Note: This review contains no spoilers of We'll Always Have Summer, but may contain spoilers of the first book in the series, The Summer I Turned Pretty, a review of which can be found here and the second book in the series, It's Not Summer Without You, a review of which can be found here.
I really love Jenny Han's writing, but I'm not sure I always love her stories. Such is the case with the third and final book in the Summer Trilogy, We'll Always Have Summer.
This book starts off with Belly agreeing to marry Jeremiah. Never mind the decision feels rushed to everyone, including Belly's family and the reader– I mean, she's still in college and she's only been with him for a couple years. But stubborn as always, Belly doesn't care. I'd blame Jeremiah, but he's so in love with her it's not like you can expect him to act any different. But what it means is that from the very beginning, I'm already not a fan of Belly, something I struggled with throughout this trilogy, as much as I loved the boys unfortunately the girl they were both fighting over could be pretty irritating.
I did start to understand Conrad better in We'll Always Have Summer in this novel, something I struggled with in the previous book, It's Not Summer Without You. Maybe Conrad was also made more appealing by the fact that Jeremiah has basically turned into a frat boy, a transformation I found disappointing though I guess it was realistic.
Of course the moment Belly agreed to marry Jeremiah I wanted Conrad to sweep in and steal her away, but the way things unfolded did seem believable. I guess overall I was happy with the ending, and Han manages to tie up everything pretty nicely for the reader, but it just felt a little like something was missing. Maybe I would have been happier if this series had ended with The Summer I Turned Pretty because for me as a reader, none of the subsequent books lived up it. That said, it was refreshing to see Belly finally grow up a bit by the end.
Ultimately, these books haven't changed how I feel about Han as a writer. Her writing is beautiful and her characters are complicated, and I will definitely be continuing with her recent co-written series, which began with the first book I read by her, Burn For Burn. She's a writer I'll continue to watch out for, even if We'll Always Have Summer isn't a book I'll be returning to again.
I really love Jenny Han's writing, but I'm not sure I always love her stories. Such is the case with the third and final book in the Summer Trilogy, We'll Always Have Summer.This book starts off with Belly agreeing to marry Jeremiah. Never mind the decision feels rushed to everyone, including Belly's family and the reader– I mean, she's still in college and she's only been with him for a couple years. But stubborn as always, Belly doesn't care. I'd blame Jeremiah, but he's so in love with her it's not like you can expect him to act any different. But what it means is that from the very beginning, I'm already not a fan of Belly, something I struggled with throughout this trilogy, as much as I loved the boys unfortunately the girl they were both fighting over could be pretty irritating.
I did start to understand Conrad better in We'll Always Have Summer in this novel, something I struggled with in the previous book, It's Not Summer Without You. Maybe Conrad was also made more appealing by the fact that Jeremiah has basically turned into a frat boy, a transformation I found disappointing though I guess it was realistic.
Of course the moment Belly agreed to marry Jeremiah I wanted Conrad to sweep in and steal her away, but the way things unfolded did seem believable. I guess overall I was happy with the ending, and Han manages to tie up everything pretty nicely for the reader, but it just felt a little like something was missing. Maybe I would have been happier if this series had ended with The Summer I Turned Pretty because for me as a reader, none of the subsequent books lived up it. That said, it was refreshing to see Belly finally grow up a bit by the end.
Ultimately, these books haven't changed how I feel about Han as a writer. Her writing is beautiful and her characters are complicated, and I will definitely be continuing with her recent co-written series, which began with the first book I read by her, Burn For Burn. She's a writer I'll continue to watch out for, even if We'll Always Have Summer isn't a book I'll be returning to again.
Release Date: April 26th 2011 Pages: 291 Source: Borrowed Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Also By This Author: The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1); It's Not Summer Without You (Summer #2); Burn for Burn (Burn for Burn #1)
Buy It: Book Depository
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