Reviews with content warning for Cursing - It's Not Summer Without You

I wanted to read this book because I loved Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I Loved Before series and with this being picked up by Amazon Prime, I was interested to see what was going to happen in the next series. I didn’t enjoy the first book and didn’t have a lot of hope for this book and I'm glad I didn’t because this book was disappointing and made me want to gouge my eyes out.

This book is still based on Belly, who we met in the first book. She is now sixteen years old. She used to count the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But this year, she isn’t looking forward to it. Her and Conrad have broken up and not talking anymore and Susannah, the boy’s mum has recently passed out. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing that summer would never come. However, one night, Jeremiah rings Belly to tell her that Conrad has disappeared. Belly knows what she must do to make things right and it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this is the last summer, it should end the way it started – at Cousins Beach.

You know when you rely on a minor character to bring the comedic effect or just save the book – this book didn’t have any of them. I didn’t realise how much Susannah saved the first book until you read this book and there is no Susannah. Every single one of these characters absolutely annoyed the shit out of me. Belly didn’t learn her lesson from the last book and life in general of “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” - she spends half of the book being unjustifiable mean and then the other half just feeling guilty and trying to apologies. Jeremiah and Conrad both need a slap in the face for letting a girl get in between especially when it’s Belly. Like I love a love triangle in tv shows, but they never seem to work in books, and this was one example of one. Steven was just jealous and was only needed to move the story along. Taylor was right to be upset but didn’t need to dismiss Belly’s feelings about Conrad so much. “Badass” Laurie lives up to her name in the last 2 out of 5 chapters and then again, she’s hiding for most of the book. Belly and Steven’s dad whose name I can’t remember isn’t even in this and Mr Fisher just shows up again to stop us listening to how Belly is feeling guilty or wanting to be in the centre of attention.

The only reason I didn’t DNF this book or give it a one star because there was an additional POV from Jeremiah, I would have preferred it to be Conrad but oh well. I don’t know if I should or would pick up the last book in the series and let’s hope the TV show is better.

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cdoubet's review

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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danicampbell0506's review

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emotional lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

2.25

Content Warnings

kdailyreads's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

its_van_vulpen's review

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

zoe_pandacorn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Truly amazing second book in a series! The beginning was quite sad for my taste and went ion for quite a while but towards the middle it was much better and the ending was incredible!

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bornachoker's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jillkaarlela's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

Taylor Swift songs: “Haunted (tv)”, “Marjorie”

Bonus song: Conrad is 100% “best” by Gracie abrams!!

Age rating: 14+ (some underage drinking, etc but no sexual content)

If you like messy teen dramas, this is for you. It is so painful to see her just give Conrad a billion chances and go back to him like every time even though he does nothing but let her down. I get that he is grieving, I really do, but the way that he was pushing her away and causing her so much additional hurt does not sit well with me. Please, Conrad, go to therapy. (I am a Conrad girly, but only the end of book 3). Also does Jeremiah even like her or does he just want to beat Conrad bc of this messed up power dynamic their dad forced upon them?

I am still a believer that Taylor and Belly should not be friends. Their personalities clash so much, and they are just not really a healthy dynamic.

HOWEVER, I don’t hate this book, because I feel like the point of it was to show how growing up can be messy. We screw up, we make dumb decisions, it’s part of life. I think the show is entertaining, and I like that it is more aged up for its audience that originally read it when it was released in early 2010s ish. I do wish we got to see more of who Belly really is. There isn’t that much we know about her besides the fact that she likes Conrad and summer.

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