The Summer I Turned Pretty Books In Order

Publication Order of Summer I Turned Pretty Books

“The Summer I Turned Pretty” is a series of young adult novels by Jenny Hann, who is also known for writing children’s fiction. Some of her other works include “To All the Boys Trilogy” and the “Burn for Burn Trilogy.” The former was adapted into a film that went by the same name, which was aired in 2018 and featured Noah Centineo and Lana Condor as the lead characters. Jenny was born to Korean parents in Richmond Virginia where she spent much of her childhood. She would later attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation she worked as a librarian before going back to school. She went on to graduate from “The New School” with a Master in Fine Arts in 2006. She was in college when she wrote “Shug” her very first novel. The children’s novel is about a twelve-year-old named Annemarie Wicox and her life in junior high school. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series was her next project and marked the turning point in her career as it went on to become a New York Times bestseller. The novels in the series “To All the Boys” have been made into Netflix films that have all been executive produced by Jenny. Her novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. Jenny currently lives in Brooklyn in New York City.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Hann is a coming to age story told in a trilogy. It combines family dynamics, with a side of romance and plenty of emotion to make for some intriguing young adult romance. Summer love abounds for Isabel the lead characters who goes by Belly. She has always loved the summers as they meant that she got to enjoy all her favorite things that included the beach, swimming and Conrad and Jeremiah the Fischer boys. Conrad was the eldest of the Fischer boys and something of the elder brother that Belly never had. He is a moody and complicated character with his dark looks, and guitar playing interests, which had turned on Belly since they were little. On his part, he saw Isabel as his younger sister and never had interest in her until he suddenly discovered that she had grown into a beautiful woman. Jeremiah was the lighter, brighter and more humorous brother who tended to be a more easy going personality. He has a casual attitude to almost everything and it looks like he never stands a chance at getting Belly over his more alpha brother. It has been a tradition for Belly to spend the summer at Cousins Beach, where the brothers also vacation every year without fail. She has always had an enormous crush on Conrad until it seems that he might just reciprocate her feelings though Jeremiah also wants in too. With the passing summers, she goes from Conrad to Jeremiah but finally has to make a decision that will surely disappoint and break the heart of one of them. The novels take you through first kisses, broken hearts, midnight swimming, and carnivals. Isabel gets caught between the old age story of the golden guy and the bad boy and the choice has never been harder.

“The Summer I Turned Pretty”, the first novel of the series introduces Isabel “Belly” a girl that has always deemed summer to be the most important time of the year. Every magical and good thing in her life happens between June and August. It is the time when her family takes a vacation to Cousins Beach, where her family gets to share a house with Susanna Fischer her mother’s best friend and her two sons Conrad and Jeremiah. Just like her older brother Steven, the Fischer boys thought of Belly as their small sister. Belly has known the brothers for years though for her Conrad has been more than a brother. He is a crush, brother and everything in between. But then everything changes one summer when Conrad and Jeremiah notice that she is no longer the little girl they thought of as their sister. She was becoming a very beautiful woman.

In “It’s Not Summer Without You”, it would seem that Cousins Beach does not want to let the Fischer boys and Belly go. Belly is grieving the loss of Conrad who never initiated anything not even a call after they parted. She is also in pain over losing Susannah who had always been something of a mother figure to her. Even worse her mother is not herself and seems submerged into a different world that Belly cannot enter. Her mother is ignoring her and her best friend seems to be pushing her to move on. She is lonely and isolated until Jeremiah calls with news that Conrad has gone missing and they need help finding him. She jumps at the chance as she would move heaven and earth if it was to find Conrad. The sheer determination of Belly only goes to show how much she loves Conrad. It is a search that is full of hope only for them to find Conrad and learn that he has no plans of coming back home, at least for the present. It is a hard blow for Belly as Conrad is often impatient and barely looks at her. He is grieving for his mother but he is being dismissive and cruel and treats her disdainfully.

In “We’ll Always Have Summer” the third novel of the series, Belly is finishing her freshman year in college but Conrad is nowhere to be found. Jeremiah is a frat boy and is now with Belly now that his brother cannot be bothered. But then they go to a frat party and someone spills a drink on her and she has to go to the bathroom to clean herself up. In the bathroom, she overhears Lacey talking about the time she has a one night stand with Jere while he and Belly were on a break. She confronts him and Jere admits to sleeping with Lacey though he profusely apologizes though it is too much for Belly to take. Intending to make everything right, Jere finally proposes and after days of crying, and not speaking to him she accepts his proposal, which is where the drama ramps up. They have to deal with all manner of obstacles ranging from wedding prep, lack of money and opposition from parents. In all that is the best friend dynamics, bride dynamics and mother/daughter dynamics which make for an interesting finale for the series.