The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

 What do you miss from summers in your teen years?  What do you not miss?

Belly spends her summer at Cousin’s Beach each year with her mother, brother, mother’s best friend Susannah and Susannah’s two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.  This novel goes back and forth through Belly’s life in the summer as she grows up into a teenager that is love with Conrad and sometimes Jeremiah.  Will Belly end the summer finally noticed by Conrad?

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a coming-of-age story and is a light read.  Belly is a teenager in this young adult novel, and as a teenager, she is sometimes annoying as she tries to figure out what she wants in life.  It made me remember teenage years.  Having more time to have fun in the summer was great, although I started working summers at the age of 12 so I didn’t have long summers on the beach like this.  It’s complicated being a teenager and trying to figure out the social scene.  Belly has problems when she invites her best friend, and also when she starts seeing a boy named Cam.  I like books set in the summer and coming of age novels.  I’m interested to see what happens next in this trilogy and I will be reading onward.  I’m also looking forward to the Amazon Prime series.  It looks like it came out while I was on vacation the past week and a half.  My daughter Penelope and I will be watching it!

Overall, The Summer I Turned Pretty is an entertaining coming of age novel.

Book Source:  Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review.