Avery (Taylor's version)'s Reviews > The Summer I Turned Pretty

“Moments, when lost, can't be found again. They're just gone.”

I'll just start off this rant review by saying that younger me would have eaten this up. Younger me who didn't care about characters or plot, younger me who just cared about the entertainment value. But even then, the entertainment value was low.

I'd gone into this with incredibly low expectations because I already knew I was going to like the show much more than the books based off of what I'd heard, and I was very, very correct.

The Plot



The show and book are two such incredibly different things that it seems like the show tries to fix the many, many issues that this book has, and I find that very funny. The show managed to have more plot than the books do, which is very rare for a show to do.

This is your typical 2010's YA contemporaries, and usually, I would have enjoyed that. My issues I have come in later. There is so much drama and literally no action. There's just jealousy, beaches, love triangles, bad characters, and nothing.

I will give props to the summer vibes though- those were great. Everything else? Not so much.

“It's the imperfections that make things beautiful.”

The Characters



And here is why my rant shall begin!

Now let's discuss Belly. I don't even remember her actual name, but I think it's spelled Isabel or something. Anyways, Belly is the worst, most stuck up, bratty, irritable, annoying, childish fifteen/sixteen year old I have ever read about. I honestly thought I was reading the perspective of a toddler or something because of how incredibly stupid she was. I was this close to throwing my book because of how bratty she was being to literally everyone around her.

Next up, Jeremiah. I will call him Jeremy until the day I die. I do not understand how anyone can possibly like him and I will not hear anyone out. He's alike to Belly in the fact that he acts like a child (he's better though) Now, this isn't from the first book, but after the 3rd book, I seriously don't know how anyone can still like him. Or how anyone likes him in the first place. He's just so jealous of Conrad and it makes literally no sense, but when it comes to Belly, he's always saying how he's better than Conrad, which just makes me confused (I can't remember if that happens in the 1st or 2nd book, it's all a blur.

Lastly because I don't care about anyone else, Conrad. Conrad is far superior in the show, but he's decent in the books. Even though I'm definitely team Conrad, I found myself annoyed by him a lot. Now I love the bad boy types, and I think Conrad was like that enough, but he also came off rude and there's a fine line between that. Either way, Conrad is better than Jeremy and nothing will sway my opinion on that.

I said I don't care but I'll give little shout-outs to these characters:
-Susannah and Laurel are great, probably the best characters in this book, though they let their children get away with a lot of stuff
-Taylor is far better in the show, which seems to be a trend amongst these characters

Overall: basically everyone's annoying.

“In the dark you can feel really close to a person. You can say whatever you want.”

The Romance



Love triangles are a crime against humanity

Conrad is obviously the better choice, but honestly, why would anyone like Belly? I'm confused on how these two guys are fighting over this fifteen year old child who can't take a joke. anyways, I think no one has chemistry with anyone. Conrad and Belly have much more chemistry than Jeremy and Belly but not much more and it annoys me to no ends. If you're gonna have a love triangle, at least make it complicated or make it so that there's chemistry with everyone.

I'm team Belly ends up with no one.

“Would you rather live one perfect day over and over or live your life with no perfect days but just decent ones?”

Overall, I'm honestly not even disappointed, I'm not even surprised. At least I just proved to myself that the show is so much better.

1.5 stars

“Victory is a thousand times sweeter when you're the underdog.”

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y'know, I had very low expectations. very, very low expectations. Somehow, they weren't even reached. the show is so, SO much better than the books, and Belly is the whiniest, most annoying character I have EVER had the displeasure of reading about

this is going to be a very fun review to write

rtc (1.5 stars)

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Pre-read: Eh, I decided I'd put this on my to-read list, because why not? Don't know why, since I HATE love triangles, but I want to watch the show, and I like reading the books before watching the show or movie so 🤷‍♀️