Introduction
It’s Not Summer Without You, written by Jenny Han as the sequel to The Summer I Turned Pretty, was published on April 27th, 2010, by Simon and Schuster publishing company. To be honest, I did not enjoy this installation of the series as much as I did its predecessor. To find out why that is, go ahead and look into the Thoughts section of this review, but do note that it contains spoilers. The Plot section is spoiler free but very short this week, so if you haven’t had the chance to read this series, I recommend starting there before continuing with this review or my review of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
If you want to learn more about Jenny Han, follow her on her social media @jennyhan and check out her website https://www.jennyhan.com.
Plot
After tragedy strikes the Fisher family, those who are left try to pick up the pieces without a key player.
Thoughts
Much of the writing style of this book is similar to that of the last one, including the short chapters, easy-to-read use of language, and first person point of view. Something new in this book is the inclusion of a perspective other than Belly’s. Jeremiah gets periodic chapters in his perspective. This book also contains more flashbacks than the last one to provide context for Belly’s relationships with the Fisher family, specifically with Conrad and Jeremiah to set up the future of their interactions.
These relationships are important to establish because the theme of change remains prevalent in this installation of the series; however, the change is not related to the characters themselves and their dynamics as in the first book, but is instead in relation to the aftermath of Susannah’s death. Susannah was established in the first book as the glue that held them all together, and with her gone, everyone needs to figure out what happens next. Laurel obviously struggles with the loss of her best friend, and the boys with the loss of their mom. Belly - the main focus of the book - loses the woman who often felt like more of a mother to her than Laurel.
I felt like the character arguments and reactions to her death were realistic, and - as much as I disliked it - so was Conrad’s decision to break up with Belly after their relatively brief relationship. He knew that he ultimately was not right for Belly at that moment in time, and so he let her go. Through Jeremiah’s perspective, we know that he’s angry with Conrad over this, and he believes he would be better for Belly. He loves her, and thus sets up the love triangle.
In complete honesty, I don’t like the way the love triangle was set up. For the entirety of the last book and the majority of this one, Belly had eyes only for Conrad. He was her first love, and she wanted him to be her last, and I could tell that he felt something for her too. Not to mention the romance genre is generally pretty predictable, and I had a good idea of how the series was going to end. To clarify, I don’t have a problem with love triangles or similar classic tropes themselves. I don’t like this one because I didn’t think it had a good set-up or payoff, and as a result, the ending of this book annoyed me.
From my perspective while reading the book, Belly was dead set on Conrad, and she didn’t really entertain the idea of being with Jeremiah. Jere was her best friend, the one she could always count on, and while Conrad was inconsistent in sharing his feelings for Belly, I didn’t think the feelings themselves ever wavered. Because of all of this, I didn’t feel like there was much of a setup for the love triangle, and Belly getting together with Jeremiah in the last few chapters of this book felt rushed, and almost like it came out of nowhere. It irritated me, and I felt like it was a poor ending to an otherwise good book.
I did like the themes of change following Susannah’s death, and I felt like there was a range of reactions that held depth. Jeremiah’s perspective was an interesting addition, and I do think that seeing his love for Belly develop, change, and grow would have been good for a love triangle if she had shown any conflict between him and Conrad, but she hadn’t.
While I very much enjoy the multiple perspectives, the aftermath of Susannah’s death, and the easy-to-read writing style, I just can’t get over the ending of this book. For those reasons, I have to give it a 7/10. It was not a bad read in the slightest, but it wasn’t quite as good as the first one either.
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