The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Well, I don't know about any of you out there but here in California, summer weather is practically here and with spring break coming up, I felt like a light hearted contemporary novel was appropriate. The Summer I Turned Pretty is just that. It's about a girl named Belly who feels like her life really only happens during summer when she, her brother, and mom all go to visit a family friend at her beach house with her two sons. This summer it especially special because it is the last one before some of them leave for college and things will change so, of course, Belly wants it to be perfect. It's far from that.

The main focus of this book is on the romance between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah, the two family friends. And oh, dear lord, is it dramatic. I know that's something that a lot of people enjoy but it was a little much for me.

I have to say, this book perfectly captures what summer should be. Family, friends, the beach, a beach house, and little parental supervision, It's very much like a teen summer movie. And that's a small issue I had. The setting was just so perfect it was slightly unbelievable. Along with that, there were just so many unresolved conflicts that it was frustrating. There are several times when Belly says "we never brought it up again." I know that it's sorta realistic but it's also lazy on the author's part. I know that the story would have been different if these issues were confronted but they weren't. It definitely got annoying.

The biggest issue I had with this book was that the "parents" in this book acted like teenage girls. Stereotypical teen age girls. The worst kind out there. There were absolutely times when I wanted to yell out "You're parents, ACT LIKE IT!" Several times I thought that if these were my parents, there would be major confrontation that would end in doors slamming but none of that in this book. Trust me, I do like a strong mother daughter bond, but this one was unrealistic for many reasons. The parents were so annoying I couldn't stand them. They were way too cool about what their children were doing and, yes, this does include mentions of alcohol and sex.

I liked the feel of this book. It is one hundred percent a summer read, Everything about this screams summer but with the lack of confrontation and the super annoying parents, my enjoyment level went down dramatically. 3.5 out of 5 stars.