It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
Belly finds out what comes after falling in love in this follow-up to The Summer I Turned Pretty from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (soon to be a major motion picture!), Jenny Han.
Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?
It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.
But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started--at Cousins Beach.
MY OPINION: ******
I can't say that I loved this any less than the first book or from the first couple of times that I've read it. Jenny Han just has a powerful way with words that make me intrigued and want to read more and more. If a fourth book came out tomorrow, I would be the first customer.
This is the second book in the series and I loved it. In this book, Belly finds herself and by doing do, helps Conrad and Jeremiah.
Susannah is dead. It's not a spoiler because it's in the first couple of pages. And I'm not trying to be harsh or blunt: that's just a direct quote from the book. I was suprised to realize that it happened so quickly because the first book left off on such a hopeful note, what with Belly and Conrad finally getting together and Susannah seeming to be okay. However, as soon as the second book starts, we learn from the first few pages that Conrad and Belly have broken up and it was really just a "fling" and Susannah has passed away. So many things are different and yet, so many things are the same.
Belly is still hung up on Conrad, and to be honest, who wouldn't be? He's smart, he's kind, he's handsome, he's brave. However, through his anger towards his dad and just life in general and grief of losing his mom, he can't stay with Belly. This shows kindness because although he loves Belly more than anyone he's ever loved (including that God-awful Nicole who I couldn't help but hate only because she was stealing MY Conrad), he knows he can't stay with her because he'll end up hurting her. And although it hurts her to have to break up and she doesn't understand, Conrad makes a mature (though majorly painful) decision by doing this and letting his brother, Jeremiah, the happier more lighthearted one get the girl he loves. They both love her though it's a different kind of love.
Belly says some really harsh things to Conrad at Susannah's funeral out of anger and grief and confusion and thus our story begins. Belly spends her first summer at home rather than at the summer house, and she doesn't love it. Cousins is where she belongs. However, it's all meant to be because after the funeral during the summer, Jeremiah calls Belly and tells her that Conrad is missing.
They set off on a trip to find him and through this trip, Belly goes through a lot of emotions. First off, she and Conrad were broken up and the last time they saw each other, he was with another girl and she had said some really awful things that she wished she could take back. She's feeling fear but she's also feeling anticipation because no matter how hard she tries, she's never going to be really over Conrad. She's also feeling a little confusion because it seems that Jeremiah wants to be more than friends, though she had thought he had grown past that. In Conrad's dorm room, she finds a necklace that she knows is meant for her and I just thought it was so romantic until I realized that Conrad hadn't given it to her. I understood everything he was going through: he was too afraid to mess everything up. But it would have been so amazing if he had given it to her. So many problems could have been avoided.
They finally find Conrad at the beach house and through this, Belly spends a couple of days (though it takes up the whole book) trying to convince him to come back to school. She apologizes and looks are exchanged and feelings are reignited. However, Conrad acts as "jerky" as usual because he knows it's the only she will let go of him.
Belly and Jeremiah find out that the house was going to be sold and through this, we see some bad-ass Laurel come out. I loved this part of the book because it shows that even though kids and teens think that they can be independent and make mature decisions, you still need your parents sometimes.
We also get to see a little bit of Jeremiah's perspective which I absolutely loved though I wish they had been longer! We see that Jeremiah still loves Belly and he hates his brother for loving her along with him. Despite this, he and Conrad have a tacit brotherly relationship that can't be broken. Though they fight and exchange words, it's only because of the girl that's between them. They love each other but they love the wrong people as well.
The romance in this book was more prominent than in the first book which focused more on Belly becoming a woman rather than a girl and growing into herself.
I absolutely loved the flashbacks, as usual, because they showed me glimpses of Belly's life that really helped to build the relationships between her and Conrad and Jeremiah and Taylor. I loved how it showed that Belly relied on others and that she still cares.
Taylor and Belly have arguments and through this, their original relationship starts to dissipate. It doesn't completely disappear and they're still friends but they aren't the same as they were before. This showed that change needed to happen because that's what happens when you grow up: you change and sometimes people don't change with you or they change in different ways.
There are so many messages in this book that I never caught and I'm sure that in the future when I read it for the ten-millionth time there are new things that I will understand. This is true of all books, something I learned from rereading this because I thought that this book was so simple and "light" that there couldn't have been anything I could have missed.
I would recommend this book to all readers.
Main Character: Belly
Sidekick(s): Conrad, Jeremiah, Taylor, Steven, etc
Villain(s): Death, misunderstanding, change, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This was all very real to life.
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