The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1)

Synopsis:
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along. 

My Rating: <img src="URL HERE"> 
Who Recommended it to Me: no one in particular
Who I Would Recommend it to: Fans of Sarah Dessen and those who like light beach reads and realistic stories about regular girls and their lives.

My review:
Oh, the summer story.  The one that makes you smell the sand of the beach and the chlorine of the pool as you're reading it.  The one that reminds you how wonderfully awful summers can be.  I found it very like Sarah Dessen's books, or The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.  A very quick fun easy enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it to those who are nostalgic about summer coming to a close but at the same time want a light read that you can finish in a matter of hours. 

The main character of this book is a 15-year-old girl named Isabel Conklin. Everyone calls her Belly. One of the things I found semi-annoying about this book was the girl's name -- "Belly". (Why am I reading so many books these days with girls who have bad names? I'm so confused.) The name Belly makes me think of a stomachache, or bellybutton rings, or the gross insides of people's stomachs.  Yes, this is disgusting, but can I help what I think? No I can't. So I'm just gonna tell you the truth.  Belly lives every summer with her mom, brother, and close family friends, Susannah and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah (again with the names; Jeremiah makes me think of the Bible for some weird unknown reason). They spend their days mostly hanging out at the pool, swimming, and just hanging out in general.  It sounds pretty fun, I have to admit.  

I'm not really sure how to make this into a formal review, so I'm just going to list things I liked and things I didn't like below. 
Things I Liked:
- The feel of the story.  Like I said in the first paragraph, I liked the way you could smell the sand and chlorine and have that feeling you get in the summertime just by reading a sentence of it. 
- The characters. Despite their names, they're really honest and well-figured out.  They seem like people you'd meet on the street or even people you'd be friends with. 
- Cam. I hated that she broke up with him and went for Conrad instead. I loved Cam, thought he was so sweet and that Belly was a total jerk to him. 
- Jeremiah. Thought he was great and funny.

Things I Didn't Like:
- How I could read it in a day.  I like to take my time while reading books but this one I just had no choice but to tear through.  After I read it I didn't really feel anything. 
- Conrad.  He was a jerk jerk jerk jerk idiot idiot idiot idiot! He was messed-up and annoying and I could say a loot of other things but I don't wanna get in trouble for writing them so I won't:)
- The names, as I already mentioned.  They were annoying. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Sarah Dessen and Nicholas Spark's The Last Song. I liked Sarah Dessen's books a lot better than I liked this book (they are some of my favorite books) but the writing and feel is exactly the same, so I think that if you're a Sarah Desen fan you might enjoy this as well.  I also wouldn't recommend this book to boys, or to people who think that you shouldn't just go around reading light reads.  It's definitely a light book and definitely a beach read, but thats what I sorta liked about it.  

So if you're going to buy it, I say sit back and enjoy.  Read it, appreciate it, review it, and all the necessary ingredients to reading a book.  Happy reading:)

♥Annie