The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han is a YA romance that is the first book of the Summer series. This book is very relatable about Belly, but her real name is Isabella. She’s 15 years old, and every single summer, her mom and her brother go to the summer house in Cozens Beach. They stay with this family, whose mother is best friends with their mother. They’ve grown up going to the same beach every single summer, and they’re her mother’s best friend has two boys. The oldest one is named Conrad, and the youngest is named Jeremiah.
So this story is about this one final summer that Belly goes. Finally, the boys notice her. I love the story because they had flashbacks of when she was little and the previous summer’s coming to summer. She has this crush on one of the brothers, and that one brother will never look at her in a way romantically. But in the summer, they’re finally romantically looking at her. So it is a slow-burn love story where you have to wait. If you want to read ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty,’ you need not wait because I am here for it.
7 Books Like The Summer I Turned Pretty
After reading the book The Summer I Turned Pretty, I fell in love with Belly. Our heroine, Belly, likes Conrad is when she was nine years old, and he stood up for her when Jeremiah and Stephen were picking on her. So she’s always had her eyes on Conrad. Conrad was a mysterious boy, and all girls gravitate towards that boy, especially boys that she thinks she will never get.
Conrad is so upset throughout the whole book. He was brooding and grieving throughout the book because he knew that she was dying. So we got to see the secret love of a girl. Now, I will review 7 romance books like The Summer I Turned Pretty. Let’s go!
1. Eleven Minutes
This is the story of a woman, Maria, who has not given too much attention to her family since a very young age. Also, she has not explored her desires, and she has not been able to do what she wants to do. So as she grows up, she wants to go away from her house, which she does.
But the life that she had imagined, which she thought was super glamorous and glittery, isn’t the life that she has to face. Then in that period, when she’s going through almost her worst time ever, she meets a guy who is a painter. That painter can recognize her in ways that she hadn’t recognized herself.
Coelho always puts a spiritual or philosophical tone on anything that he writes. So this is a very philosophical point of view of how Maria tests different feelings, love, attachments, and desires with different people. In the end, she discovers who she is, who she wants, and how she deserves to be treated. We saw Belly in the same situation in The Summer I Turned Pretty. If you’re going to read a story of a woman who has completely lost herself and then finds herself through love, then this is your book.
Author: Paulo Coelho
Average Rating: (4.5 /5)
Category: Contemporary Literature & Fiction
Number Of Pages: 273
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
2. The Mahzur
We follow two people who fall in love, but they are from different clans. That is a very Romeo Juliet theme, but they are from different communities. Those communities are each other’s enemies, but they fall in love. So it’s their journey as to what happens again. The language is easy, but this book is so hard to understand.
The twists and turns that come in the book in the middle itself, the ending is shocking, and it is heartbreaking. In the middle, with the other characters involved in their love story. It is beautifully written, and you will love to read it after The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Author: Dr. Henana Berjes
Average Rating: (4.6 /5)
Category: Middle Eastern Literature
Number Of Pages: 155
Available: Paperback | Kindle
3. The Confession
It is a story of a very young woman who does not know what she wants. She does meet another very ambitious woman. That is one timeline in 1982. Then we see another timeline in twenty seventeen, where there is a grown woman, but she is the daughter who did not find herself. She (Rose Simmons) has never met her mother after her birth, so she does not remember what she looks like.
Rose does not know what she looks like, so she starts the pursuit of finding her mother. For that, she meets the other very ambitious woman, the love story of the two women. On the other hand, it is the love story of the child, the girl, the woman who is finding her mother, and her journey of self-discovery.
So you can find many plot similarities with The Summer I Turned Pretty. There are elements of toxic relationships in this book, like how toxic relationships can affect two people in the relationship. If you want to immerse yourself in the very chill love story, you can pick up this book.
Author: Jessie Burton
Average Rating: (4.2 /5)
Category: Historical Fiction
Number Of Pages: 455
Available: Paperback | Hardcover | Audio CD
4. The Zahir
This book is more about love after marriage. So we all know that in the beginning, when we are not married or not, the beginning phase of any love relationship is enjoyable. It’s nice, amazing. But as time passes, even if we’re not married, there are so many things that change, so many things we take for granted. This is the story of man and wife, and the wife has suddenly disappeared. We do not know where she is, whether she is kidnapped, dead, or run away.
We have no idea at all, and the man is a writer. He’s trying to find his wife now, which slowly becomes his obsession. So this is a story of what happens with his obsession. What happens to his wife? Where is she? What happened to her? Again, Paulo Coelho has made it very philosophical, very spiritual.
Author: Paulo Coelho
Average Rating: (4.5 /5)
Category: Contemporary Literature & Fiction
Number Of Pages: 336
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
5. The Lines We Cross
This book describes a charming and beautiful love story. Like The Summer I Turned Pretty, it is a story of two people who fall in love with their teenage years from different communities. There are a lot of differences between the communities. The differences of the communities can also be seen among the two people, like these two kids that have fallen in love.
They have their own beliefs based upon whatever their community believes, so they have a lot of fights. They are not able to understand. Also, they hate each other first, but they do fall in love. So it is one of those stories where you are haters first, but then you fall in love and then how you get over stuff.
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Average Rating: (4.5 /5)
Category: Prejudice & Racism Fiction
Number Of Pages: 400
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
This book is the story of a woman who has the biggest ambitions and aspirations ever. But she again has not been in an environment where she can fulfill them. So as she grows old, she does anything and everything required to fulfill her ambitions. This story is narrated by somebody else, a journalist who is trying to dive deep into the story of Evelyn Hugo. Why did she marry seven times? Did she find love after marrying seven men? What is her story?
Evelyn Hugo generally is a very secretive person. I cannot tell you a lot more than this the fact that she has married seven men, her entire character arc, how she changes the ending. The story is very emotional. So if you want to read something like this, go ahead.
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Average Rating: (4.6 /5)
Category: Holiday Romance
Number Of Pages: 400
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
7. Sputnik Sweetheart
A guy narrates this story. It is a story of his best friend, but he is in love with his best friend. But the best friend is in love with somebody else. So it is a triangle love story similar to The Summer I Turned Pretty. He narrates what happens to her and what happens to her love, who ends up with whom.
The writing style again is gorgeous. The characters stay with you. They are gorgeous, and that is the best thing when it comes to Murakami because his characters are so memorable. You can visualize how they will look.
Author: Haruki Murakami
Average Rating: (4.5 /5)
Category: Magical Realism
Number Of Pages: 210
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
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