All three of these were about 6 hours audiobook each and because I am a maniac, I listen to books on 2x speed so I finished these in like 2 days.
There is actually a TV show based off these books and after I finished all of them, I forced (he wanted to) my friend to watch the entire thing with me.
Now for all three audiobooks, that is 18 hours. But this damn series is 3 seasons with an average of like 8 episodes. Each episode was longer than the last so probably around 24 hours of TV show was watched in 3 days.
Now, my friend lives in a different state than me so we were on the phone for like 8 hours each day while we watched this series.
I am going to give a run down of each book and then shit on the choices they made for the series. We will see how much I remember with what they changed, what they kept, and what they added on… Mind you, I’m having to pull this from the depths of my brain because this was back in December. I have just been too lazy to do these right now.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
A girl is obsessed with a boy. She has been for years. Her family is poor(ish)(more like middle class) but his family is rich. Every year they go to “the summer house” while on break and spend the whole time together. There is also a brother to the FMC and a brother to the boy that she has a crush on. In the books FMC’s brother is barely there but also kinda mean to her. They made him more present in the TV show and also made him a nicer/better brother.
Both of their moms are also at the summer house with them, they have been best friends since college. FMC parents are divorced and the two boy’s parents SHOULD be divorced lol.
FMC spends the summer trying to figure out why Conrad (the one she has a huge crush on) is so moody and rude all of a sudden. She ends up having a fling with some guy she met at a party who is actually a really nice guy but she is just too in love with Conrad to actually be in a relationship with him. Jeremiah, who is the other brother also starts to be really nice to “Belly”(FMC nickname, lowkey forgot her government name and I am too lazy to look it up) but that doesn’t really matter too much in this book.
So it turns out that the boy’s mom is sick with cancer again and its not looking good babe. Conrad and Belly end up getting together the end
Also there is a lot of flash backs to previous summers throughout the book to explain the build of the relationships she has with the Fisher Family.
Oh also Belly has a best friend named Taylor and she SUCKS. I hated her so much. She was so unsupportive of Belly and only looked out for herself. I feel like everything she did was for her benefit and used Belly the entire time.
It’s Not Summer Without You
Mama Fisher dies. Belly apparently was a bit of a bitch to Conrad at the funeral. They broke up after we was an ass to her at her prom. Jeremiah shows up and is like “Conrad ran away from college and needs to take his finals but is no where to be seen come help me find him plz. So they go on a trip to the…… SUMMER HOUSE! You guessed it. They learn that The Fisher dad is trying to sell the house bc it makes him sad but the boys are trying to save the house because selling it will make them sad. They eventually involve Belly’s mom and she convinces the dad to keep the house on the condition that Conrad pass all his finals he hasn’t been studying for. They end up having a huge study session and go to school and he takes his exams. While Belly and Jeremiah wait they end up kissing. Conrads find them. He pretends to not care and is like Belly and I are done so whatever but he actually cares a lot. Jeremiah and Belly end up together.
The brother like doesn’t exsist in this book at all. He is maybe mentioned twice.
Taylor was a little better in this book but still hated her.
We’ll Always Have Summer
She ends up in a getting engaged with Jeremiah after she finds out he slept with someone else while they were “on a break”. Absolutely crazy thing to do but like they are children. Esp in this book. I think Belly is maybe just graduating college and Jeremiah was finishing freshman year of college. Conrad is still in love with Belly though and spends the entire time upset that they got together. He also ran away to the west coast for Med school (I think this is a thing in the book but the TV is more present in my brain.)
They tell her family that they want to get married at the end of summer at the summer house and their parents are not happy about it. Her mom is like “i will not be going to this wedding cause I think it is stupid” and Belly runs away to live at the Summer house. Turns out that Conrad is staying there during the summer so they end up basically living together. Taylor is Belly’s maid of honor, Conrad is Jeremiah’s best man. Jeremiah is working at his dad’s company to prove that he is a good son that can be responsible but because of this he is missing on helping Belly with wedding stuff and naturally Conrad is helping in his place lol. Of course that doesn’t end up great.
Mom eventually comes around to it but not in a way of I am happy for you but in a way of you’re my daughter and I don’t want to lose you way. Also mom is totally rooting for Conrad but like lowkey.
The night before the wedding, Conrad confesses that he still loves Belly. She is understandably pissed, tells Jeremiah. He freaks out and runs away. Conrad finds him and talks him into going back with a letter from his mom but oops Belly’s mom gave him the one that is meant for Conrad.
Jeremiah calls off the wedding and eventually Conrad and Belly end up together but idk the time frame on that. There is a time jump epilogue at the end where Jeremiah is with someone new and Conrad and Belly are getting married.
There is no sex in any of these books except for the time Jeremiah cheated on Belly lol.
Books vs Show: what was better
The biggest thing is they age the kids up which makes sense so they can have sex later on lol. Also helps with it not being much of a ‘child bride’ issue, just a dumb early 20-something issue.
The brother is a lot more present in the show, he even gets a bunch of his own story lines.
Taylor is a lot better in the show and also gets her own story lines. I love her a lot more in the show, she is less selfish and kind. Also the brother and Taylor end up together after a lot of on again/off again. I like them together actually.
The mom is more present. We get to know what she does for work, you see her have some relationships, she briefly gets back together with the dad. I liked her a lot actually lol.
Belly and Jeremiah have sex because when we get to their relationship they are junior/seniors in college respectively. He still cheats on her tho so boo him.
Conrad is also kinda better in this.
Also, after Jeremiah breaks the wedding off with Belly, she runs away to live in Paris for like a year or two. Conrad comes to find her eventually and that is what leads to them getting back together.
All together though, none of these three people are great. They are all selfish and can’t make up their minds and use each other left and right. It is insane
Also the entire show is basically like Taylor Swift music video. Every other song is hers. You could tell me that she produced this and I wouldn’t be surprised.
Oh, and just as we thought we were done with the series, they have surprised us with a movie so I guess we have that to look forward to. Mitchell, you WILL be watching that with me.
The other Jenny Han series (at least movie series) seems like the characters are better and not as selfish. I have never read the books so maybe I will try those soon.
BYE
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