Jenny Han

Teenaged Isobel "Belly" Conklin, whose life revolves around spending the summer at her mother's best friend's beach house, reflects on the tragic events of the past year that changed her life forever.

a summer novel

It's not summer without you

RacquelElizabeth

I suck at highlighting. I just end up highlighting the whole page.

But I didn't regret it. I never regretted it, not for one second. How do you regret one of the best nights of your entire life? You don't. You remember every word, every look. Even when it hurts, you still re-member.

A Summer Novel

It's Not Summer Without You

Rachel Braithwaite

“…sometimes words were so painfully inadequate…”

“We’re they ever really in love? Did my mother ever feel about my dad the way I felt about Conrad—alive, crazy, drunk with tenderness? Those were the questions that haunted me.

I didn’t want to make the same mistakes my parents made. I didn’t want my love to fade away one day like an old scar. I wanted it to burn forever.”

“I liked the way my father looked at me then, like I had taken after him, my fathers daughter.

He still looked at me that way sometimes—when I asked for Tobasco sauce at restaurants, when I turned the radio station to NPR without him having to ask. Tobasco sauce I liked, but NPR not as much. I did it because I knew it made him proud.”

“Eight was before death or divorce or heartbreak. Eight was just eight. Hot dogs and peanut butter, mosquito bites and splinters, bikes and boogies boards. Tangled hair, sunburned shoulders, Judy Blume, in bed by nine thirty.”

“I hated him more than anything. I loved him more than anything. Because, he was everything. And I hated that, too.”

“No one on this earth affected me the way Conrad Fisher did.”

“I thought I knew what heartbreak felt like. I thought heartbreak was me, standing alone at the prom. That was nothing. This, this was heartbreak. This pain in your chest, the ache behind your eyes. The knowing that things will never be the same again. It’s all relative, I suppose. You think you know love, you think you know real pain, but you don’t. You don’t know anything.”

“…no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can’t stop yourself from dreaming.”

“Maybe letting myself forget how good it used to be will make things easier.”

“Sometimes I closed my eyes and in my head, I said over and over again, It isn’t true, it isn’t true, this isn’t real. This wasn’t my life. But it was my life; it was my life now. After.”

“I still couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t let myself believe it. When a person you love dies, it doesn’t feel real. It’s like it’s happening to someone else. It’s someone else’s life. I’ve never been good with the abstract. What does it mean when someone is really and truly gone?

One girl. Two brothers. Which one will she choose? Isabel's lazy, long hot summers at her family friends' beach house are over. Conrad - sexy and unavailable - is the only boy she's ever loved. He's left for college, taking her heart with him. Jeremiah, his gorgeous brother, is still Isabel's best friend - but maybe friendship isn't enough for him anymore . . . Isabel just wants everything to stay the same, because change means moving on. But if she stops looking back, will she find a future she never knew she wanted?

Michaela

That's when I finally got it. I finally understood. It wasn't the thought that counted. It was the actual execution that mattered, the showing up for somebody. The intent behind it wasn't enough. Not for me. Not anymore. It wasn't enough to know that deep down, he loved me. You had to actually say it to somebody, show them that you cared. And he just didn't. Not enough.

madeleine

"Go to jeremiah. He's the one who wants you". Conrad said. "I dont, I never did".

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Just like always, he could devastate me with a look, a word.

I will never look at you in the same way ever again. I'll never be that girl again. The girl who comes running back every time you push her away, the girl who loves you anyway.

It was like a really amazing dream, and I was afraid to fall asleep because when I woke up, it would be gone.

He kissed like he was drowning and I was air.

Just like that the moment was over. It was an almost moment, where almost anything could have happened. But he had made it be over.

I didn't want my love to fade away one day like an old scar. I wanted it to burn forever.

"That's because youreb coldhearted." --- "For everyone else maybe, but not for you." He didn't look at me when he said it, which is how I knew he meant it.

When I was ure he was asleep, I leaned in, I wishpered "Conrad. There's only you. For me, there's only ever been you."

All I knew was, I wanted her to look at me like that.

radhika dhawan

(audiobook) if u see this on ur feed no u didn’t xx

Cori

i cried while reading so that’s something.  i love how belly is finally standing up for herself and i liked this one way better then the first book. 

Haley Bucklin

Lauren R

pretty sure i cried a few too many times.

brooklyn leota

Was the story good? Not really… Did I enjoy it? I guess… Was the actors from the tv series reading the book the best part? Yes

Joanna Dickinson

Monicap

3.65 stars

Ha! This is Book 2! Haven't read book 1. Not sure if I’m going to.

This book WOULD HAVE gotten a higher rating, somewhere in the 4 range, if not for two things that disturbed me.

Thing number 1: Chapter Sixteen.
Chapter sixteen is a flashback chapter. It starts with the main character telling us she’s nine years old, her parents all still married, her life is fine and dandy, yada, yada, yada. Conrad calls her at 12:35 in the night. He asks if he can come pick her up and take her down to the lake house. She’s like, sure. I mean, they usually hang out during the summer when it makes sense to be at a beach, and right now it’s actually Christmastime, but whatever. AT THIS POINT, I was still rolling with it. Conrad picks her up, and then, at the summer house, they start making out. And, according to our MC, this is NOT THE FIRST TIME THEY’VE EVER MADE OUT. Keep in mind, SHE IS NINE AT THIS POINT. And he is at least sixteen, to be driving (their age difference is later confirmed). Now see, it’s not so much that I have a problem with the Age Difference. I mean, for the rest of the book she’s seventeen and he’s 24, and she’s rushing on him and I’m cool with that. I mean, if they’d had sex, I believe it would’ve counted as statutory rape, but what the heck? She’s seventeen. I’m fairly comfortable with her making out and, yes, even having sex with people at that age.
But in Chapter Sixteen, SHE WAS NINE. NINE. That’s a single-digit. I’m sorry, but the only person you should kiss or be kissing you at age nine is your dad, and it had better be on the cheek. This may just be a weird ‘ME’ thing, but the entirety of chapter sixteen deeply disturbed me.

Thing number 2 (which didn’t disturb me nearly as much): the MC’s name.
The MC’s name is Belly. Does that name seem like cruel and unusual punishment to anyone else? No? Just me? Let me explain:
In this day and age, girls are pressured enough about their bodies as it is. I myself know that I haven't been happy looking in the mirror since the tenth grade, and I’m not even very fat. Naming a child, a female child no less, in this day and age…
It just seems designed to call attention to THAT AREA, which no girl really ant attention called to. Those of us who are comfortable with THAT AREA probably work out/starve themselves for that. Now, that was probably a deliberate choice made by the author, but it made me question the mothers character. Why would she name her child that? I mean, if the other characters had weird names, like if the Mom was named something crazy like Socatoa and the brother something weird like Abel, then it would’ve made sense and I’d’ve been fine with it. But no, the Mom’s name was Laurel and the brother was Steven. So I can’t help but wonder why.
 
Not to say that those things made the book bad. The book was quite good. The plot was solid, if it didn’t suck me in. The characters were all delightful (except Taylor and Conrad, but I think they were supposed to be un-delightful), the writing was lovely… Overall, it was fine book. If it hadn’t been for chapter sixteen, this probably would’ve scored four stars.

buny

** spoiler alert **
           1.5 ⭐️ I have many thoughts but I'm too tired of these people to even start speaking on them. (And then starts speaking, lmaoo) 

Belly kinda sucks and that's because despite however much she tries to convince me she loves Conrad, to me, it just seems like she likes the idea of Conrad and in reality, all she does is try to hurt him and sees him as something she can be sad and pathetic over. Like, if you REALLY want him, real deal, then either persist, put your foot down and fight for him with him or just save yourself the unnecessary misery, god. Conrad, This guy. I wanted to punch him in the face, I HOPE nothing ever happens between them bc they'd make such a terrible terrible couple.. Jeremiah is, as in the first book, boring and now with his own POV, was pathetic. I like how I can fly through these books and Jenny Han's writing might be simple and very easy but it's fun to read? Eh but other than those aspects, there's nothing particular I liked about this book. WAIT NO I also loved how the story seamlessly moved back and forth from the present to the past. Suzannah, though.... like this woman kept pushing this poor girl to keep liking her messed up son, making excuses for the shitty way he treats her and THEN to push them together even more????? Just a very messed up woman, glad she's not on page anymore 🙌 though, I'm not sure how much because Belly is gonna continue to be an even more messier version of herself for the third book...... 😃 I'm excited haha

It's like the older Belly gets, the stupider she's getting (Belly..... I'm sorry you were kinda dumb but I love you now💕)

Vicky  Nuñez 

Jenny Han is my guilty pleasure. The Summer I Turned Pretty was one of those books you can't put down & so is It's Not Summer Without You.

Jenny Han's writing is so compelling that it makes you relate to the characters and what they are going through even if you're never been in the same situation as them.

I love Conrad because in most books where the character is a jerk, you hate him for his actions. But it's so hard to hate Conrad, because you know the reason he acts the way he does. When I read books I do so to not think about what I'm going through in my life and I,like many people, hate reading about characters that like Conrad are REAL, that are prideful & sensitive and make hard choices that could hurt the people around him, but he still does them because he thinks is for the best.

I love Jeremiah because he is honest & he is always trying to make things right. 

It's hard to read It's Not Summer Without You without loving all the characters. I loved every single moment, every page of this book. My only complaint(because there's always at least one) was that I felt Belly was just doing the same things over & over again. Thankfully, by the end she learns.

I can't honestly think how the series will end, but I bet it will be amazing. So, if I were you & you haven't read this book because you think it will suck, fear not my friend, I assure you that you are in for a ride.

I like the ending a lot but it’s kind of repetitive with the whole Conrad Jeremiah thing 

Stella

Zahra

I can't even bother to finish this. I love the first book and Han's writing style but Belly is just so whiny and unbearable in this one.

From the author of To All The Boys I've Loved Before (now a smash-hit Netflix movie), dive into the second instalment of The Summer I Turned Pretty series. Perfect for fans of The Kissing Booth, Rainbow Rowell and Holly Bourne. One girl. Two boys. An impossible decision to make . . . When something is perfect, you hope it lasts forever. But Isabel's lazy, long hot summers at her family friends' beach house are over. Conrad is the only boy she's ever loved. But he's left for college, taking her heart with him. Jeremiah, his gorgeous younger brother, is still Isabel's best friend - but maybe friendship isn't enough for him anymore . . . Isabel just wants everything to stay the same, because change means moving on. But if she stops looking back, could she find a future she never knew she wanted?

Doris Ivandic 

this series feels like a hug and i absolutely adore it

too brotherly this shit will NOT work out

🦌

peyton 

I kinda am just over belly at this point but the plot still kinda interesting.

Shelby Caswell

** spoiler alert **
           Audio 🎧 Book Read


Reading after I’ve seen season 2 on Netflix. I was curious if there were any major difference, and I cannot believe the entire “Aunt Julia and Skye” aren’t in the book!! 

I loved that plot point in the series and found the book lacking because of it 😩

I love that the book is narrated by the actors that play Belly and Jer. It really brings the story to life like the show does. 

After book 3, I think i’ll be able to decide if I prefer the books or the series, but overall I am happy I am experiencing the books too. 

Overall, I love the series and cannot wait to start the 3rd. Which brother will she pick? Will it ruin the brothers relationship?

Ahhhh I can’t decide which team I want her to finish on either.

Renata

*sighs* so uhm i kept reading it bc i was curious and i want to know more, obviously. BUT i am to my core team conrad, i hated jeremiah this whole book, and i know i’m going to hate him even more on the last one. but aside of that it’s a fast book to read idk why lol and i’m RUNNING to the last book. 

- “I wished for Conrad on every birthday, every shooting star, every lost eyelash, every penny in a fountain was dedicated to the one I loved. I thought it would always be that way.”

- “But Conrad wasn’t just my first love. He wasn’t some rite of passage. He was so much more than that. He and Jeremiah and Susannah were my family. In my memory, the three of them would always be entwined, forever linked. There couldn’t be one without the others. If I forgot Conrad, if I evicted him from my heart, pretended like he was never there, it would be like doing those things to Susannah. And that, I couldn’t do.”

- “She was too busy looking at Conrad. For as long as any of us could remember, she had loved Conrad.”

- “I hated him more than anything. I loved him more than anything. Because, he was everything. And I hated that, too.”

- “Don’t let him push you away. He needs you. He loves you, you know.”

- “And then I took a closer look, and laid it horizontal in the palm of my hand. It wasn’t an eight.
It was infinity. ♾”

- “Conrad. There’s only you. For me, there’s only ever been you.”

- “That’s because you’re coldhearted.”
 “For everyone else, maybe. But not for you.”

- “The one thing I had to take was Junior Mint, my old stuffed polar bear, the one Conrad had won me that time at the boardwalk a million years ago. I couldn’t just let Junior Mint get thrown out like he was junk. He’d been special to me once upon a time.”

- “I didn’t want to make the same mistakes my parents made. I didn’t want my love to fade away one day like an old scar. I wanted it to burn forever.”

- “I thought your specialty was cocoa.”

- “Earlier, when I said I never wanted you. I didn’t mean it.”

I really started to resent Belly by that point. She is written with such a self-centered personnality, I'm losing interested in the way she thinks (which is most of the book, her thinking of what to do or not and just not reacting to stuff).

a.girl.a.dog.and.books

a fun little reread as it’s been a hot minute since I read these last. it was fun to see that season two of the show did seem to follow the book pretty closely. 

Hannah Williams

reread

a fun little reread as it’s been a hot minute since I read these last. it was fun to see that season two of the show did seem to follow the book pretty closely. 

Lilah Merie

honya

i rated this book a 2. the first 75% WERE SO BORING I FELT LIKE I WAS READING WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING ANYTHING but omg. the last 25% were chefs kiss. CONRAD HAD ME SCREAMINGGGGG AND JERE HAD MY TEARING UP BRO

mackenzie hunter

this one had me more hooked than the first did. i struggled a little bit getting through the first, this one i did not!

Sara Uribe

what even happened i read the books after watching the tv series and they definitely added so much more dimension to conrad and jeramiahs character because in the books they have like 2 romantic scenes ??? still cery addictive and sad though

It's not summer without you a summer novel

Reviews

Highlights