It's Not Summer Without You Review

Title: It's Not Summer Without You
Sequel: The Summer I Turned Pretty 

Author: Jenny Han

Pages: 275
 Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: April 27, 2010

My Edition: Hardback

Reading Level: Young Adult

Bought from: Borders

Summary from Amazon:
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.

Review:

It's Not Summer Without You was an amazing sequel to The Summer I Turned Pretty but also very different. The mood in INSWY was very gloomy and not as exciting and happy as the first but was beautifully written, sad, but really great. Also, you will finally find out Belly's real first name which I've been wondering for a long time...Belly is a cute name, but her name is actually Isabel which I see where the nickname comes from now.

Belly, her family, and her family friends all experience a great loss and all are affected greatly. Belly is down all the time and her best friend keeps bugging her about Conrad. Belly's mom is busy all the time and really sad. Jeremiah and Conrad are each affected differently, and their dad is acting selfish and fake. The whole relationship between Belly and Conrad was fun to read about at first, but the more and more I read about him, he just seemed distant and cold. I really liked the alternating perspectives in this sequel compared to the first. Reading about the past made it easier to understand what Belly and everyone was experiencing. Also, reading from Jeremiah's perspective was very, very interesting. I never knew his true feelings or how he really felt about Belly.

The ending was the best possible ending, very surprising and not expected at all! The last page is also very cute. I just found out that there will be a third and final book to the Summer series which will come out next summer. I'm very excited to see how things are going for the two families and how Belly's relationship is working out. If you haven't read The Summer I Turned Pretty, I highly recommend reading it now because the whole series is well written and great!

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday (25)

  "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly awaiting. This week I can't wait for It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han! INSWY is the sequel to The Summer I Turned Pretty which was really cute and a great summer read. I'm excited to read it when it comes out April 27, 2010!


  

There's not an official summary for It's Not Summer Without You yet, but this is a tiny sentence about it from Amazon:

In Jenny Han's follow-up to The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly finds out what comes after falling in love. 

The Summer I Turned Pretty Review

Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty
Author: Jenny Han
Publisher: Simon and Schuster 
Publication Date: May 5, 2009
Pages: 276
My Edition: read online on PulseIt
Reading Level: Young Adult
Where I got it: Read on PulseIt

Summary from Amazon:

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.

Review:  
The Summer I Turned Pretty was a fun, good, and entertaining read. It took forever to finish only because reading a book on the computer is hard on the eyes, and the pages took forever to load. The story was so good it kept me wanting to keep reading to find out who Belly would end up with. You will feel for Belly when she has to choose between: her best bud and first kiss, the boy she's loved since she was ten, or the boy she just met, all while going through many changes in her's and their lives. I loved all the characters and even teared up at the end (I won't say why though). 

It starts off a little slow, but once you get a few chapters in, you will become engrossed in Belly's story. The only thing I didn't really like was when there were flashbacks to younger ages. Sometimes I didn't see when it said age 10 or whatever age and would become confused. This is the perfect book summer book, and it made me really wish I was at the beach again in the ocean and sun. I highly recommend reading this if you're looking for a great summer read! I look forward to reading other books by Jenny Han and the sequels.

Rating:

Friday Firsts (2)

Oops forgot to do this last week, oh well. The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.

• Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
• Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
• Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title and the author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
• Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?

The book I'm currently reading is the Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. This is the first sentence:

"We'd been driving for about seven thousand years."

 

In my opinion, this is not a great first sentence. It doesn't really explain much about the book, and it's just basically complaining. The next couple lines aren't the greatest either. The first line could have been a lot better, but it doesn't really matter that much because it isn't going to be a classic story people will remember So far, I like the story and hope to finish it soon.

Go HERE to see Well-Read Reviews's post and post your link.