Literature & Fiction
![Jenny Han - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_jenny_han.jpg)
We'll Always Have Summer (The Summer I Turned Pretty)
Soon to be a streaming series in Summer 2022!
Can Belly make a final choice between Jeremiah and Conrad? Find out in the conclusion of the New York Times bestselling The Summer I Turned Prettytrilogy from the author of To All the Boys I've Loved Before (now a major motion picture!).
Belly has only ever been in love with two boys, both with the last name Fisher. And after being with Jeremiah for the last two years, she's almost positive he is her soul mate. Almost. While Conrad has not gotten over the mistake of letting Belly go, Jeremiah has always known that Belly is the girl for him. So when Belly and Jeremiah decide to make things forever, Conrad realizes that it's now or never-tell Belly he loves her, or lose her for good.
Belly will have to confront her feelings for Jeremiah and Conrad and face the inevitable: She will have to break one of their hearts.
This paperback edition features bonus content, including Conrad's letters to Belly and an excerpt of Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian!
Can Belly make a final choice between Jeremiah and Conrad? Find out in the conclusion of the New York Times bestselling The Summer I Turned Prettytrilogy from the author of To All the Boys I've Loved Before (now a major motion picture!).
Belly has only ever been in love with two boys, both with the last name Fisher. And after being with Jeremiah for the last two years, she's almost positive he is her soul mate. Almost. While Conrad has not gotten over the mistake of letting Belly go, Jeremiah has always known that Belly is the girl for him. So when Belly and Jeremiah decide to make things forever, Conrad realizes that it's now or never-tell Belly he loves her, or lose her for good.
Belly will have to confront her feelings for Jeremiah and Conrad and face the inevitable: She will have to break one of their hearts.
This paperback edition features bonus content, including Conrad's letters to Belly and an excerpt of Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian!
Readers Top Reviews
Sophie
I loved this book and was sad to see the series end . I loved hearing Conrad’s perspective in this book and it broke my heart and I am sure some people might be spectacle on the ending, I without a shadow of a doubt loved this book.
SpennerSheeks Cak
It was always going to be hard for Jenny Han to write a really brilliant ending to this trilogy. In THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY she created the most wonderful love triangle - two brothers who were so different, and Belly, the touching, slightly awkward heroine who was brave when she needed to be. Resolving it has made for some unfortunate character development that, as other reviews mention, doesn't seem fair to the characters I loved in the first book. There is literally no reason for Belly to choose one of the brothers over the other; she would have to be insane to pick one of them and mad to turn the other down. For me, having the choice made so simple was a problem because it made the story drag while you waited for the situation to be resolved. I do think though that if they had stayed as they are in the first book, it would have been impossible for Belly to pick one without making herself very unpopular with readers. In this book, Belly is very passive, to the point of being dim, and seems to have lost all self-knowledge as she's got older. Jeremiah is irritating and so (in a different way) is Conrad, as Han reworks what happened in IT'S NOT SUMMER WITHOUT YOU to make sense in the light of what's happening in this book. While I like her writing immensely, I think her heart wasn't in this book. I felt she was bored with the characters and struggled to make a thin story reach the extent she was aiming for. The world of Cousins is so vivid and atmospheric, but revisiting it this time we hear very little about it, or about summer, and a lot about stationery. The last scene resolves everything, but it's an impression more than a scene - a moment in time that is truly lovely, but not enough. If you've read the other two books, do read this; if you haven't, don't start here as this is not her strongest work. There were parts of this book that I adored, and others that I didn't, but I think Han's talent is unquestionable and I still want to read whatever she writes next.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter One chapter one
When it's finals week and you've been studying for five hours straight, you need three things to get you through the night. The biggest Slurpee you can find, half cherry, half Coke. Pajama pants, the kind that have been washed so many times, they are tissue-paper thin. And finally, dance breaks. Lots of dance breaks. When your eyes start to close and all you want is your bed, dance breaks will get you through.
It was four in the morning, and I was studying for the last final of my freshman year at Finch University. I was camped out in my dorm library with my new best friend, Anika Johnson, and my old best friend, Taylor Jewel. Summer vacation was so close, I could almost taste it. Just five more days. I'd been counting down since April.
"Quiz me," Taylor commanded, her voice scratchy.
I opened my notebook to a random page. "Define anima versus animus."
Taylor chewed on her lower lip. "Give me a hint."
"Umm… think Latin," I said.
"I didn't take Latin! Is there going to be Latin on this exam?"
"No, I was just trying to give you a hint. Because in Latin boys' names end in -us and girls' names end in -a, and anima is feminine archetype and animus is masculine archetype. Get it?"
She let out a big sigh. "No. I'm probably going to fail."
Looking up from her notebook, Anika said, "Maybe if you stopped texting and started studying, you wouldn't."
Taylor glared at her. "I'm helping my big sister plan our end-of-year breakfast, so I have to be on call tonight."
"On call?" Anika looked amused. "Like a doctor?"
"Yes, just like a doctor," Taylor snapped.
"So, will it be pancakes or waffles?"
"French toast, thank you very much."
The three of us were all taking the same freshman psych class, and Taylor's and my exam was tomorrow, Anika's was the day after. Anika was my closest friend at school besides Taylor. Seeing as how Taylor was competitive by nature, it was a friendship that she was more than a little jealous of, not that she'd ever in a million years admit it.
My friendship with Anika was different from my friendship with Taylor. Anika was laid-back and easy to be with. She wasn't quick to judge. More than all that, though, she gave me the space to be different. She hadn't known me my whole life, so she had no expectations or preconceptions. There was freedom in that. And she wasn't like any of my friends back home. She was from New York, and her father was a jazz musician and her mother was a writer.
A couple of hours later, the sun was rising and casting the room in a bluish light, and Taylor's head was down, while Anika was staring off into space like a zombie.
I rolled up two paper balls in my lap and threw them at my two friends. "Dance break," I sang out as I pressed play on my computer. I did a little shimmy in my chair.
Anika glared at me. "Why are you so chipper?"
"Because," I said, clapping my hands together, "in just a few hours, it will all be over." My exam wasn't until one in the afternoon, so my plan was to go back to my room and sleep for a couple of hours, then wake up with time to spare and study some more.
I overslept, but I still managed to get another hour of studying in. I didn't have time to go to the dining hall for breakfast, so I just drank a Cherry Coke from the vending machine.
The test was as hard as we had expected, but I was pretty sure I would get at least a B. Taylor was pretty sure she hadn't failed, which was good. Both of us were too tired to celebrate after, so we just high-fived and went our separate ways.
I headed back to my dorm room, ready to pass out until at least dinnertime, and when I opened the door, there was Jeremiah, asleep in my bed. He looked like a little boy when he slept, even with the stubble. He was stretched out on top of my comforter, his feet hanging over the edge of the bed, my stuffed polar bear hugged to his chest.
I took off my shoes and crawled into my twin, extra-long bed next to him. He stirred, opened his eyes, and said, "Hi."
"Hi," I said.
"How'd it go?"
"Pretty good."
"Good." He let go of Junior Mint and hugged me to him. "I brought you the other half of my sub from lunch."
"You're sweet," I said, burrowing my head in his shoulder.
He kissed my hair. "I can't have my girl skipping meals left and ...
When it's finals week and you've been studying for five hours straight, you need three things to get you through the night. The biggest Slurpee you can find, half cherry, half Coke. Pajama pants, the kind that have been washed so many times, they are tissue-paper thin. And finally, dance breaks. Lots of dance breaks. When your eyes start to close and all you want is your bed, dance breaks will get you through.
It was four in the morning, and I was studying for the last final of my freshman year at Finch University. I was camped out in my dorm library with my new best friend, Anika Johnson, and my old best friend, Taylor Jewel. Summer vacation was so close, I could almost taste it. Just five more days. I'd been counting down since April.
"Quiz me," Taylor commanded, her voice scratchy.
I opened my notebook to a random page. "Define anima versus animus."
Taylor chewed on her lower lip. "Give me a hint."
"Umm… think Latin," I said.
"I didn't take Latin! Is there going to be Latin on this exam?"
"No, I was just trying to give you a hint. Because in Latin boys' names end in -us and girls' names end in -a, and anima is feminine archetype and animus is masculine archetype. Get it?"
She let out a big sigh. "No. I'm probably going to fail."
Looking up from her notebook, Anika said, "Maybe if you stopped texting and started studying, you wouldn't."
Taylor glared at her. "I'm helping my big sister plan our end-of-year breakfast, so I have to be on call tonight."
"On call?" Anika looked amused. "Like a doctor?"
"Yes, just like a doctor," Taylor snapped.
"So, will it be pancakes or waffles?"
"French toast, thank you very much."
The three of us were all taking the same freshman psych class, and Taylor's and my exam was tomorrow, Anika's was the day after. Anika was my closest friend at school besides Taylor. Seeing as how Taylor was competitive by nature, it was a friendship that she was more than a little jealous of, not that she'd ever in a million years admit it.
My friendship with Anika was different from my friendship with Taylor. Anika was laid-back and easy to be with. She wasn't quick to judge. More than all that, though, she gave me the space to be different. She hadn't known me my whole life, so she had no expectations or preconceptions. There was freedom in that. And she wasn't like any of my friends back home. She was from New York, and her father was a jazz musician and her mother was a writer.
A couple of hours later, the sun was rising and casting the room in a bluish light, and Taylor's head was down, while Anika was staring off into space like a zombie.
I rolled up two paper balls in my lap and threw them at my two friends. "Dance break," I sang out as I pressed play on my computer. I did a little shimmy in my chair.
Anika glared at me. "Why are you so chipper?"
"Because," I said, clapping my hands together, "in just a few hours, it will all be over." My exam wasn't until one in the afternoon, so my plan was to go back to my room and sleep for a couple of hours, then wake up with time to spare and study some more.
I overslept, but I still managed to get another hour of studying in. I didn't have time to go to the dining hall for breakfast, so I just drank a Cherry Coke from the vending machine.
The test was as hard as we had expected, but I was pretty sure I would get at least a B. Taylor was pretty sure she hadn't failed, which was good. Both of us were too tired to celebrate after, so we just high-fived and went our separate ways.
I headed back to my dorm room, ready to pass out until at least dinnertime, and when I opened the door, there was Jeremiah, asleep in my bed. He looked like a little boy when he slept, even with the stubble. He was stretched out on top of my comforter, his feet hanging over the edge of the bed, my stuffed polar bear hugged to his chest.
I took off my shoes and crawled into my twin, extra-long bed next to him. He stirred, opened his eyes, and said, "Hi."
"Hi," I said.
"How'd it go?"
"Pretty good."
"Good." He let go of Junior Mint and hugged me to him. "I brought you the other half of my sub from lunch."
"You're sweet," I said, burrowing my head in his shoulder.
He kissed my hair. "I can't have my girl skipping meals left and ...
