Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Review: It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

The Summer I Turned Pretty, Book 2

Tags: YA, summer, cancer, death, grief, love triangle

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Note: potential spoilers for Book 1

Summary

Belly’s last summer at Cousins Beach ended on a bittersweet note. On the one hand, the love of her life, Conrad, finally noticed her in a romantic way. On the other hand, they find out that Conrad and Jeremiah’s mother Susannah’s cancer has returned. Everyone takes Susannah’s passing hard, but perhaps none more so than Conrad, who disappears halfway into his summer college session. Jeremiah asks Belly to help him find Conrad, which Belly agrees to—with reservation, for she has no idea how he feels about him, whether or not they’ll ever work out.

When they catch up to Conrad, however, they realize that something big is at stake, and it may require all of them to lay aside their turbulent feelings for one another in order to save summer as they know it.

Review

I find it very hard to describe why, exactly, I love this series so very much. The story’s not that unique, and the plot can drag at times. Nevertheless, I found myself effortlessly lured into Belly’s world in this second book in the series. IT’S NOT SUMMER WITHOUT YOU made me laugh, tear up, and swoon, and it is every bit as good as the first book, if not better.

It was impossible for me not to get emotionally invested in these characters. Jenny Han has created marvelously nuanced characters, flawed or troubled or just plain not nice…and yet all endearing. IT’S NOT SUMMER WITHOUT YOU has a gorgeous blend of family/parental tensions, vivid flashbacks, and your plain old-fashioned love triangle done right. The book is dotted with quietly emotional scenes that made me cry or cringe or shout at these characters I love to start treating one another better, darn it. The emotions are agonizing, and thus addicting. You don’t want to look away even in the most painful of moments.

Loving this book is an conscious act of devotion. I recognize that these books are not for everyone. Some might find the plot too slow and meandering to be engaging. Others will not feel much sympathy for Belly, who can come off as bland and immature. Those things, of course, did not bother me, for the sheer emotional resonance of this story quite justifiably overcame everything else.

With IT’S NOT SUMMER WITHOUT YOU, Jenny Han cements herself as a supremely talented writer who can avoid the second-in-a-trilogy book slump and make readers fall hard for the characters. Fans of the first book will adore this one, and if you haven’t yet read the first, you should definitely do so as soon as possible, preferably on a night when you want to feel emotionally alive.

Similar Authors
Gayle Forman (If I Stay)
Jillian Cantor (The Life of Glass)

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - I like that the font, color scheme, and images match the look and feel of the first book, but overall it's SO dull, and lacks a certain sort of passion, and doesn't do any justice to the story.

Simon & Schuster / April 27, 2010 / Hardcover / 288pp. / $16.99

ARC borrowed from Doylestown Bookshop's Advance Readers Program.

8 comments:

  1. I love emotional and strong books like this, so I'm sure I'd really enjoy It's Not Summer Without You. Thanks for a great, insightful review!

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  2. Haven't read the first book but have added both to my wishlist.

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  3. I loved the first book and am excited to read this second one. I'm glad to hear that it is as good as the first!!

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  4. I loved The Summer I Turned Pretty & can't wait to pick this one up. Glad you enjoyed it1 :)

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  5. I seriously love you. Really I love you. Because you get Jenny Han, and it's because of your review of TSITP that I bought it and read it, and I just bloody loved it. I just got an email today from the book depo to say that my copy of this one had been released, and I cannot wait to read it, especially after this mesmorising review. I really hope that Jenny Han starts getting some of the recognition she deserves, because she just rocks my book world. Thanks!

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  6. Great review! Can't wait to check this book out!

    Also, thought you might want to know that I'm having a huge book giveaway throughout the remainder of April. Autographed copies of books like Princess for Hire, Scones & Sensibility, Tortilla Sun and many more (including some Starbucks gift cards too!). Some are ARC's since the books haven't been released yet.

    Check it out here: http://www.chasingcheerios.com/2010/04/celebrate-national-literacy-month.html

    Hope you'll help spread the word!

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  7. Yay I'm so glad you liked it! I've been waiting to read this one ever since I read The Summer I Turned Pretty. Awesome review :D

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  8. Does Belly end up with Conrad in the end? Or was it Jermiah??

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Hello! I'm so excited to read what you have to say. Due to high amounts of spam, I'm forced to disabled anonymous comments for the time being. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes, and I hope you can understand and still appreciate the content here!

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