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Book Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Like the previous Jenny Han book I read, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before , this was really quite sweet and lovely. It’s really a bit of a coming of age story. Belly (nickname for Isabel) is on the verge of turning sixteen when she makes the yearly trip to the summer house with her mom and brother. They’ve gone every year and stayed with Susannah Beck and her two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly is the baby of the group and over the years she has often felt left out from the fun had by the three boys. This year she intends for that all the change. She’s all grown up and she wants to be seen as more than the baby. It’s obvious the boys see that she really has changed when they first see her upon arrival. This is the first year that she feels pretty and feels like she is actually being noticed in a new way by the guys, aside from her brother.
During the summer she has her first summer romance of sorts with a boy she meets at a bonfire. Her brother leaves early in the summer to do college shopping with their dad and so he’s MIA for much of the story. Conrad is different this year and she can’t understand why. Jeremiah is mostly the same but not all. Susannah is napping when they arrive which is totally out of character. For this relatively short YA story, there’s a fair bit of drama here and lots of love in various ways.
I really like this and look forward to reading the next part of the story after what could be a long wait from the library.
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Reading habits
I seem to be back into a habit of reading books again. Not that I ever stopped but I’d been reading all sorts of mixed media and much of that was manga and webtoon titles. I’m still reading some of those but the manga types I like have been pretty much exhausted as far as what the library has and it felt like time to mix things up a bit anyway.
I’m currently reading lots of straight fiction, mostly romance, mostly light reading. I tend to give a miss to the Harlequin types. Some of what I am reading probably would be similar to chick-lit. But I also started reading more young adult titles too. It’s kind of a weird territory for me. It wasn’t around back when I was in the targeted age range so I mostly read adult novels once I reached my teens…probably before that.
Something I’ve noticed about the YA titles I’ve read are that they are fairly easy reads. Most I’ve finished in a few hours. Maybe it’s just luck of the draw. Of course there are books like the Harry Potter series that are longer reads but I haven’t found any like that lately.
One of the series I’ve read recently is a sort of Twilight wannabe series. It’s not terrible but not great either. I have only finished the first book of what seem to be three or four depending on how a prequel is counted. It deals with paranormal stuff and supposedly dark romance. I don’t know if the darkness is really that dark though and the romance isn’t written that well…but maybe it gets better in the second book. I read another book from a different series which also probably qualifies as a Twilight wannabe. I think I liked that better but I haven’t found the next books in the series to find out what happens next. I haven’t actually read the Twilight books but I am thinking about tackling them some time soon just so I can make comparisons. I know the series isn’t known for any great writing so I won’t be going in expecting much. I suppose it will give more context to all the pop culture references though and I might still enjoy it for what it is.
One of the reasons I’ve delved into YA romances is to compare them to the shoujo manga I’ve read. There are lots of tropes that show up in manga and I am already seeing how there’s some overlap in the YA books although without some of the more culturally Japanese tropes, of course. There’s definitely lots more available these days but I must admit to being disappointed at the way so many books represent romance with such negative behaviors in relationships. Too many girls are just too accepting of the guy doing things they shouldn’t. That’s not stopping me from reading but it does leave me wondering when the culture will change enough that it will be reflected in the literature. So far, I’ve not found much to hold up as particularly good…but it’s still early days in my reading.
I’m also reading books on my Kindle which works better late at night because I can read in bed for a while and just go to sleep. If I’m reading a physical book I need to get up and move to the bed and that often gets me awake again. Anyway, the ebooks are so much easier to carry. I get a lot of the books from the free books on Amazon but I also buy some when they are reduced price too.
Part of my intent in reading is to have a broader understanding of what’s out there in the literature since I do have aspirations of working in a library and probably a public library soon.