Scan barcode
A review by jessicaludden
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“I would spend my whole life loving him one way or another. Maybe I would get married, maybe I would have a family, but it wouldn’t matter, because a piece of my heart, the piece where summer lived, would always be Conrad’s.”
This was a super fun, quick, and easy read! If I had read it when it came out over ten years ago I would’ve been obsessed with it. It was very entertaining and I read it in a day. Of course it has its problems. It’s a typical YA summer romance with multiple potential love interests. The ages of the characters was something I actively tried not to think about. There were many cringey lines. Overall though I liked it. Sometimes with love triangles it’s impossible for me to choose. I usually always go for the characters like Conrad who are mysterious and brooding and while I did like him I also loved Jeremiah. He was so funny and so sweet. It broke my heart when Belly (side note that’s a very dumb nickname) friendzoned him and it broke my heart even more when he said he felt like Conrad was always better than him. I know she’ll probably end up with Conrad at the end of this series (she did at the end of this book anyways) and I’m not mad at it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want Jeremiah to have his chance too. Overall, this book entertained me for a day and I’m invested enough in the characters to keep reading.
Favorite Quotes:
“Summer was what mattered. My whole life was measured in summers. Like I don’t really begin living until June, until I’m at the beach, in that house.”
“Sometimes it’s like people are a million times more beautiful to you in your mind. It’s like you see them through a special lens—but maybe if it’s how you see them, that’s how they really are.”
“Conrad gave me this look, the kind of look I bet soldiers give each other when they’re teaming up against somebody else. It was like we were in it together.”
“The thing was, whether he was pushing me away or pulling me toward him, I was still going on the same direction. Toward Conrad.”
“He didn’t look over and laugh with me during the funny parts the way Jeremiah did.”
“He smiled, Conrad had a way of looking at me, at you, at anybody, that made everything unravel and want to fall at his feet.”
“He made it so hard not to love him.”
“He had the nerve to look genuinely confused and also anxious. Because for him, the two things were connected—if he was confused, he was anxious. And he was hardly ever confused, so then he was hardly ever anxious. He’s certainly never been anxious over me. I was inconsequential to him. Always had been.”
“Because the truth was, when I looked at Conrad, all I felt was a yearning that never went away.”
“Watching him serving rubbery eggs and pretending not to be sad, I thought to myself, I will love this boy forever.”
“…Jeremiah and I would whisper scary stories to each other till we fell asleep. He always fell asleep first. I’d try to pinch him awake, but it never worked. The last time that happened might have been the last time I ever felt really, really safe in the world. Like all was right and sound.”
“The old pull, the tide drawing me back in. I kept getting caught in this current—first love, I mean. First love kept making me come back to this, to him. He still took my breath away, just being near him. I had been lying to myself the night before, thinking I was free, thinking I had let him go. It didn’t matter what he said or did, I’d never let him go.”
This was a super fun, quick, and easy read! If I had read it when it came out over ten years ago I would’ve been obsessed with it. It was very entertaining and I read it in a day. Of course it has its problems. It’s a typical YA summer romance with multiple potential love interests. The ages of the characters was something I actively tried not to think about. There were many cringey lines. Overall though I liked it. Sometimes with love triangles it’s impossible for me to choose. I usually always go for the characters like Conrad who are mysterious and brooding and while I did like him I also loved Jeremiah. He was so funny and so sweet. It broke my heart when Belly (side note that’s a very dumb nickname) friendzoned him and it broke my heart even more when he said he felt like Conrad was always better than him. I know she’ll probably end up with Conrad at the end of this series (she did at the end of this book anyways) and I’m not mad at it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want Jeremiah to have his chance too. Overall, this book entertained me for a day and I’m invested enough in the characters to keep reading.
Favorite Quotes:
“Summer was what mattered. My whole life was measured in summers. Like I don’t really begin living until June, until I’m at the beach, in that house.”
“Sometimes it’s like people are a million times more beautiful to you in your mind. It’s like you see them through a special lens—but maybe if it’s how you see them, that’s how they really are.”
“Conrad gave me this look, the kind of look I bet soldiers give each other when they’re teaming up against somebody else. It was like we were in it together.”
“The thing was, whether he was pushing me away or pulling me toward him, I was still going on the same direction. Toward Conrad.”
“He didn’t look over and laugh with me during the funny parts the way Jeremiah did.”
“He smiled, Conrad had a way of looking at me, at you, at anybody, that made everything unravel and want to fall at his feet.”
“He made it so hard not to love him.”
“He had the nerve to look genuinely confused and also anxious. Because for him, the two things were connected—if he was confused, he was anxious. And he was hardly ever confused, so then he was hardly ever anxious. He’s certainly never been anxious over me. I was inconsequential to him. Always had been.”
“Because the truth was, when I looked at Conrad, all I felt was a yearning that never went away.”
“Watching him serving rubbery eggs and pretending not to be sad, I thought to myself, I will love this boy forever.”
“…Jeremiah and I would whisper scary stories to each other till we fell asleep. He always fell asleep first. I’d try to pinch him awake, but it never worked. The last time that happened might have been the last time I ever felt really, really safe in the world. Like all was right and sound.”
“The old pull, the tide drawing me back in. I kept getting caught in this current—first love, I mean. First love kept making me come back to this, to him. He still took my breath away, just being near him. I had been lying to myself the night before, thinking I was free, thinking I had let him go. It didn’t matter what he said or did, I’d never let him go.”
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Bullying, Alcohol, and Blood