Rating: 7/10
This book left me with mixed feelings, which I think is going to cause this review to be a little bit all over the place.
Overall, The Sumer I Turned Pretty was an okay read. I enjoyed the general storyline, but it's the ride along the way that caused me to only give this book 3.5 stars.
The first issue I had with this book was the flashbacks. Some fitted and contributed well to the story, however I felt most of them were out of place and caused the main storyline to become disjointed. It's not that I thought they shouldn't be in the book, it's more that there needed to be more of the main story between each flashback - sometimes it was only one short chapter, a few pages. It was like being interrupted while reading by someone talking to you, and having to find your place again.
My other main issue was with two of the main characters, Belly and Conrad. Belly was selfish and immature, and snapped out like a child continuously. I know she's only 15 in the book, and I'm sure I was similar at her age, but it meant I found it hard to like her, which is very important to me when reading a book. If I can't like a main character, I can't enjoy a book as much.
Conrad treated her like dirt during the entire book, both in the flashbacks and the main storyline, and we're supposed to believe there might be something there? I know he had reasons for his attitude that summer, but in my opinion it didn't excuse his behaviour. I wish there had been more focus on Jeremiah. I'm hoping there will be in the next book (but I doubt it).
In saying all of this, I didn't dislike the book overall and will be reading the sequel at some point. I just hope the characters have matured a little bit by next summer.
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