It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

Title/Author: It's Not Summer Without You (Summer #2) by Jenny Han
Publisher/Date published: April 27th 2010, Simon & Schuster
How I got this book: own it

***SPOILERS LIKELY FOR BOOK 1***

I always try to avoid them, but you know, they can slip in (sneaky little things really).

We meet up with Belly (I still think this is one of the most horrible names ever), Jeremiah and Conrad the summer after The Summer I Turned Pretty ended. Jeremiah calls Belly to ask her to come along with him to find Conrad, who's suddenly left school in the middle of his finals. Of course, he's gone to Cousins.

I loved meeting up with the characters again. It felt like getting together with friends and just hanging out. It was relaxing. It was another perfect summer read. This one is darker than the last and there are bucketloads of sadness going around.

Han shows us what happened in the last year through flashbacks and I was dying to find out exactly what went on between Conrad and Belly! And oh my gosh, it was heartbreaking! It brought tears to my eyes and I felt 16 again and hurting because one of the boys I was in love with broke my heart. I so wanted to hit Conrad even though I know it would be totally inappropiate given the setting.
SLIGHT SPOILER, light up to read:
It was at Susannah's funeral when Belly found him in the basement with that stupid girl whatsherface and they had a fight. I know you can't hit someone who's mother just died, but seriously? I would have been SOOO tempted.

Anyway, I absolutely love Han's writing. She manages to engage me completely and just makes me forget all about the rest of the world with her storytelling. I think I loved this one even more than I did the first book!

Go read it. Or the first one if you haven't already.

My rating: 5 stars