It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

Belly, 16, lives all year for her summers at Cousins Beach. But when a family friend dies and the beach house tradition is threatened, she faces the season without her second family and without the boy she loves. In this follow-up to The Summer I Turned Pretty (S & S, 2009), Belly is still reeling from the dissolution of her relationship with Conrad, her lifelong love, and the death of his mother. But mourning Suzanne is even harder since Conrad has shut down, refusing to talk to Belly or anyone else. When he suddenly leaves school without explanation, his brother, Jeremiah, recruits Belly to help find and mend him. The trio find themselves at Cousins Beach after all, and the memories and feelings of the past come flooding back. Complicated and fragile, Belly's relationships with the two young men are put to new tests as she and Conrad come to terms with their relationship, and Belly and Jeremiah begin to build a romantic bond of their own. This sequel is as quiet and thoughtful as its companion. The nostalgic imagery of a lifetime of experiences at a serene and magical place like Cousins Beach is alive once again, and the desperation the characters feel when faced with losing a loved one and possibly the beach house, too, is warmly imagined. Fans of the first book will enjoy this continuation in which nothing is easy for Belly, but the end result is worth the heartache


Usually I don't really like it when books have a sequel.

Especially Chick-Lit books.

I feel like they drag out way too much.

It's Not Summer Without You was even better than the first.

It was just, amazing.

I thought Jenny Han's writing was even better in this one,

and she really made the story come together and nothing dragged along.

Some of the chapters were from Jeremiah's point of view, and those were my favorite.

It just made me love Jeremiah even more (I honestly didn't think that was possible)

Even though I loved Jeremiah's chapters, they broke my heart.

They were so sad!

But, that's what I love about this book, it's one of those books that will make you sad, or maybe even angry, but, the whole time you love every second of it.

Okay, even though I loved this book, I do have one complaint.

Once again, Belly sort of annoyed me.

I felt like she acts very immature.

 I got over it quickly when something really good came up.

Which pretty much happened every page.

My siblings really try to be extremely loud when I'm reading a good book.

So, I was constantly yelling at them saying, "Shhhhhhh! It's at a good part!"

I actually stayed up until 4am last night reading.

I just could not put this freaking book down.

I had to know how it ended.

If I didn't finish it right then, I knew I would be restless, thinking about what would happen.

So thank you Jenny Han, for being a amazing author, and helping me find books that I will definitely re-read during the summer. (:

♥ABIGAILE