The Summer I Turned Pretty :(

A few weeks ago, when I was deciding what book to read for my blogpost, I realized that I haven't done any negative reviews all year, which surprised me. So, I decided to read The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han because I've heard so many negative things about it (I make good decisions I swear). And, after reading it myself I have a LOT of complaints about this book.

Well, the plot of The Summer I Turned Pretty goes like this: A 15-year-old girl named "Belly" (it's a nickname for Isabel) goes to a beach every summer to spend time with her mother's best friend, who has two sons: Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has had a crush on Conrad for 5 years, and views summer as the best part of the year. This summer, Belly has suddenly become "pretty" and the book spends SO LONG focusing on how she used to be "boring" but is now soooo pretty and everyone notices (more on this later). She then starts dating this guy named Cam just to make Conrad jealous (even though Cam is really nice and liked Belly BEFORE she "turned pretty" while Conrad has no interest in her.) Throughout the book, she deals with all this drama. I will say that there is an unexpected plot twist at the end, but somehow, they make even the plot twist romantic.

First, I found Belly's character really annoying, and thought she was a bad protagonist. She whines all the time about everything. But the thing that I found worst about her is how she dated Cam to make Conrad (and maybe Jeremiah?) jealous. Cam is so nice to her, and she just uses him throughout the book. Belly also kisses Conrad right after he rejects her, calls her best friend shallow and dumb behind her back to Jeremiah, and makes more bad decisions that I'm not going to go into. 

Second, I didn't like the way the book talked about being "pretty". The way the book talks about being "pretty" is harmful, as Belly constantly judges other girls and woman for not fitting into society's expectations of beauty. Nobody should be treated badly/differently because of their looks, obviously, but this book didn't do a great job of showing that. Additionally, I feel like this message might make readers, especially younger ones, feel bad about themselves if they don't fit into how the book describes being "pretty". I also found it really strange how Jeremiah and Conrad made fun of Cam for not drinking or doing drugs, especially since they can't legally drink yet. The book shows not wanting to drink as uncool, which was very weird considering this book is a YA book. Belly and Conrad also have a 2-year age gap by the way, which was also something I didn't know why the author included (they could have just been the same age).

What did I like about this book? Well, I found it entertaining. Belly complains a lot as I mentioned, which was annoying to read, but if you don't mind, it might be more fun for you. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book, but if you are like me and wonder how annoying books can be, have fun.

Thanks for reading my final blog! 

Juni