Published: April 27th 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Page Count: Hardback, 288
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Chick Lit
Find the Author: Website, Good Reads, Twitter, Blog
Buy This Book: Amazon
, Book DepositoryCan 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.
Of course I couldn't leave this series at the first book - I had to know what happened with Belly and the seemingly semi good ending (that wasn't exactly fully satisfying) of the first book The Summer I Turned Pretty. It's Not Summer Without You starts out the next summer and Belly backtracks throughout the book to let the reader catch on to happened over the past year and why things are the way they are now, but still manages to stay in the present, much like the writing style of the previous book - a lot of little chapter flashbacks. We also are introduced to Jeremiah's point of view, which was a plus, I think. I really liked reading his side of the story. Especially his sincere feelings towards Belly.
I could easily see people saying that Belly is an idiot for pining after Conrad for so many years and continuing to put up with his attitude, which is clearly unsatisfactory. There were many times where I wondered what Belly saw in him myself. He was very emotionally distant and could be so cold hearted. [The prom incident... what the hell was that about? Even after finishing the series I still haven't found a good excuse for that behaviour] But other times his actions screamed that he cared a lot about her.
Overall, this was really good. I flew through it quickly and I put off everything to finish it. The ending was what I expected and it made sense to me. Definitely a series I recommend to those who love YA contemporary romance.
5 out of 5 Stars
I could easily see people saying that Belly is an idiot for pining after Conrad for so many years and continuing to put up with his attitude, which is clearly unsatisfactory. There were many times where I wondered what Belly saw in him myself. He was very emotionally distant and could be so cold hearted. [The prom incident... what the hell was that about? Even after finishing the series I still haven't found a good excuse for that behaviour] But other times his actions screamed that he cared a lot about her.
Overall, this was really good. I flew through it quickly and I put off everything to finish it. The ending was what I expected and it made sense to me. Definitely a series I recommend to those who love YA contemporary romance.
5 out of 5 Stars
I have only read the first two of this series and I did truly like them. The storyline with Belly and Conrad took me back to when I was a young teen pining after a guy I had no chance with. I am excited to read the last one in the series. I need to request it from my local library. This review reminded me to do that. Great review!
ReplyDelete@YA Book Lover Oh, me too! I read the third one and am working on posting the review now and it was really good! I had the same problem as Belly too, which is why I think I relate so much to this book! The third book was really good, definitely request it! :)
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