It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

Title: It's Not Summer Without You

Author: Jenny Han

Published: April 27th, 2010

Source: Around the World Tours

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Last year, all of Belly's dreams came true and the thought of missing a summer in Cousins Beach was inconceivable. But like the rise and fall of the ocean tide, things can change--just like that. Suddenly the time she's always looked forward to most is something she dreads. And when Jeremiah calls to say Conrad has disappeared, Belly must decide how she will spend this summer: chasing after the boy she loves, or finally letting him go.

I have really mixed feelings about this book. I loved The Summer I Turned Pretty, so I was really excited to read this book, but I feel that it was a rather large let down. I didn't connect with Belly nearly as much in this one as in the previous, and I felt like nothing really happened in this book. I think that I must have changed between reading the first book and this one, because I'm sure that The Summer I Turned Pretty was very similar, but the things that bother me now didn't then.

I really didn't like the way Belly pined after Conrad. He was a jerk to her, but she still acted like he was the best guy in the world. I felt like she was being really whiny throughout the book, and that she couldn't see what was right in front of her. She blamed a lot of her problems on other things, and was very immature.

I also thought that so much more could have happened in this book. It covers less than a week, and it wasn't the most exciting week either. After finishing it I felt like it was just half of the book. A lot of it was explaining what happened in the year before, and flashbacks to previous summers. I really liked the snippets of Jeremiahs thoughts, they made me like him so much and gave a different perspective on what was happening.

I thought that Jenny Han did a lot of telling, not showing. She told that Belly was in love with Conrad. She told that deep down Conrad really was in love with Belly. She told that Belly was broken up over Susannah's death. It really just isn't that believable when you're told, not shown. It made everything very superficial.  

Even though I was disappointed I was compelled to read, and once I got into I couldn't stop. There was a lot of interesting drama, and I didn't always hate Belly. The imagery was also fantastic, and some of the passages were just plain beautiful.

Overall, I liked it, I just think that it could have been so much more than it was. Hopefully the next one makes up for it.

Characters: 7/10

Writing: 8/10

Plot: 7/10

Originality: 9/10

Ending: 8/10

Overall: 39/50 C+

Title/Cover Comments: I really like the title, it's perfect. The cover is also really good. It fits with the first one and shows the love triangle well.