Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty
Genre: Romance
Cast: Lola Tung, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Rachel Blanchard, Jackie Chung
Rating: ★★★★★
Teenagers suck sometimes. We are jerks to the people we love. We change everything about ourselves just to fit in. We make stupid mistakes that cost us friendships and love. We hold our emotions inside because we don't want to burden the people closest to us with our pain. We fall in love with the wrong people and the right people at the wrong time. We try to act like adults when in reality, we are just kids learning to make decisions on our own. The Summer I Turned Pretty exemplifies everything it means to be a teenager trying to grow up. It is love and heartbreak and country clubs and family and parties and best friends and pomegranate margaritas. It is the summer escapism every teenage girl and boy like me desperately needed.
(Remember when Outer Banks was the show of the summer in 2020 and 2021? Well, get out of the way OBX because the best summer show award goes to none other than The Summer I Turned Pretty.)
Belly Conklin, her brother Steven, and her mother Laurel spend every summer with Laurel's bestie Susannah and her sons at their beach house in Cousins. It's tradition. Every summer is the same... until Belly turns sixteen. She has always had a crush on Conrad, one of Susannah's sons, and is best friends with the other, Jeremiah. When they come to the house this summer, they realize she is no longer a little girl. Relationships will be tested, painful truths will be revealed, and Belly will be changed forever. It's a summer of first love, first heartbreak, and growing up - it's the summer she turns pretty.
As soon as this show was announced, I knew I wanted to read the books. I read all three in the span of one week and immediately fell in love with the characters - just like the internet said I would. The series was addicting, and that was a rare find for me. Every time I start a series that is three or more books long, I often lack the motivation to finish the series. Either they got boring or the first book didn't make me invested in the characters and the story. Jenny Han changed that for me. She brought me to summer at Cousins Beach with some of the most relatable and raw teenage characters I have read in a long time.
If we talk about book to show accuracy, there are different things left out of the show and things that were added. I guess it is an unpopular opinion of mine to say that adaptations do not need to be 100% truthful to the books. Sure, if there is a crucial detail that makes or breaks the story, then writers better keep it in. But honestly, a movie or show is a completely separate entity from the books. If they are exact copies of each other, then that would be a little boring and repetitive, wouldn't it?
The Summer I Turned Pretty has one of the greatest soundtracks of all time.
Multiple Taylor Swift songs. Multiple Olivia Rodrigo songs. Kim Petras. Bleachers. Ariana Grande. Phoebe Bridgers. Baby Queen. Dayglow. Billie Eilish. Bruno Major. Jack Harlow. Tyler the Creator. Haim. Dua Lipa.
The music budget had to be through the roof because I have never seen so many popular songs all in one show. This love (Taylor's Version) made its debut in the trailer, which was a brilliant marketing play on their part because that song has been stuck in my head ever since. It perfectly represents the feelings Belly and Conrad have for each other, and even plays in the last moment they have together in this season. For the rest of my life, anytime I hear this song, I am going to think of this summer at Cousins. The Summer I Turned Pretty is joining the ranks of shows like Heartstopper and Bridherton in having the best songs on their soundtrack.
Everyone adores a good love triangle. I won't say much about the Conrad versus Jeremiah debate - you need to watch the show and read ALL THREE of the books to make the decision on your own. If you want to read about the two classic tropes of boys involved in modern love triangles, click here to read a post I wrote last week about it. I also post a lot about The Summer I turned Pretty and why Conrad is the best choice for Belly on my TikTok @girlywithafilmcamera !
P.S. The Summer I Turned Pretty was already renewed for Season 2 before Season 1 was even released. Girlies who haven't read the books... you aren't ready for "It's Not Summer Without You."
P.S.S. To the adults at major news publications reviewing this show for not having a good romance to complement its great coming-of-age story, you are wrong and the show is not for you. I don't want to hear your opinion about it, so please, adult reviewers, please don't review this show like you were its target audience. Peace and love, Izzy.