Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty

My rating: ★★★★★
Book: The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1)
Author: Jenny Han
This book was initially recommended to me by Joanna. It's a light, easy summer read, I was going to leave it till the summer to read it but I couldn't help myself.  This book turned the tables for me! Seriously!

Right on the top of the cover of this book, it has the following quote

"This book has what every girl wants in a summer." -- Sarah Dessen
I hate it when authors use other authors to promote their books, if that makes any sense at all. But yeah you know what i mean, it's one of my pet peeves, i can not stand it, and i still don't like the fact that it was there -_-. Putting that aside, i don't care who the quote was by but the quote itself it made me want to just eat the book up, i knew it would be about summer romances, long walks on the beach, all those little cute things that just make you all mushy inside.

When i got to the second chapter, i realised there were alternating chapters, going back to past summers at the beach house. Usually, I hate alternating chapters, i think it distracts away from the main story, but I honestly do think it worked perfectly for this book, we find out about certain things at the right time, it just brings the whole book together so perfectly, finding out about the mysterys of past summers, the first kiss, the first heartbreak, it adds to the foundation of the story in the present (Belly at age 16).

"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."

There isn't a proper plot to the book, but i didn't actually mind that. The book sort of just follows the course of the summer from their journey to the beach house at the beginning of the summer to the last day of summer, and it works. The book is from Bell's POV so naturally we can empathize with her, become her, live the moments she lives, we feel what she feels, the way Conrad makes her feel by just a look, the yearning to be noticed, her love for Susannah.
With Belly, you get to explore beaches, summer vacations, friendships, romances, family, love, illness, coming of age. It's not a deep book but it if for sure a fun book. I can't seem to get across how amazing this book is, it just gives you butterflies.

I Can not wait to dive into the second book, but as with Divergent and Pandemonium and about 50 other books I'm forcing myself to stop reading as much until after my exams in June. 

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