Book Review: We'll Always Have Summer

Two brothers.

One true love.


Summer will never be the same.

Belly has only ever been in love with two boys, both with the last name Fisher. And after being with Jeremiah for the last two years, she's almost positive he is her soul mate.

Almost.

Conrad has not gotten over the mistake he made when he let Belly go, even as Jeremiah has always known that Belly is the girl for him. So when Belly and Jeremiah decide to make things forever, Conrad realizes that it's now or never - tell Belly he loves her, or lose her for good. Belly will have to confront her feelings for Jeremiah and Conrad and face a truth she has possibly always known: She will have to break one of their hearts.

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In a Nutshell: We'll Always Have Summer is the conclusion to one of the best fluffy summer book series I've ever read.

Putdownability Factor: Non-existant. I only put this book down for reasons that couldn't be avoided like driving my cousins to taekwondo class or showering.

Cover Love: I absolutely love the covers in this series! The font, the colors, the continuity, the beachy feel, everything is just perfect.

My Thoughts (Warning! This review may contain spoilers for those who haven't read the book)

I've been reading this series since the beginning. These books are the absolute perfect summer beach reads and I'm sad that this is the last installment in the series. I won't have anymore to look forward to at the beginning of summer! But regardless, this series remains a summer favorite. And while not everything was perfect about We'll Always Have Summer, I still think it was a great conclusion, to a great series.

I love the way Jenny Han's easy going and poetic writing style mirrors the summeriness (is that a word? No? Well it is now. :P) of her novels. If you've read The Summer I Turned Pretty and Its Not Summer Without You then you should know what I'm talking about. Everything about her writing just exudes "Summer" and "Beachy" and "Laid back." We'll Always Have Summer is no exception. It definitely carries on the summer read legacy that was started in The Summer I Turned Pretty.

The beach house is back, and so are Belly's memories that go with it. My favorite element of this series is most definitely the flashbacks Belly has of summers past. Childhood memories of sand and boardwalks, ice cream cones, and sea spray. Everytime I cracked the cover of We'll Always Have Summer it was like being transported to the beach and being allowed to peek into the corners of Belly's mind. I would have loved more flashbacks in this book, but maybe that's just me.

So now that I'm done praising this book its time for me to lay it bare and tell you the few gripes I had. The biggest one being the characters. I just didn't feel like they were concrete with the rest of the series. I mean sure, Jeremiah was always the happy-go-lucky, fun-loving of the two brothers but honestly did you have to turn him into a frat boy?! Egh. And Conrad? Ohhhh Conrad. I'll admit he sort of won me over by the end of this novel, but since when did he suddenly care so much? And since when did he become so responsible? And why is he suddenly making Jeremiah look like a jerk when HE was always the jerk? Yeah, like I said the characters just didn't feel consistent with the rest of the books. Though I will say that I throughly enjoyed the Conrad Birdie reference used in this book considering that's what always went through my head while reading about Conrad. Glad you finally utilized that Jenny Han! Woot woot!

And my final issue with this book was the angst. Oh the angst of this novel! I have to say this is probably the most angsty, romancy book I've ever read. First there was the "he cheated on me" angst and then the "my mother won't support my wedding" angst, and then the "I might still like Conrad" angst, and finally the all important "which brother do I choose?!?!" angst. Too. Much. Angst.

Overall We'll Always Have Summer was a solid conclusion to the Summer series, but I certainly wouldn't say it was my favorite (that would be The Summer I Turned Pretty!). I give We'll Always Have Summer 3 and a half ice cream cones out of 5.

Who would I recommend this book to? Teen girls in search of some summer reads should definitely give this series a chance.

Julia :)