The Summer I Turned Pretty [Paperback]

Jenny Han (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 6, 2010

Some summers are just destined to be 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 wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book has what every girl wants in a summer." -- Sarah Dessen, author of Just Listen and Lock and Key

"The Summer I Turned Pretty offers a hard-to-resist combination -- a beach house, summer love, enduring friendship. A deliciously sweet read." -- Deb Caletti, author of Honey, Baby, Sweetheart and Wild Roses

"If I could live inside this amazing book, I would. I would inhale the ocean air and soak up the sun, and I would hang out all day with kind-wonderful-funny-awkward Belly and her two known-'em-forever buds, Jeremiah and Conrad. I'd watch the three of them stop being kids and start being more...and I'd hope hope hope that when Belly falls in love -- 'cause you know she will -- she'd give her heart to the exact right boy." -- Lauren Myracle, author of the ttyl series and Bliss

"This well-written coming-of-age story introduces 15-year-old Isabel, aka Belly, for whom summer has always been the most important time of year. Han (Shug) realistically balances Belly's naïveté with her awareness of the changes the years have brought. Han's novel offers plenty of summertime drama." -- Starred review from Publishers Weekly

"Belly's dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place. Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend's flirtations during one summer's visit, a first date." -- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Jenny Han is the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series, Shug, and the Burn for Burn trilogy. She is also the author of the chapter book Clara Lee and The Apple Pie Dream. A former children’s bookseller, she earned her MFA in creative writing at the New School. Visit her at DearJennyHan.com.

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416968296
• ISBN-13: 978-1416968290
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (182 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#91 in Books > Teens

#91 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars great summer read August 24, 2009

By guitarchick24 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

"The Summer I Turned Pretty" is a great beach read, as dreamy as the summer vacation we all wish we could have.

Isabel "Belly" lives for the summer, when she can go to Cousins Beach with her mother and brother for the season. Her childhood has been marked by countless summers spent with the Fishers - Susannah, who is like Belly's second mother, and Susannah's two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah, who have acted like her older brothers, first crushes, and everything in between. But now, at fifteen, Belly finds that her normally idyllic summer has changed, and her relationships with the Fisher boys are suddenly very different.

Simple and sparse, "The Summer I Turned Pretty" is a moderately-paced, introspective novel on growing up and discovering your new niche in a once-familiar world. Belly is a likable, typical teenage girl who has the same outlook and struggles that many girls will be able to relate to. Han captures the transition from childhood to uncertain adulthood nicely, without a lot of angst or "too adult" situations. With the flashbacks to previous summers, readers understand better Belly's inner world and what brings her to the feelings she has during the current summer.

A good book for those who love teen romance, and a pleasant way to while away the rest of your summer. Recommended.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Cute summer read November 2, 2009

By Arielle

Format:Hardcover

Belly, her brother Steven and her mother always go to Susannah's beach house every summer. Susannah has two sons, Jeremiah and Conrad. Susannah and Belly's mother, Laurel have been friends forever, and every summer they spend at this beach house, in Cousin's. Belly was always the one that was left out. The only girl out of the four kids, she was used to having to hang out with herself. But this summer is different. She's pretty.

Belly has always been pretty, but for some reason this summer people actually see her beauty. Her brother Steven is going to be a senior, and later in the summer he leaves with his dad to go on a road trip to look at colleges. Conrad is going to be a freshman in college, and he has been acting strange all summer and Belly wants to know why. Jeremiah is still the same, Belly's true friend, they always stick together. There's a secret that Susannah is keeping from Belly, and she doesn't find out until it's too late. And she also enjoys a summer romance with a boy named Cam.

Belly has to learn that as she gets older, and the summers creep past her, she has to grow up and be a mature, young woman. She battles boys, love, family issues, and her maturity.

The book was a tad confusing at first because there are flashbacks to her previous summers at the beach house, yet I enjoyed this book very much. I am sorry if my review was a little confusing but I am writing this before I leave for my trip, so I am a little excited! Ha. I would recommend this book to every teenage girl who loves romance books with a little something else added to them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Romantic, sweet and funny August 23, 2009

By Jennifer L. Rinehart TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I don't usually read this kind of book. I like vampires, ghosts, witches or at the least werewolves and angels.

So I wasn't terribly enthused about this story, which seemed to me, a little slow.

In fact, the only reason I started the book is because I grabbed it on the way to the dentist and was stuck in a waiting room with nothing but a gruesome book on Periodontal disease to pass the time. Surprise, surprise, I loved it!

The main conflict is Belly's crush. I wont spill who it is she likes best. But it is the defining theme of the novel. I felt her confusion, yearning and embarrassment as the years passed and the guy she liked treated her like a little kid and/or ignored her.

But this last summer is different. She's different and so are the guys, Conrad and Jeremiah. Summertime, the part of the year she lives for isn't turning out at all the way she hoped. But life is like that and she isn't one to let herself get too messed up over it. As if things weren't confusing enough, she meets someone. Cameron is perfect. He's smart, he remembers her from a long ago competition and he likes her, alot. Will he be the guy to make her forget her longtime (and possibly futile) crush?

As I was reading it, it occurred to me that the author could be setting things in motion for a big fall, you know the kind I'm talking about. The romance that turns sour and bitter, where the heroine learns 'a valuable lesson' in the end. In other words, no happily ever after. I really, really, hate books like that.

So, if that's what's stopping you from reading this book, rest assured, this does have a nice ending.

Ms. Han is an author to look out for. I don't know if she's written anything else, but I would definitely check out her other stuff.