We’ll Always Have Summer (Summer #3)

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!! On some levels, this series was very well written and very touching. There were moments when I got very choked up and moments when I could really relate to the characters, their experiences, and what they were going through emotionally. Belly, (the main character) is in love with two brothers (Conrad and Jeremiah) who she grows up vacationing with every summer as a kid. Belly’s character is so beyond annoying in so many ways, you just want to scream. She spends 3 books going back and forth between the two brothers which, by the way, seemed really unhealthy and super dysfunctional to me! The brothers also stomp on her heart so many times it’s excruciating to read and pretty unbelievable that they would do that to a girl so close to them and who they say is almost like a “sister” to them. There’s way too much to explain here, but basically, Belly spends her life pining away for Conrad who is pretty much a remote, closed off jerk to her throughout the entire series but is supposedly “in love with her.” You never really get any of those delicious private moments between the two of them to really illustrate that he’s so irrevocably in love with her, or any of those “tingly” moments that make all of the angst worth it. It’s all of the angsty build up, and in my opinion, none of the juicy reward. Everything is described after the fact in flashbacks described by the characters, and not always described well! Even at the end of the series, when she finally ends up with him, after 3 entire books of reading and waiting and playing the will they or won’t they game, you never get a big moment. They get together through a series of letters at the end (3 lousy letters I think it was!!!) and then you read about them running away from their wedding to jump in the pool at the summer house the grew up going to. This series is so unfulfilling and unsatisfying as a reader, it’s actually maddening!! I feel like I’ve been duped! I hate when I can tell that the author just had no idea how to wrap things up and just abruptly ends a three book series like this! You don’t ever get to see the main characters finally professing their love or come together after page after page of anguish. It’s like a slap in the face! I’m trying to save you a lot of frustration with this review, I wish I had saved my time and money!!

First read 5 stars. Second read 3. I remember really liking this series when I read it the first time. I read all 3 books in one day. After finishing this series, I\’m like wtf was I thinking? Belly is annoying AF. In my opinion, she doesn\’t deserve Conrad or Jeremiah and I also don\’t think either of them deserve her either. The whole third book I wanted to punch all 3 of them. THEY\’RE ALL IDIOTS. At this point in the book, Jeremiah and Conrad are around 21 and I feel like they should be more mature and not make such idiotic decisions, BUT WHAT DO I KNOW. I had to force myself through this 3rd book because I had to see if it would change my mind about the series in the end. It didn\’t. Partly, could be because I have outgrown books like these, but I think that the series was just a little sloppy. Whatevs.

Belly has loved two boys in her life: Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. Conrad was her first love and the first boy to break her heart. Jeremiah was the one who was there to pick up the pieces. In the two years since, Jeremiah has been the perfect boyfriend. He\’s fun, he\’s dependable, and he has always loved Belly. But is that enough to build an entire future on? Conrad knows he made a mistake when he pushed Belly away. He knew it even as he pushed harder. When Belly and Jeremiah announce their engagement, Conrad realizes that time is running out if he wants to try to win Belly back. The Fisher boys have been part of Belly\’s life forever. She never imagined that in choosing one of them she might have to break the other\’s heart in We\’ll Always Have Summer (2011) by Jenny Han. We\’ll Always Have Summer is the final book in Han\’s Summer trilogy which begins with The Summer I Turned Pretty and continues in It\’s Not Summer Without You. This book is narrated by Belly with a few chapters from Conrad. My only complaint is I wish we had more from him because it was so fascinating to finally see things from his point of view. After Jeremiah won me over in book two, I wasn\’t sure what to expect for the end of the trilogy. That I couldn\’t decide how I wanted this love triangle to shake out speaks volumes to Jenny Han\’s strengths as an author and how well-developed all of these characters become by the end of the series. I always know I\’m enjoying a series when it becomes impossible to choose a favorite book. I loved meeting these characters in book one, and I loved the way book two flipped everything I thought I knew upside down. But it might be this final book that has become my favorite as I think about the way things finally come together for Belly. We\’ll Always Have Summer is the perfect conclusion to what\’s become a surprise favorite series. Come for the swoony romance and suspenseful love triangle, stay for the sweet ode to summer and growing up. A highly recommended series. Possible Pairings: Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian, Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum, Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo, Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo, Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland, The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder, The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart, Save the Date by Morgan Matson, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon,Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

I honestly enjoyed this book so much I had to leave a review.This is such a rollercoaster of emotions and I have just finished reading all three books in the series.I 100 percent recommend these books.At first I was like it’s so Conrad but then I want sure and the ending was so nice and it felt like I was reading an amazing fairytale.I loved how in each book it showed different perspectives of other main characters in the story but always showed Isabels point of view.Thank you Jenny Han for creating such a masterpiece. I had just finished reading to all the boys I’ve loved before when I saw this book.I thought nothing could beat tatbilb but honestly I was shocked when I read these.Honestly such an amazing set of books and I seriously recommend these. Well done Jenny Han .I am speechless. -Reader ✨

It was always going to be hard for Jenny Han to write a really brilliant ending to this trilogy. In THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY she created the most wonderful love triangle – two brothers who were so different, and Belly, the touching, slightly awkward heroine who was brave when she needed to be. Resolving it has made for some unfortunate character development that, as other reviews mention, doesn\’t seem fair to the characters I loved in the first book. There is literally no reason for Belly to choose one of the brothers over the other; she would have to be insane to pick one of them and mad to turn the other down. For me, having the choice made so simple was a problem because it made the story drag while you waited for the situation to be resolved. I do think though that if they had stayed as they are in the first book, it would have been impossible for Belly to pick one without making herself very unpopular with readers. In this book, Belly is very passive, to the point of being dim, and seems to have lost all self-knowledge as she\’s got older. Jeremiah is irritating and so (in a different way) is Conrad, as Han reworks what happened in IT\’S NOT SUMMER WITHOUT YOU to make sense in the light of what\’s happening in this book. While I like her writing immensely, I think her heart wasn\’t in this book. I felt she was bored with the characters and struggled to make a thin story reach the extent she was aiming for. The world of Cousins is so vivid and atmospheric, but revisiting it this time we hear very little about it, or about summer, and a lot about stationery. The last scene resolves everything, but it\’s an impression more than a scene – a moment in time that is truly lovely, but not enough. If you\’ve read the other two books, do read this; if you haven\’t, don\’t start here as this is not her strongest work. There were parts of this book that I adored, and others that I didn\’t, but I think Han\’s talent is unquestionable and I still want to read whatever she writes next.

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