It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.

But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started--at Cousins Beach.

Summary taken from Goodreads

I am completely in love with this series. It’s the perfect blend of summer fun and complete heartbreak. Though this one was definitely more heartbreak than fun. I liked The Summer I Turned Pretty a little better but this one was still amazing.

    It’s Not Summer starts out telling us that Belly will never be going back to Cousin’s beach because Suzanne has past away. Hello tears! And in the first chapter too. Ouch. Then we have some heartbreaking flash backs of how horrible Conrad treated Belly. I just wanted to smack that kid! He made her feel like she completely made up their relationship in her head, which we all know was the furthest from the truth. What a dick. ‘Cuse my language.

    Then we have Belly’s mom. After losing her best friend, she completely shuts down. She went through the motions of day to day life, but she wasn’t really there. It was like she lost a piece of herself and didn’t know how to go on without Beck. Ugh it was so painful.

    In all honesty, Belly bugged me a bit in this one. Though I think that was kind of intentional. She was grieving and didn’t know how to deal with it. She acted like she was the only one who lost someone and it kinda made me want to punch her a little bit. Instead of trying to understand what Conrad was going through, she just pushed and pushed. Gah is all I have to say about that!

    “How do you regret one of the best nights of your entire life? You don’t. You remember every word, every look. Even when it hurts, you still remember.” That line. Oh that line. It kicked me right in the gut. I literally burst into tears and had to put the book down. Han is amazing at doing that, hitting you right where it hurts the most. Her writing is beautiful and I loved every word of it.

    I’m still a little shaky about the ending. I got it, it made sense. And I hated it. But then I didn’t. See? Shaky. (Except with how badass Belly’s mom was at the end! Loved it!) The next book is definitely the next on my to buy list. I can’t wait to see how it end, but I also don’t want it to end. You know what I mean?

    Have you read this series? What do you think?