We'll Always Have Summer

A few years have passed since Conrad ditched Belly and told Jeremiah to basically go for it. Belly’s done with her first year of college, and she and Jeremiah are still together. Their relationship isn’t perfect, though, and when Jeremiah proposes to her, she decides to dive in, despite some reservations. What should be the happiest time of their lives is complicated by the fact that not everyone seems to be all that thrilled with the impending nuptials. Belly’s mom won’t speak to her, and then Conrad shows up and complicates things further. It’s time for Belly to make up her mind about the Fisher boys once and for all, but how will she know it’s the right choice?

Getting my hands on an electronic galley of this book a few months before the release date was pretty exciting. I devoured the first two books in Han’s Summer Trilogy, and the wait for this third and final book was a little bit painful. Reading the last chapter of Belly and Conrad and Jeremiah’s story was bittersweet, to say the least.

The good news is that Han is still a really good writer. She tends to shine the brightest when writing about Conrad, Jeremiah, and Belly’s shared past as children. These anecdotes were few and far between in this novel, and they were missed. However, Han’s prose is always pretty, and her descriptions of the beach and the summer house made me ache for summers long past.

Also well done is Han’s consistent characterizations, almost to a fault. Conrad is still brooding and stoic. Jeremiah is still charismatic and a little happy-go-lucky. Taylor is still a shameless flirt. Belly is still mostly sweet and unbelievably naive, and that’s where the characterization becomes hard for me to swallow.

(MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.) Belly has finished a year of college and has been with Jeremiah for two years. She has lived away from home, has made new friends, has gained new experiences, and yet she’s still almost blindingly ignorant about the way the world works. Her childlike innocence about everything is underscored by the fact that she is still a virgin. This little tidbit of information was so shocking to me that I had to reread the passage several times.

I realize that Belly’s withholding of her body to Jeremiah is supposed to be indicative of larger problems within their relationship, but I still think it’s weird and unrealistic. She’s known this boy her whole life and we’re supposed to believe it’s never happened? No wonder he cheated on her.*

The other problem with Han’s novel is that the love triangle starts to wear thin. Belly’s drama with Conrad and Jeremiah starts to feel played out, and much of the suspense was killed by the fact that I just wanted her to pick one of them and stick to it. Belly is still torn between two brothers who are both in love with her (even though she’s not that awesome), and her waffling between the two of them for a third book is a little irritating.

Even though the concept of getting married so young made me uncomfortable (which I think is Han’s intent) Belly’s consistent ability to get between Jeremiah and Conrad was more unsettling for me this time around. Being caught in a love triangle has its appeal (in theory, at least, although the reality is decidedly less glamorous), but being in a love triangle with two brothers has an ick factor. Something about it didn’t work for me this time, and it wasn’t as romantic as I would have liked.

Fans of Han’s series will be divided about the ending, because that’s how it goes with love triangles. To me, it felt like a natural progession, and I don’t think it will shock anyone. The last few lines (the entire epilogue, actually) are especially beautiful, and they evoke that ache within readers for summer for the ocean, and for youth.

*This was a joke, people. No one who decides to wait for sex deserves to be cheated on.

We’ll Always Have Summer hit shelves on April 26, 2011. ( )

Amazing. ( )

The final instalment in Jenny Han's summer series was bittersweet. I was not overly impressed with the story but I was reluctant to say goodbye to Isabel and the Fishers. In a way, the story did not seem to matter too much, as it seemed to take a backseat to the ultimate goal of tying up loose ends and finally seeing Isabel married to Conrad. I have to agree with the review written by Naomi (author of the blog Inkcrush, which I love) who quite rightly pointed out the character inconsistencies created by the author trying to manipulate us into rooting for Conrad. Jenny Han did not need to do this because everyone was already on Conrad's side! If she had maintained Jeremiah's open and all-consuming nature from the first two books, it would have definitely added greater depth to the story and actually made it seem like Isabel faced a dilemma. In the first two novels, both Fisher boys are equally tempting to Isabel but by the end of the third Jeremiah seems like an immature, stereotypical frat boy and Conrad is literally Mr Perfect. I understand that it is a YA novel, written for the younger end of the spectrum but there is no need to actively talk down to the audience by creating such black and white characters.One thing I do like about this trilogy is the nostalgic tone created mainly by the lack of sense of time and even place. I vaguely recall a Britney reference in the second book but other than there were not many topical references, meaning it will probably remain a teen favourite for a long time.Overall, I have enjoyed this series- it has definitely been very up and down (for a start, I hated the title 'The Summer I Turned Pretty') and I am sure I will re-read them again someday. Hopefully, if nothing else, it will teach girls to avoid dating brothers!! ( )

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE SUMMER, by Jenny Han, is the romantic conclusion to this amazing series about being a teenager and appreciating all there is to young love. We left Belly off with Conrad letting Jeremiah "have" her, leaving Conrad shippers waiting in the wings to see if they had just one more chance together.

I am so in love with this series and I am partly happy that I waited to read all of them at once, I don't know if I would have been able to wait to read each subsequent book. But I have to say out of all of them, this was my least favorite. Now hold on before throwing tomatoes at me, I did like it plenty but I did have one issue:

One of my biggest issues was the teen marriage. I tend to steer away from books that approach this issue because (1) it shows how little respect teens have for their parents and (2) it seems like an excuse to create drama, and there was enough drama and sexual tension between Belly and the brothers to give me hot flashes. Personally, I didn't like that part of it, but I'm sure others who are fans of the series might have liked it…it just wasn't for me.

Since the whole "wedding" took up most of the book, I soaked up with scenes between Belly and the brothers outside of the marriage-talk. It was interesting to see Belly and Jeremiah outside of the beach house. His true colors came out, making her realize that their life wasn't just the summer. I looooved the scenes with Conrad and Belly. They had me tied up in knots and I wanted to scream at them, "Just get together already!"

Marriage issue aside, I thought this was a perfect ending to the series. I think all of these kids did a lot of growing up in a short amount of time and I was very pleased with how Han wrapped it up. I would recommend this book as a beach read (no pun intended) or a cozy up by the fire kind of series.

This story kind of hit close to home because I recently got engaged, but thankfully everyone is supportive of it, unlike Belly and Jeremiah.

I really got annoyed with Jeremiah in this book. He seemed somewhat different from the other two books. He seemed like he was doing what he wanted to do no matter what. He wasn't thinking of the future, he was only thinking that this will mend his and Belly's relationship. For now. And I actually liked Conrad this time around. He has definitely grown up since the 2nd book and has softened up and is just all around much nicer. And we get his POV! SO we finally know whats going on in his head.

I felt bad for Belly's mom, Laurel. I couldn't understand why Belly was being almost harsh with her. I understand that Belly was just swept up in all the wedding planning, but she never took the time to really think about what her mom was trying to tell her or what her mom was feeling. I was definitely on Laurels side throughout the whole book.

It was really refreshing to read about characters who were older than 17. I can't even recall any YA books with characters older than that.

Overall, this was a great ending to the trilogy. I was really happy with who Belly ended up with. ( )