Friday, July 20, 2012

Series Review: Summer Trilogy by Jenny Han

Titles: The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You & We'll Always Have Summer
Author: Jenny Han
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Add to Goodreads: Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3
Purchase from Amazon: Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3


Goodreads description for The Summer I Turned Pretty:
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 terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars


For some reason, I didn't review The Summer I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You when I first read them, so I'm just going to review them along with We'll Always Have Summer. This is a review of all three books, but I might talk about the third one a little more, just because that's the one I read most recently and have the most memory of. But don't worry, no spoilers even if you haven't read any of the books in this series!


I love these books so much, plain and simple - there's just something about them. I love getting lost in Jenny Han's writing! It flows nicely and reads so quickly - none of these books took me longer than two hours to read, since they're almost impossible to put down.


The characters are what's best about this series. It took me a while to get used to Belly, but she grew on me. I don't agree with all of her decisions, but I love her nonetheless. And Conrad and Jeremiah. Oh, Conrad and Jeremiah... *insert major swooning here* I love both of these boys so much - I can't even begin to explain what amazing characters they are. I loved the secondary characters, too - there's a strong family storyline, and I loved reading about Belly's mom and Susannah and even Steven. And I loved Belly's best friend Taylor! 


Seeing these characters develop over the course of three books is great. In We'll Always Have Summer, I liked seeing how much Belly had grown up, as well as the rest of these characters. I especially liked reading about them at college, because, well, I just love when books are set at college!


Another thing that's great about these books is the beach setting. I always love when books are set in beach towns, and the atmosphere in the Summer series is so well-done! I really felt like I was there at the beach alongside the characters, and I'd give anything to go to Cousins.


The Summer books evoked so many emotions in me. They made me happy, sure, but they're not only fun romances - they definitely have some depth, too. I tore up multiple times because of the pure feeling these books convey and all the love I have for the characters. I cry while reading books about grief and stuff like that all the time, but I don't remember ever having cried this much about a love story.


These books are the epitome of summer. I've read a book in the Summer series each summer for the last three years, and I really do believe there'll be something missing next year, when there are no more of these books for me to read. If you haven't read this series yet, what are you waiting for?

14 comments:

  1. I'm a stalker. Again.


    I heard A LOT about this book and a lot of different opinions. I was pretty scared to add it to my tbr list but I guess I'm doing it now :D

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  2. I haven't read these books but with your rating and all your gushing I have to now!

    I like that there's finally a contemporary series, that's not just a series of companion novels. Very often I get really attached to characters in contemporary novels and then don't have a series to look forward to because plots in contemporary tend to be resolved in one book without a general over-arching plot problem to span a series.

    With this series, it's nice to follow along with the characters, and see how they change. I think series are missing in contemporary, and I wish they'd do more of them!

    IF you love beach towns, try Clarity and Perception by Kim Harrington. It's part paranormal but it's light on the paranormal and really it's a contemporary plot with a mystery involved. I think you'd really like the beach town and the characters.:)

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    1. Hmm, I usually prefer companion novels to series, to be honest. But I guess it'd be best to have some of both. Hope you enjoy these books if/when you read them :)

      I have Clarity on my wishlist! It sounds like it just has a smaller paranormal aspect, so I think I'll still enjoy it :)

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    2. Clarity and Perception are amazing when it comes to character development, family dynamics and a real-world mystery. The paranormal only has to do with the family business and a bit for solving the mystery, but it's mostly about the characters and getting over prejudice.

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    3. When you get to the US, check out all the Abbi Glines books. They're all contemp, and they're all companion novels in each series. Also try Fisher Amelie Callum and Harper and Thomas and January.

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    4. That does sound good :) I'll have to buy and read all of those indie books you recommended once I move to the US :)

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    5. I've also heard great things about Keary Taylor and Tiffany King. Also Nyrae Dawn:)

      I think they're all indies but they're getting rave reviews!:)

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  3. This is my favorite trilogy ever. I adore these books.

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  4. I attempted to read The Summer I Turned Pretty, thought the writing was beautiful, but found the plot to be intensely boring:( I was super disappointed and didn't even finish:( I'm glad you liked them better than I did, though. I have heard so many wonderful things about this trilogy, but it just isn't for me.

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    1. Oh no :( I can see how it'd be too slow-paced for some people, but that was one of the things I loved about it. Sucks you didn't like it :(

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  5. I'm glad you enjoyed the books so much. I will read them all back to back knowing I'm in for a great read.

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  6. I've seen these books out for a while and I LOVE the covers but I haven't seen any reviews for them. But since your ratings for them are amazing, I will definitely have to check these out!

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  7. I've heard so much about this series, but no one has made me want to read them more than you have! You make them sound absolutely fabulous! I'll have to get them and bring them when I go on vacation at the end of August! Thanks for the reveiw chick!

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  8. I really liked this series. They should turn it into a movie.

    My blog - http://bookbloggermom.blogspot.com

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Please leave a comment - I love to hear what you think!

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