friend to come visit the summer house. She invites her for some pretty selfish reasons and then blows up when things back fire on her. The final bit of self-centeredness that got to me was when she accuses Conrad of being moody because he's jealous. Yes that was part of it but there were plenty of other clues that something deeper was going on but did she catch on? No! I kept telling myself she's a teenager but I would hope most teenagers aren't really that clueless to everything going on around them.Other than Belly I really enjoyed all the other characters. I loved Conrad's shows of kindness in the flash backs when he defends Belly when she was much younger against the teasing of her own brother. He also shows sensitivity to his own brother's moods and knew when to support him. In the present day he is a tad more moody than I like but given the situation I think that is only to be expected. Jeremiah is a polar opposite of Conrad and always happy go lucky. He kind of reminds me of a big puppy dog that can't help but put a smile on your face.The romance was sweet and I have to admit I was torn over who I wanted Belly to end up with. I am glad I finally read this book and I feel like if I had read it before all the hype I would have enjoyed it even more. Still I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
    • 3/5
      Book one in a trilogy. Nice easy read. Satisfying story. Good characterisation. Suitable for Y9 +
    • 5/5
      The Summer I Turned Pretty wasn't automatically a favorite of mine. It took a few days of thinking about it that really made me realize this book will now be one of my favorites. And I have to admit that I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, I usually don't fall in love with books like this one.The thing about this book was that I related to Belly so much. I have two older brothers and I was always the youngest one of the group and I was always the one tagging along even though I wasn't invited or I was the one left behind. And that's what Belly went through. The thing that really struck me was that this was Belly's last real summer at the beach house, and she was sad about it. She didn't want anything to change. She wanted it to be like it always was. But a lot of things were changing. She isn't the little girl anymore and everyone around her is off doing their own thing now, when Belly just wants to do the regular things they always did.I'm so glad Jenny Han captured that stage in the youngest siblings life, when the older siblings are to old too be hanging out with their younger sibling, and the youngest is stuck at home still wanting to do the same things they always did. Older siblings don't have to go through this, and probably don't realize that this is how their younger siblings feel.But of course, that's not what the story is all about, that was what stuck out to me, for obvious reasons. Belly was so caught up in finally being able to be part of Conrad, Steven, and Jeremiah's 'group' that she didn't see what was really happening around her.I couldn't figure out what Belly saw in Conrad, he was moody most of the time, and sometimes mean. I loved Jeremiah though, he was always so upbeat and trying to make everyone happy and is Belly's best friend. Completely the opposite of Conrad. I found myself wishing she would go for Jeremiah and give up on her crush on Conrad.This book is not light and fluffy, though it is an easy read. I felt like I only read a few pages when I really read 100 pages. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to have a nice, easy summer read.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book! I mean, I bought a copy so obviously I knew I'd enjoy it...but I was really blown away by how much there was to the story. It isn't just about a teenage girl living with two boys for the summer: it is a study of family dynamics and what happens when tragedy strikes. There are a lot of love triangles out there...and the concept really gets old. However, in this case I was so caught up in the story that I forgot that the whole "girl torn between two guys" thing usually gets on my nerves to at least some degree. Belly has history with Jeremiah and Conrad...they're more like family than anything else. Not family to the degree that its creepy that there are romantic feelings involved, I just mean that they are all very close. I love the way that the book doesn't just start with Jenny Han saying "they've all known each other forever. Now on with the story of the current summer..." Instead, there are occasional flashbacks, and you see snippets of Belly and her past interactions with Jeremiah and Conrad. It really cements who they are and what they all mean to each other. I also love Belly and her interactions with both her own mother and Susannah, mother of the two boys. It is so natural and believable that she idolizes Susannah and is annoyed/embarassed with her own mother. I loved that! It was so real and teenagery. Anyway, I absolutely loved this book. I started the second of the series, It's Not Summer Without You, immediately...and now can't wait for the final book of the trilogy! We'll Always Have Summer comes out in 2011.
    • 3/5
      While at times I thought I was really going to like this book, in the end my reaction to it is ambivalent. I didn't hate it but I certainly didn't love it. And since I feel in no way compelled to read the two books that follow as sequels, I guess that says a lot.Belly has spent every summer of her life at Cousins Beach with her mother, her older brother Steve, her mother's best friend Susannah, and Susannah's two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. As far as Belly in concerned, the nine months out of the year that she lives at home are simply wasted days and time killers until she can return to the beach. She's always been in love with Conrad, but it's only now that she feels mature enough that he might actually see her as something more than a little sister. While I absolutely love the premise of this story, several aspects didn't work for me.First of all, Han chose to tell the story in a mixture of real-time flow and flashback, and often I was confused of how old Belly was supposed to be at any given moment. I did eventually discover that the flashback chapters had an age label to help me out, but it wasn't until I was two thirds into the book that I was able to peg the various characters' ages. To help anyone else out, this is what I got: Belly is 15 and a sophomore in high school, Jeremiah is 16 and a junior, Steven is 17 and a senior, and Conrad is 18 and off to college.My other big issue is the object of Belly's obsession. As the boy she's loved practically her entire life, Conrad sure came off as a big jerk. Granted, he's dealing with some big time life issues, but even in flashbacks I never saw why Belly found Conrad to be all that. He teased her mercilessly, he never treated her as more than a little sister, and he just generally wasn't all that nice. In fact, Belly spends much of the story feeling left out - because she was the only girl, because she was the youngest, for whatever reasons, it was always the three boys going off to have adventures and fun and leaving Belly behind. I couldn't quite understand why her perception of summers at the beach were pure Heaven - she never seemed to be having any fun at all. I suppose that is one thing Han did well - communicate how our minds sometimes convince us that one thing is true when actual facts point to the opposite. In Belly's mind, the boys and Cousins Beach are her Utopia, all she wants out of life. But when looking at the reality, there are a lot of flaws in her perfection.In the story, Belly meets a nice guy named Cam, and her treatment of him was borderline at best. As it so often happens, you wonder why she can't be happy with the nice, great guy who likes her but instead wants the moody jerk who treats her like crap. I do think Han did a masterful job of showing what it's like to be a young girl who is fixated on one guy to the point of ignoring the realities around her.Finally, we are told time and again by Belly that her relationship with Susannah, her mother's best friend, is as close as can be - nearly mother/daughter. Yet other than a couple of interactions, I just never saw that closeness. Simply too much tell and not enough show for me to buy it.In the end, I wanted to like this more than I did. The ending is very abrupt and leaves a lot of loose ends. Yet, as I stated before, I have no desire at all to know what happens. Unfortunately, Belly's magical Beach World exists only in her brain and therefore doesn't compel me to spend any time there.
    • 4/5
      This was a book you can sit down and just read. It was an easy read and very enjoyable. It is a "teen" book, but for adults, it does remind you of the first time you fell in love and the importance of that.
    • 5/5
      I was so taken with this book that the minute I finished it, I went out and bought the other two books in the trilogy.Bella has been going to the beach house every summer since before she was born, a perpetual tag along to her older brother and the two boys who share the house. This summer, everything changes.Bella is at that exact moment where you teeter between being a child and being an adult, and her tipping back and forth through this summer is so believable it is hard not to adore her. I love that this book draws her relationship not just with the boy she has had a crush on forever, but with her brother, her two mother figures, and with the people she half exists with during the rest of the year. But the crush is also drawn wonderfully.The boys in the story are less substantial, as we only see them through Bella's wish to be included. Just as she is excluded from their games, so we are from knowing them. It made me so sympathetic to Bella's wish to be part of the group. I'd give this to people looking for realistic family stories, Elizabeth Scott fans, gentle teen romance readers.
    • 5/5
      Every time I read this book, I am transported to my beach house in my mind. This book feels completely like the beach. I loved seeing Belly grow as a person and I loved the romance sparking between her and the boys she grew up with. Perfect and poignant.
    • 5/5
      Loved the pace...love the writing...loved the story!
    • 5/5
      This book was fantastic ! When I finished the book, I actually felt a slight depression. I am trying to find another book by Jenny Han.
    • 5/5
      I know this one has been around for a little while but I was compelled by the title to read it. I had my own summer when I turned pretty and I wanted to read about Belly's. Mine wasn't near as dramatic as hers. Belly, Steven and their mother had been going to Cousins beach to meet Conrad, Jeremiah, and Susannah at her beach house since before Belly had been born. And she'd had a crush on Conrad for about as long. He was of course the dark, moody, silent type. Jeremiah was the opposite and a buffer between the two of them. Every summer before, Belly had always been left out of things, it was always the three guys and her left alone because she was too young. But this year, things were different. She was almost sixteen and had turned into a girl instead of just Belly. Both boys noticed as soon as she got out of the car. But Conrad was even more unattainable this year and then Belly finds out that Susannah and Mr. Fisher, that's what she'd always called him, were getting a divorce. And she gets her first boyfriend and she can't understand Conrad's looks at her. Confessions are made, revelations are made and soon the summer is over.This is a quick book to read somewhat lighthearted. But it deals with some heavy topics, divorce, and the death of a parent. So I can't really say light reading. But it doesn't dwell on the fact that a parent may die. It takes a positive stance and says maybe it won't happen and we'll be back here next year. The first chapter of the next book is in this book and reveals what happened. It will make you want to read what happens to Belly the next summer. I've already placed an order for it. I read this book for enjoyment and I was entertained. I was just as confused as Belly as to why Conrad was treating her the way he was. He seemed to flirt with her and then get a girlfriend just because she had a boyfriend. I had no idea what was going on with Susannah. I really loved letting my mind go and being that teenager again. And remembering my eternal crush. So I totally recommend this to anyone that wants to reminisce. There may have been some bad language, but that was about it.
    • 4/5
      I thought this book was very good. Although at some bits, it doesn't quite make sense (e.g. when she makes the chapters about her previous experiances at the summer house) it has a lot of feeling. This book is about romance with Belly, and complications with her family.
    • 5/5
      Isabel, or "Belly" as everyone calls her, is about to spend the summer at the beach house, where everything happens. But this summer is different. Belly's 16th summer is the summer everything changes. She, her mother, and her brother have spent every one for as long as she can remember at the beach house with her mom's best friend Suzannah and her two boys -- Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly's has been in love with Conrad for as long as she can remember. While The Summer I Turned Pretty is, in some ways, a love story between the two, it's more about Belly growing up. It's the summer she realizes life isn't always perfect, and it's the summer she begins to understand what real love, and real loss, are. Hann manages not to merely tell a story of summer romance. The decisions and challenges Belly faces manage to feel completely genuine (as do her reactions) without becoming angst-y. Teens will be able to relate to Belly's emotions and thoughts as she tries to navigate young adulthood. Although there is little in the way of "objectionable" content, the book is best suited to high school libraries and the teen department. Younger audiences may have trouble relating to the characters and understanding the situations presented.2010 ALA Best Books for Young Adults Selection
    • 5/5
      Reviewed by Jennifer (Class of 2012)It's about a girl who spends her summers at a beach house with her mom, her mom's friend, and two boys. The book is about how she spends her summers from when she was little to when she's in high school. It's a really great book to read.