It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han Book Review!

 

Title: It's Not Summer Without You (Summer #2)
Author: Jenny Han
Publish Date: April 27th, 2010
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Source: Taken from my little sister's bookshelf!

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.

Penelope's Review

Belly's story continues in this second installment to the Summer trilogy! I absolutely ADORED the first book, so I dove right into the second one with high hopes! Happy to report that I was definitely NOT disappointed. 

Everything has changed. This book is so full of emotion, both happy and sad. Belly is starting to grow up, though she's still a bit immature. Again, her character stays true to her age and I was once again struck by how relatable she is! I loved getting to know her even more and going on such an emotional roller coaster alongside her lol! I don't know if I said this in my review of the first book but I am Team Conrad! Yes, yes I know he strings Belly along a bit but... I just get him! He's this tough, keep everything inside kind of guy but really he's a little mushball that's so helplessly in love! SWOON! When Conrad goes missing, Belly jumps at the chance to face him again and see where she stands. I loved this whole storyline honestly, despite missing Susanna like crazy! 

We also get to see some chapters in Jeremiah's point of view which was SUPER exciting! Despite being Team Conrad, I love Jeremiah's character! I think he's so fun and sweet and it was great getting to see into his head. My heart wishes for some Conrad POV but that's ok lol.

I still love Jenny Han's writing style - it's clean, simple, and relatable. She's really great with characters, and making them sound exactly like real kids. Overall, this was such a great addition to the series and I am both over the moon excited and sad to read the last book in the trilogy next!

Rating: 5/5 Devils!