It's Not Summer Without You (Summer, #2)

by Jenny Han

[Stephanie]

We follow up with Belly the next summer. And she's not going to Cousins beach anymore. I was really sad to find this out. I really didn't want to read about Belly's summer with her best friend, Taylor. But thankfully, Conrad has to be all moody and run away, creating a goose hunt to find him, which leads us to Cousins Beach. And we get the lovely struggle of Belly's decision between Conrad and Jeremiah. Well, actually. It's not really Belly's decision, it's all Conrad's decision.

I have to say that Belly's mom, Laurel, is awesome and sometimes I can't stand how Belly treats her. It seems that Belly would much rather have Susannah as her mom. Which is really sad. It's obvious that Belly does not 'get' her mother.

Conrad was his usual crabby, jerk-y self. I mean, really, what does Belly see in him? He's such a jerk to her. And then you have Jeremiah, who is as sweet as he can be, and is desperate for Belly to start looking at him instead of Conrad.

I liked this story, though not as much as The Summer I Turned Pretty. The story focused more on Belly's relationship between Jeremiah and Conrad. There is more to the story, I just don't want to spoil anything. It was an easy read and the pages seemed to flip themselves. Just like The Summer I Turned Pretty, I was surprised to see that I read through 100 pages without even realizing.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and was happy to see the way it went in the end.