This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of The Summer I Turned Pretty on my blog now!
I decided to dabble in the world of audiobooks, and with It's Not Summer Without You being only six hours long, I figured now was as good a time as any to test out this format. From the very first chapter, Belly is going on and on about her love for Conrad and how much she thinks about him. It is so incredibly obvious that Belly clearly likes one brother more than the other, and despite what all of these Jeremiah girls say, I will be a Conrad defender until the day I die.
Once again I want to preface this review by noting that I have seen both seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime, so there were a few plot points in this book was a surprise to me. There are definitely a decent amount of changes comparing the book to the television series. A lot of chapters in this book were essentially Belly describing a number of parties that she and Taylor attended, and it became repetitive pretty fast.
While the flashback chapters were a nice reminder of the memories Belly and everyone has of the summer house, most of the stories were lowkey describing moments where Belly was getting in trouble or Jeremiah and Conrad were being yelled at by their annoying dad who seemed to care more about a blender than his own children.
Suffering through the Jeremiah perspective chapters... I feel like I have been held hostage. His chapters truly felt as though he was giving an exact play by play of even single interaction he had -- I could not feel the emotion behind his thoughts. For the majority of his chapters, he was throwing himself a pity party because every single time he looked at Belly, she was looking at Conrad, and vice versa. Jeremiah is so focused on the fact that Belly and Conrad are totally not over one another that he is completely blind to the fact that he will always be second place to his brother.
Belly is immature to say the least, and her constant whining about Conrad (though I would be crying over him too) was incredibly annoying. She was basically judging everyone's decisions in this book and did not see any issues with herself, always painting herself in the right. When she argues with a number of characters, she somehow always ends up as the victim and is angry with anyone who tries to make her see straight. I understand that she was going through a lot, but she definitely needs to have some more compassion for other characters.
There really was not too much side character involvement in this book compared to the first one -- we see Belly's mom and Mr. Fisher, and Taylor through a few interactions and phone calls, but it truly centers around Belly and to my dismay, Jeremiah. Belly's chapters are the majority perspective, with Jeremiah's making a few guest appearances throughout this installment. I do wish there was more of an ensemble feel to the story -- I found myself missing Steven, and as annoying as she was, it would have been nice to see Taylor more often if she got her attitude in check.
This series still holds true to me that it reads on the younger side of young adult -- Belly is definitely growing and learning to understand her feelings, but she continues to make me agitated when it comes to her decision making. Also, why do they not have cell phones? These books were definitely published when teenagers had cell phones, so the constant Conrad calling Belly on the house phone was not my favorite detail.
The weather has been getting nicer and now that flowers are starting to bloom, this was a great choice to get me into the spring and summer spirit. Overall, the general message of the story is prominent and the reader certainly does not forget why all of these characters are acting out of their normal personalities, and hopefully character growth is upon them all for the final book. Even with the qualms I have with the characters, this series is quick to move through and while this installment is certainly a little darker than the first, it has that nice summer feel to it that makes you want to go on a walk.
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