Book Review: It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

It's Not Summer Without You (Summer #2) by Jenny Han
Publication date: 27th April, 2010
Source: Trade

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 Review:

Favourite Quote: "I stared at him. Did he really say that? Did he remember? The way he looked back at me, one eyebrow raised, I knew he did. And this time, I was the one to look away.
Because I remembered. I remembered everything."

Don't you love it when the second book in a series is way better than the first?  That is the case with It's Not Summer Without You.  I enjoyed The Summer I Turned Pretty but sometimes founds the characters are little annoying.  But in this installment of the series the characters have grown and the story seems a little deeper and more meaningful.

I love Han's writing.  She really captures the emotions of being a teen and in love.  I am sure we all remember how painful and confusing it is.  And Han writes it perfectly so that it causes your heart to ache.

Belly's character is showing some maturity in this book. If you have read the first book you will know she was a little bit selfish.   Sure she still makes mistakes but in this installment she starts to get a little wiser.

"That's when I finally got it. I finally understood. It wasn't the thought that counted. It was the actual execution that mattered, the showing up for somebody. The intent behind it wasn't enough. Not for me. Not anymore. It wasn't enough to know that deep down, he loved me. You had to actually say it to somebody, show them you cared. And he just didn't. Not enough."

Love triangles for me are either sooooooo bad or sooooo good.  And surprisingly, considering it is two brothers (how more complicated could it get), it is good.  Probably because I really love them both even though they are complete opposites.  

Conrad is moody and sometimes selfish and is definitely unpredictable when it comes to his interactions with Belly.  I love how in this book his character is very slowly unravelling and we are getting a glimmer of who he really is behind all that angst.  And there is something about a flawed soul that I can't resist.

Jeremiah made me swoon.  I mean how could anybody not adore this guy especially since in this book we got snippets of his POV allowing us to get know him on a deeper level.  Seriously, he is the biggest sweetheart and the underdog when it comes to Belly's affection.

Overall, I loved It's Not Summer Without You.   I got completely emotionally invested in it and now am super excited to read the final installment (even though I know it will probably break my heart). 

Overall Rating: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Romance: 5/5
Cover: 4/5

Shout Out: I would like to say a big thank you to Nomes for reading this with me.  It was an awesome experience.  We read it over one night and check in every hour or so to discuss.  We had so much fun dissecting the book and ended up typing over 3700 words through conversation on google docs about it.  Okay so most of it was Jeremiah is making me swoon and Conrad is moosy....I mean moody (still laughing about your typos Nomes).