Book Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a teen romance series written by Jenny Han, author of the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series. While the novel has a promising plot, containing a cute beachside childhood romance between Isabel "Belly" and her two childhood friends Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher, the plot for me got a little mixed up in the middle of the novel. Belly starts off by informing us readers of her longtime crush on Conrad but claiming that she doesn't have such feelings toward him anymore. However, it becomes painfully obvious that Belly does in fact still harbor feelings toward Conrad and is unhealthily pushing down these feelings by using other guys to make up for him. In my opinion, Belly is not a likable main character and displays many toxic traits throughout the novel. She consistently strings along innocent guys and is totally unaware of her own negative behaviors. However, I understand that the novel is supposed to encapsulate Belly being a typical teenager, discovering romance and etcetera. While I didn't particularly enjoy Belly in the first book, and couldn't really cheer her on as a protagonist, I have to admit that some of her rash behaviors did mirror common traits that many young teen girls, such as myself go through. Overall, while The Summer I Turned Pretty did not have a likable main character, it did have a couple of sweet moments and did illustrate the pains of growing up well.