Review ✎ The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a young adult romance written by Jenny Han and published in 2009.

By this point, especially after all the movies and series adaptations, Jenny Han is a well-known author. I watched one of the movies, adapted from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, and I honestly never intended to read any of the books. By that point, I was well beyond the intended audience age.

When I found a near-perfect, new copy of The Summer I Turned Pretty on the bottom, clearance shelf of manga at an FYE some distant mall away from where I normally lurk, and for under $3.00, I picked it up and figured I lost nothing by reading it.

I finished The Summer I Turned Pretty in less than two days.

I feel obligated to state again that this is below my normal reading range. Stylistically, this was meant to be read by a young adult. Middle school to early high school is where I would place its audience.

At present, I am twenty-three. The point of view in the story shifts in time anywhere between when Belly was nine to her in the story’s present being fifteen-turning-sixteen years old. I cannot actively relate to her thoughts or decisions, but I know that at one point in time, I could have seen myself in her character.

Questionable commas and lack thereof aside, the only qualm I had with grammar or proofreading arose when I encountered three lines in my version of the text following each other that started with the same three or four words. It was a momentary nightmare to get my brain to track what line I’d left off on, and I think I must have reread the paragraph a few times before being able to grasp what was happening.

Displaying the passage of time and relevant details to explain and understand the story’s present were executed in a phenomenal manner. I don’t usually enjoy time jumping, but the chapters were presented in a way that made it easy to follow. I appreciated it quite a bit.

My cousins are all within the scope of Han’s audience, and if they haven’t already read it, I would assume this is a book the three of them may enjoy. Adults like me may not enjoy it nearly as much, but it was a light read and held my interest without fuss.