I have already reviewed the first book from the series, The Summer I Turned Pretty. Now comes the time to express my thoughts about the second part, It’s Not Summer Without You.
If you haven’t read the first book, I suggest checking out that first, as this review might spoil a few things for you.
As you know, this is a young adult contemporary romance about two brothers who fall for the same girl, and the story moves forward with twists and turns along with the suspense of who the female protagonist will end up with. (Cliche, I know)
Hi! I am Priyanka from Hooked to Books, and I will be reviewing ‘It’s Not Summer Without You’ from the trilogy.
The trilogy is also adopted as an OTT series, and the second part was released last year, which created enough hype.
People are fighting over the Fisher brothers!!
How about we dive straight into my review of It’s Not Summer Without You? But first, go through the synopsis for a better understanding.
Synopsis of ‘It’s Not Summer Without You’ by Jenny Han
The first book’s ending indicates the start of a relationship between Belly and Conrad. However, the second book brings many more twists that the readers might not have imagined. (Or maybe they have!)
Belly has always spent her summers at Cousins Beach, but this summer, everything is different. This summer is sad, depressing, and filled with loss and grief.
Yes, you guessed it right, Susannah. In the first book, we got to know that Susannah has cancer, and she will continue to fight but won’t do any more treatments. But her situation is worsening.
Conrad stopped caring about Belly and left her in between because his mother got sick again. Belly is angry, worried, and heartbroken.
A major shock at the beginning of the book jeopardizes their relationship badly. Now, Belly is grieving for several reasons.
During this, she gets a call from Jeremiah stating that Conrad is missing. She embarks on the journey to find the love of her life with her best friend, Jeremiah. (Does her mother know? Well, of course not!)
This leads them to Cousins Beach, where a revelation shakes them. The beach house is at risk, and all of them must work together to save it.
But will they be able to accomplish it despite all the conflicts and differences? Oh, I forgot to add that at the end of this book, Belly does choose one of the two brothers. You will have to read the whole book to know who she chooses. (I don’t want to spoil it for you)
My Review of It’s Not Summer Without You
If you compare the first and second books, the second one has more substance, which is understandable as the first one was the base of the story, and all of the main characters were highly immature and naive (teenagers).
The book has a few surprising moments for sure that you definitely saw coming, but it still evokes emotions within you while reading.
The plot of this book was good as it has a lot more going on, and Jenny makes it more interesting with her back-and-forth flashback moments.
Unlike the first book, the second part is not filled with sunshine and rainbows; it is much more serious than that. Here, you will see the growth of the story, and the writer has beautifully shown the hardships of young adults and how they deal with challenging situations.
The flashbacks in between are helpful to come out of the gloominess of the present and take us to the happy lives of the characters.
Overall, the plot was better than the first book, and I enjoyed reading it. I was happy it was not only about Belly and her whining about Conrad.
The character development can be seen in this book. Conrad and Jeremiah seem more mature, and even Belly’s personality has grown.
Belly whines a little less and focuses on the much more serious matters. I still felt bad about the character Steven, as he was not even present throughout the book, except for a few glimpses in the beginning.
In this book, Laurel, Belly’s mother, finally acted as an actual mother.
Besides Belly’s POV, there was also Jeremiah’s POV, which I loved.
All in all, this book is better and moves the story toward the ending part. I liked this part and felt all kinds of emotions while reading. Yes, I bawled my eyes out, smiled, laughed, and was also furious, which is not a big thing for me as I am like this whenever I have a book in my hand.
To read this book, you have to finish the first one. Check out my review of the first one and dive straight into the series if you are in the mood to read some teen or summer romance books.
Wrap-Up
Either you like a book, or you don’t. But sometimes, the grey area exists where you cannot hate a book but can’t love it as well. That’s what makes us readers, I guess.
Some books are fabulous, some are good, a few are okay-okay, and some are worse. But you need to read to categorize them, right?
I hope this review was helpful enough to help you decide whether to pick the second book or not. Jenny Han is a good writer, and you should try her books if you are into the romance genre.
Have you read this book? Share your thoughts in the comments!