Book Review | We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

Bring your summer hats and swim suits because it's officially summer with the last book of the Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy.

Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for those who have not read The Summer I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You.

Check out my review for The Summer I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You!

About We'll Always Have Summer

Belly thinks she's got her life all figured out. She's over the boy who has consumed her teenage years, she has a boyfriend she loves and who loves her, and she's in the same school as her best friend; It's everything she's ever wanted.

But what she doesn't know is her boyfriend is keeping a secret from her. And so is her ex-lover, who also happens to be her boyfriend's brother.

In We'll Always Have Summer, Belly has to make a difficult choice. Which brother will it be?

We'll Always Have Summer Review

Okay, I’ve got to be honest. That was so good.

The angst. The pining. Literally, give me everything.

Let’s first talk about the characters because they are the superstars of this book.

Belly Conklin is now a grown-up who goes by Isabel. She’s in Finch University with her best friend and boyfriend, how much better can her life get?

Not going to lie, Jeremiah Fisher’s personality just dropped from the second book. He was so inconsiderate, acting immaturely, was a selfish prick and made an unforgivable mistake. I don’t know what happened to him from It’s Not Summer Without You but this is not my Jeremiah. He’s probably the worst character in this book and it’s such a shame that so much time was spent developing his character, just for it to go down the drain.

On the other hand though, Conrad Fisher. He's the love of my life. This is his book.

Belly’s best friend, Taylor Jewel, was also extremely lovable in We’ll Always Have Summer. The girls seemed to have gotten over some kind of barrier and now they’re as thick as thieves. I loved Taylor and appreciated how much she did for Belly, especially when she was going through a difficult time.

Plot, pining, what's the difference?

The book basically revolves around this one plotline and everything leading up to it. It’s quite a bit of a spoiler so I’m not going to talk about it in detail. However, I felt that this plotline was a little rushed. I think there was a different way to go about the love triangle, and this crazy decision that Belly made was not the right solution to do it.

That being said, the pining was everything. Now we have chapters in Conrad’s POV and it’s intriguing to read about what goes on in that convoluted mind of his. I feel that he has been such a mysterious character to me because I haven’t seen his brain fleshed out in front of my eyes. But now that I have, it’s messy, beautiful and I want more of him. What’s the point of life if I don’t have myself a Conrad Fisher in the end?

Words of poetry.

Jenny Han, you have outdone yourself with the writing in this book. The profession of love was sentimental and it touched my heart deeply.

This was a beautiful end to a series. It’s reassuring to know that We’ll Always Have this book with us.

★★★★☆ (4/5)

About Jenny Han

Jenny Han is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the To All The Boys I've Loved Before series, now a Netflix movie. She is also the author of the Summer I Turned Pretty series, Shug, and Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream. Her books have been published in more than thirty languages. A former librarian, Han earned her MFA in creative writing at the New School. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.