It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
*Book 2 of the Summer Series - Reading level: Young Adult
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
- ISBN-10: 1416995560
- ISBN-13: 978-1416995562
- Received From: I bought it
Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.
But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started--at Cousins Beach.
My Thoughts:
This is a really good teen contemporary book and I have enjoyed the series so far. I love both Conrad and Jeremiah as characters; they each have something very special about them. Jeremiah is that super sweet boy that would make the perfect boyfriend and nobody has a bad thing to say about him. Conrad, oh how I love him! He’s super smart and yes he can be annoying but he’s the type of person who you have to earn his trust for him to open up to and I can totally understand that because I am the exact same way. I have a love/hate relationship with Belly; sometimes she can be so childish and I just want to shake her but every once in a while she does do something to redeem herself. Belly gives up too easily, if she really tried she could break down Conrad’s defenses but she doesn’t. Instead she basically throws a tantrum trying to get him to give in but it never works. Also at the end of this book, I do not like her decision because she takes the easier option and that irks me. Oh and Laurel is freaking bad ass when she wants to be!
The only real problem that I have with this book is that the love triangle is pitting two brothers against each other. I hate that I have a terrible relationship with my own sister so this unnecessary conflict between Conrad and Jeremiah just gets under my skin. However, I enjoyed reading this book and I read it in 6 hours and overall I give it 4 quills.
