THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY - Jenny Han {Review}

TITLE: The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer#1)
AUTHOR/s: Jenny Han
PUBLICATION DATE: 1st of January, 2009

AVAILABLE AT: AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Happy 2016 everyone!

Since we are still on vacation, I'm taking my time to slowly go my way through my gigantic TBR pile. It's impossible to finish, I know, but I'm doing my best :)

And for my first 2016 read, I have the first book in Jenny Han's  Summer Trilogy - The Summer I Turned Pretty. I've been wanting to read this for quite some time now as I've seen most of my friends read (and love!) it over the course of the previous semester. As a big fan of the aforementioned author's To All the Boys I've Loved Before duology (check my review of Book 1 HERE! and Book 2 HERE!) I was excited to finally get the chance to see for myself her well-known series. Unfortunately, the first book didn't quite meet what I've been expecting.

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 terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

If I were to summarize my review for The Summer I Turned Pretty in three words, it will probably be this: It bored me.

The overall plot was interesting enough but sadly, the book did not live up to its full potential. My main issue with it is that the main character - Belly - annoyed me. She is this self centered girl who thinks of nothing except boys, getting tanned, boys, swimming, and did I already say boys? A friend had already warned me about his impressions on Belly but I considered to see for myself. Newsflash: He was absolutely right. I found the lead character pretty shallow too. More important things are happening but it seems like all she cared about is her love life. Perfect example: (spoiler) She kisses Conrad just after she learns that his mom's cancer is back.  Girl, you do NOT do that. Yes, he needs someone to be there for him but as a friend, not someone to snog with. (end of spoiler)

In relation to the previous problem, the love quadrangle didn't work for me. At all. I'm usually a fan of love triangles but not on this one. I felt like there's no really tension between Jeremiah-Belly-Conrad (and yes, Cam) because we all know that Belly is still hung up on her first love - no matter how hard she tries to hide and deny it. Also, I always believe that rebounds - whatever the reason may be - is a big no-no. Lastly, out of the three boys, she picks the only guy that I did NOT like. (spoiler) Cam was the best of the bunch and come on, their history is cute! And Jeremiah had portrayed several depths in his personality. Belly could've easily chosen between the two, but no. She just *have* to have oh-so-swoony-and-mysterious-and-moody-jerkfaced Conrad. smh. (end of spoiler)

Basically the book went on and on about Belly and her boy problems while occasionally touching (but not really dealing with) friendship and family problems. I guess that's what I was looking for. Don't get me wrong, I love romance (was that redundant? haha!) but too much of it just feels boring. It lacked other aspects that I expect sixteen year olds to be facing. Oh and lastly, I get that Jenny Han has this thing for extremely long titles but seriously, The Summer I Turned Pretty? Even the title felt superficial and I wouldn't have read it if not for the heavy recommendations of friends.

“It's the imperfections that make things beautiful”  -Cam

"I wondered if this was the way old crushes died, with a whimper, slowly, and then, just like that—gone." -Belly

"It's hard to throw away history. It was like you were throwing a part of yourself ." -Belly

"Victory is a thousand times sweeter when you're the underdog." -Belly

I tried really hard to like this one but I guess just because many people adores it doesn't mean you will (or you should) too. Nonetheless, I will still read the next two books in hope of this series redeeming itself. Not gonna be high on expectations, though, but still. I believe Jenny Han deserves another shot :)

Two out of five rating for Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty!

2/5 rating!