"It's Not Summer Without You" by Jenny Han

**Spoilers!**

(I also read this book before, and decided to read it again.)


It's Not Summer Without You, by Jenny Han, is about Belly, or Isabel, is in her last year of high school. After her mother's best friend, and one of her best friends, Susannah, died of breast cancer, her life hasn't been the same. Her mother is breaking under the stress as executor of Susannah's will, and doesn't have any grieving time on her own. Belly's brother is far away, off at college, and almost non-existent in their current life. Her secret escape, Susannah's beach house, is now a memory, and Belly is dreading the summer without her time with her brother, mother, Susannah and Susannah's sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. To make matters worse, Conrad, the boy Belly has loved for forever, has broken up with her, and is detached and alone, not even talking to her, and dumping her right when Susannah died, when she needed him the most. But when Belly's told by Jeremiah Conrad is gone, she goes to find him without hesitation, and ends up at the beach house. This is her last chance to save her relationship with Conrad and finally come to terms with the death of the person that brought them all together. 

This book was pretty good, but it wasn't as good as I remember. It was still better than the last book, The Summer I Turned Pretty. The book is well written, like the last book (tip off the hat to Jenny Han). The whole story is well formulated, the characters are believable, the love story is sigh worthy, and it has a nice, neat love triangle to top the story off.

These are also all very basic and well worn tools by authors of YA romance books.

The character set up and development, thought predictable, are very nicely written. It's a very straightforward book in theme and plot, but the little details, as in the last book, make me like it so much. I love, strangely enough, the 'annoyingness' (no better word) of Belly after her breakup with Conrad, and after Susannah's death. She tries to use guilt to get what she wants, and find excuses for what I must say so myself, is terrible behavior. Also I liked how other characters (such as Taylor) react by getting mad at her, and not forgiving her. The holding grudges, obsessing, depression, whining, and just emotions of this book is what makes this a very believable book. The ways the characters interact have a lot to do with this, and it made the book a lot more enjoyable to read, in my opinion.

Many of the themes in this book are really cheesy. The brother love triangle, the way the brothers fight over Belly, the unrealistic things the people will do for love, all things that sometimes ruin a so far romance book for me. Even the classic beach cover with attractive girl with windblown hair is fairly overused. 

Reading this book again made me realize that many of the parts of the book that I loved last year made me a little queasy this year, and weren't as creative as I thought before. Though I obviously realized this book wasn't a greatest book ever, and that many plot points had been used before, it was just harder to enjoy when I realized it was glaringly obvious what would happen, not just because I had already read the story.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, and thought it balanced sappiness and real-life emotions. Jenny Han has a very specific writing type, and has a talent for books such as these, teenager-y romance plots involving summer romances. Her books are a guilty pleasure of mine, and I would be interested in reading the rest of this series.