Review: It's Not Summer Without You

Title: It's Not Summer Without You (Summer #2)
Author: Jenny Han
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 288
Challenge: YA Series 
Source: Library
Retailer: B&N / Amazon

My Rating:

Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come. But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started--at Cousins Beach. -Summary from goodreads.com

It's Not Summer Without You picks up a couple months after the last scene in The Summer I turned Pretty. It's summer again, but this year, Belly’s stuck at home… this year there will be no Cousins beach because Susannah has passed away. Belly feels as if her world is slowly beginning to fall apart. Not being at Cousins Beach makes each day seems like a year. Everything changes when she receives an urgent call from none other than Jeremiah Fisher himself.

If you’ve read The Summer I turned Pretty, then you’re accustomed to Han’s flash-back writing style. I enjoyed it very much in this second installment and was even more excited when I learned that we’d get some chapters in Jeremiah’s point of view. Usually changing point of views irritate me. But of course Han made it work flawlessly. Although I was expecting Susannah's character to pass away, I will admit that I did shed a couple tears. Beck was the base to this family, and you can really notice a difference now that she's gone.

I found myself engaged in these characters and, more specifically, their own distinct personality traits. The storyline surprised me; it helped me discover just how odd and tortured some people can be after they lose someone they love. Of course I’m talking about moody Conrad- with his sad lonely nights, heartbreak and his always changing teenage emotions…. He reminded me of my own coming of age story and the lasting pains of growing up.

I could not put this freaking book down! It’s been a while since a book has kept me up late, last night I broke my record with It's Not Summer Without You. I had to know how it ended. It was just, amazing, it was even better than the first. I remember reading the last pages and opening my mouth in shock. Jenny Han can write ten more books with these characters and you can bet your bottoms I will read them all! Now; onward to book 3.