Reviews

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Only show reviews with written explanations

aahipp's review against another edition

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lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

thresa96's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

wadel's review against another edition

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2.0

This series is the definition of failed successfully. Did Belly end up with Conrad like expected? Yes, but it happened in the worst way possible. On top of that, you don’t even get the satisfaction of actually seeing them together in a happy healthy relationship. This series being their love story is absolute crap because they literally were never an actual couple during the books!!! I mean she was with his freaking brother more than him. How does that make any sense?!

Jere was always my favorite, even now after reading all three I like Jeremiah more, but there’s no way you can want him for Belly after reading book 3 which is exactly what Han wanted.
Side note: Jere's character assassination in book 3 was appalling. I mean cheating, drinking, forgetting to help Belly, defaulting to his dad for everything come on that’s NOT the Jere we came to know and love. I get it people change and make mistakes, but it came out of nowhere so it feels like a lazy way to push Belly and Conrad together.
Speaking of Conrad, he suddenly has his act together… ok great good for him, but that doesn’t erase all the crap he put Belly through in the first two books. She says it herself when they talk after the bachelor party that he might not have cheated but she still put up with his mess for years! Ughh the whole thing is infuriating!! It’s like Han flipped the boys' personalities to justify the end game.

If you want Conrad and Belly together fine, but why ruin a beloved character and focus 80% of the story on a different relationship to get there. It just doesn’t make sense. The first book was cute. I liked it just fine, the second wasn’t great but I could tolerate it, the third tho yeah it basically ruined the series for me. In my opinion, every wrong turn was taken when it came to the storyline from the last book.

Very intrigued to see how this plays out on the show because even though season one is supposed to be book 1 there are a lot of elements from book 2 that have already come into play.