It’s almost summertime, and there’s nothing more beautiful than days with seemingly endless sunshine, hours of time spent at the beach relaxing, building bonds during afternoons that leave us feeling profoundly closer to one another with a magical backdrop enveloping our every move, and romances that make your head spin. There’s a special type of magic that exists in the summer, and that feeling is perfectly captured in Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Han’s book trilogy focuses on Belly Conklin and her journey to finding true love, or rather, allowing herself to discover and feel it. She found true love ages ago when she first realized the meaning of the word — but she never thought it would be hers, so she spent years longing for her heart’s desire, Conrad Fisher. As we meet Belly, she’s stepping into what she calls the summer that could help all of her dreams come true, and those dreams are soon the dreams of viewers watching at home.
The Summer I Turned Pretty isn’t just a series; it’s a vessel. It takes you back in time to your first great love, to a chapter that allowed you to believe in magic; it reminds you how important it is to experience life with the person who helps you believe in it all — at any age. Be it those teen romances we first experienced or the love you share now with a partner in a comfortable space. Perhaps it even helps you look forward to a love that hasn’t become yours yet, but one day might.
If you’ve already seen the series before, you know its magic, and if you haven’t yet — you’ve got just enough time to watch the first season before the second is set to debut this summer, and trust us, you won’t want to miss a second of it. So where can you watch The Summer I Turned Pretty for the first or fiftieth time? We’ve got you covered.
What is The Summer I Turned Pretty about?
First things first, what is The Summer I Turned Pretty about? As we said above, it’s a love story of epic proportions and not just for our beloved main character. You see, Belly’s journey to her heart’s truest desire is undoubtedly the crux of the series and Han’s book trilogy, but it’s not the only one. Love is an all-powerful emotion, and its at the forefront of every character’s mind throughout the stories being told, lives being lived, and hearts evolving.
We meet several characters in various places of their lives, and they’re all finding pieces of their puzzles to put together. There are hearts ready for love, hearts looking to be mended, and hearts that break without the promise of being put back together, and even then — there’s hope.
Susannah and Laurel are the picture of love between friends, the kind that surpasses all changes and all disappointments, keeping them close through every up and down they’ll ever face. Conrad and Jeremiah are prime examples of brotherly love; sometimes competitive, often quite sarcastic, but true. Belly and Taylor are friends, and their love keeps them sound through disagreements and moments of selfishness, offering understanding and kindness instead of judgment. Steven and Shalya have a sweet love, the kind that incentivizes and hopes despite differences and changes, and of course, Belly’s love for Conrad defies any obstacle that could ever be placed in its path.
All types of love, hope, and magic exist within the pages and the scenes within The Summer I Turned Pretty, and they’re as inspirational as they are entertaining.
Where can I watch The Summer I Turned Pretty?
The Summer I Turned Pretty is streaming on Prime Video, and it is a show you won’t want to miss. While there’s only one season so far, Han wrote three books about the summer boys and girls we love so much, and with season two on the horizon, there’s still a lot of story left to tell.
For fans who have read Han’s books, you’ll notice some changes throughout the series — and that’s okay. Han wanted to make certain things different for audiences sitting down to watch the series. For fans who expected each episode to highlight exactly what took place in the books, she says to be upset with her and no one else because she’s calling the shots. E News shared the following statement from Han a few months ago.
“There’s always gonna be changes here and there, so I guess you’ll just have to wait and see. I’m the one doing the changes, so I guess get mad at me, because I’m the one who’s changing it!”
While there’s no idea of what changes she’s got on the horizon, fans are crossing their fingers that a life we’re prepared to lose is instead spared. That’s right, in the books, we lose a character that we grow to love quickly, but their time in the series has yet to feel long enough. Perhaps it’s because we’re anticipating their loss, but it feels like we’ve got some depths to uncover with them still and some great joys to experience.
Other changes are definitely on the horizon for fans of the story, and a lot of them have to do with Han writing the book 13 years ago and the various changes that have happened in the world since then, as she explained to E News.
“I was approaching it like, ‘What if I was writing this book in 2021?’ The characters are all still the same, but I think with so much time passing it’s just a different moment. Even though 13 years doesn’t sound like much, it’s a significant amount of time that’s passed and culture has moved in so many different ways, even from technology to diversity.”
Here’s hoping an unforgettable and unchanging love still exists at the heart of the series because it still exists for all of us and, of course, for Han. After all, She wrote the story and knows the most genuine desires of her heart for these characters.
Who is author Jenny Han?
Jenny Han is a talented author, and even if you’ve never read or watched The Summer I Turned Pretty, you’ve likely heard of her. She’s also the author of the wildly popular To All The Boys books and franchise. Han’s words are easy to fall in love with, as are the characters she writes and the stories she navigates them through.
Han received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing in 2006 from The New School and wrote her first book as a college student. The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy was published between 2009 and 2011 and was followed by the Burn for Burn trilogy, which she co-wrote alongside Siobhan Vivian. After that, she worked on the To All The Boys trilogy, and the books quickly became a social media and pop culture sensation.
In addition to being a powerhouse, she’s also a woman who knows how to capture so many emotions simultaneously, and they’re all heavy and beautiful. Speaking again to E News, she said the following about how she hoped The Summer I Turned Pretty would feel.
“I wanted it to feel like a locket that you find, you open it up and there’s this picture inside. It’s a memory, but at the same time, I wanted it to feel resonant and current and raw.”
Anyone who has ever loved anyone, be it a family member, a friend, or a romantic partner, will know that The Summer I Turned Pretty gives them that exact feeling. It’s a reflection of every great love we’ve ever had, in all of its glory and despair, and the moments in between that made it worth holding onto.
Han’s talent is hard to put into words, and luckily for all of us, she does it best herself. She writes the kind of stories and characters that you can’t forget, that you want to revisit over and over, and we’ll soon get the chance to take a new journey with the Conklin and Fisher families when season two of The Summer I Turned Pretty becomes available on Prime Video.
Who stars in The Summer I Turned Pretty?
The stars of The Summer I Turned Pretty are a young and talented cast of actors and actresses that embody every aspect of the characters that we know and love. Lola Tung breathes life into Belly Conklin while Jackie Chung plays her mother, Laurel, and Sean Kaufman, her brother Steven. Conrad Fisher is played by the talented Chris Briney, with Gavin Casalegno playing his brother Jeremiah, and Rachel Blanchard playing their mother, Susannah.
Minnie Mills plays Shayla, David Iacono plays the beloved Cam Cameron, Belly’s best friend Taylor is played by Rain Spencer, Summer Madison breathes life into the iconic character that is Nicole, and the Fisher family is made complete by Tom Everett Scott as Adam Fisher alongside Colin Ferguson playing John Conklin.
The cast bonded during their time together on set, and their off-screen friendships have crafted a more profound connection for their on-screen partnerships in the various ways they interact. While you anxiously await the upcoming second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, you can find the first season streaming in its entirety on Prime Video, and with summertime approaching, it’s the perfect moment to get lost in the great love stories once more.