Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

5 wonderful warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies.

Cover Love: Yes. First of all, pretty models. Secondly, for some reason I am a sucker for print and cursive in a title together.

Why I Wanted to Read This:
I had heard a lot of good things about it and noticed a third book was coming out this spring. So I checked out the audio version to listen to while I was driving. Here's the synopsis from 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 wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

I Kept Reading Because:
I started the audio version, like I said above, but very quickly decided I needed to read the book so I could find out what happened. I checked it out and finished within 4 hours of getting the print version.

Romance?: Oh yes!

What I Liked (& Didn't):
In a word, LOVE. I loved this book.

**Added to review: Jenny Han knows about first loves. Her middle grade book, Shug, is also a wonderful read, and one that had me bawling. It was so good!**

I loved how realistically Belly was written. Teenagers are super self-absorbed, especially at 15 when everything is very dramatic.

I loved both Conrad and Jeremiah.

I loved the beach setting.

I sobbed through the last few chapters. And I loved how why I cried had nothing to do with Belly and her romances.

*SPOILER*(next line)
I am the mother of two boys and when I found out Susannah was dying I could not stop crying. I know that it would be hard as a mom to any children to face that, but when I kept thinking of leaving my two boys permanently I could not stop crying.

What I Want to Happen:
I understand Belly's love for Conrad, but I wish she wouldn't overlook Jeremiah. I feel like we already know the ending of this story because so much time in the first book was put into how much she has loved Conrad and for how long.

To Sum Up: Get me the next book, ASAP!

Book checked out from library.