[texas forever]

this thread is dedicated to the books: the summer i turned pretty, it's not summer without you and we'll always have summer written by jenny han. <3

[keep the starlight]

It makes me unbelievably happy to see this thread. Thanks for starting, Lex!

I'm about to re-read the series, and I'm super excited to do so because the first book is my favorite. The last book has a lot of huge moments for Belly and Conrad, though. <3

[Stay to the Lights]

I have never heard of this series. What is it about?

[keep the starlight]

I fail at summaries, so...

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer -- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

The writing is just really solid and, I think, very poignant. The first book flashes back to her childhood summers a lot, which I really loved.

For you, Lex: "It has been revealed by author Jenny Han that a script is in the works by "a very talented screenwriter" as described by Han." LET THIS BE TRUE.

[texas forever]

^yes, yes, yes! i'm not sure if i'm rooting for a tv show or movie though. seeing belly/conrad on the weekly would be insanely sweet, but movies don't get canceled as easily. ahh!

Originally Posted by keep the starlight (View Post) It makes me unbelievably happy to see this thread. Thanks for starting, Lex! I'm about to re-read the series, and I'm super excited to do so because the first book is my favorite. The last book has a lot of huge moments for Belly and Conrad, though. <3

you have no idea how badly i want to gab about the series!!! omg. i'm. in. love!

i'm going to reread the trilogy too, right now. finished we'll always have summer last night. i'm def gonna highlight every single belly/conrad moment. i just have too. i mean, overall, book one is my favorite, but the last book! i love how jenny tied everything together! THE NECKLACE! belly. i never thought i'd say this, but what an idiot! ok, not really, but m'conrad! sigh.

anyway, i have so many thoughts on all three books. loved jeremiah telling belly he didn't want to be her excuse for not going after conrad. makes me wonder if he had been that all along. it's so weird though b/c belly had all these moments with conrad and even conrad told her, you must have known i've loved you all along, yet when it came down to it, she couldn't sacrifice everything for him like he wanted to for her. although, i get that she was afraid conrad would just pull away again after such a choice, but hearing everyone chime in on how badly conrad treated belly was INFURIATING! as if they'd even know what was in conrad's heart. and yea, belly could be just as downright mean to him as conrad was to her. so, please! oh, but the glass unicorn! that's what i love most about the books. right when you NEED conrad, there is such a wonderful reveal about his character. teehe. <3

[keep the starlight]

Originally Posted by texas forever (View Post) and even conrad told her, you must have known i've loved you all along

THAT MOMENT. I must have re-read that confrontation between them about 10 times before moving on. I just... gah. I love that he just put it all out there for her. It took him years to outright say it, but when Conrad makes moves, he makes them count. I love him, so.

I read the first 100 pages of the first book today at work... the amount of nostalgia in those pages is just unreal. I absolutely adore Jenny Han's writing style, and from looking at her tumblr, she just seems like the most awesome person. Anyone who loves Felicity and My So-Called Life is fine by me, I say.

[texas forever]

i wish i knew that scene by heart. line for line! another magnificent scene was when conrad told agnes about being in love. yes. ten. belly! I DIE!

how long has it been since you read the series? i didn't read at all today, but i'm hoping to make it through the whole first book tomorrow. gonna mark the belly/conrad scenes with a pen or highlighter or something.

i just skimmed her tumblr real quick. she's so... you know? i swear, i heard the line, "i'm in love, his name is jordan catalano" in my head, whilst reading book one. hee. and the triangle couldn't be more felicity. jeremiah is noel, of course. ugh. and jacob too. there are also quotes she plucked from other shows, like one tree hill, but. i love that she basically is such a fangirl, but her stuff isn't one-dimensional at all. and hell yes, she likes friday night lights. i actually pictured aimee teegarden as belly towards the end of book three.

lastly, i've been dying to post this all afternoon. i know the moment i knew jeremiah didn't deserve belly! it was when he hooked up with taylor! not only that, but then he goes onto blame belly for what taylor did to him. um. fail! so much. not that i don't like jeremiah, cause i do, but a lot of things bug me about his character. like the whole christmas w/ conrad thing. yeaaa. she almost stabbed him with a poker... that's how much you know, jeremiah! lolol.

[keep the starlight]

Originally Posted by texas forever (View Post) i know the moment i knew jeremiah didn't deserve belly! it was when he hooked up with taylor! not only that, but then he goes onto blame belly for what taylor did to him. um. fail! so much.

So much truth. Jeremiah makes it hard to like him at times, that's for sure. Other than the Taylor thing, what struck me so hard re-reading the first book, was the truth or dare scene where he kissed her - not that he knew that would be her first kiss and kissed her anyway - but that scene just broke my heart. It sucks when things happen, and you're just like, well... it's done. My first kiss? Awkward. In a room full of people during a stupid game. Poor Belly.

And later on when she kisses Cam and says, I wish that would have been my first kiss. Oh, Belly. =/

I'm going to start the second book tonight and I'm kind of dreading it. Reading about the loss of Susannah kind of guts me. Everyone is just so lost without her.

[texas forever]

cam was kind of a douche though. well, towards the end, anyway. i hate how belly felt so excluded from the boys club. ALL. THE. TIME! even taylor gave her the shaft. siiigh. susannah was like her only loyal confidant in book one. oh, and conrad too... kind of.

susannah dies off too early imo. i wish book two was more focused on cousins, etc, but alas.

[keep the starlight]

Cam didn't bother me so much, but it's hard to care about a guy who you can so obv. see is a filler guy. lol. When Conrad was like, you have your boyfriend to play with or whatever. I was like, ouch. Heh.

Oh, how Taylor bugged. Most of the time, I didn't get why Belly put her with her at all. I've had a best friend since kindergarten, but if she treated me like Taylor did, she'd be out. History be damned. I think it's kind of a sad thought, but also really poignant, that Belly kept Taylor around because she was SO desperate to have the forever kind of friendship with Taylor that her mom had with Beck.

And I actually get Susannah dying after book one because I think book two is all about the effects of that - Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah are forever changed, and in some ways, I think one book led to the next really well, if that makes sense at all. Like, maybe if Susannah had been around, Belly and Jeremiah wouldn't have become what it did. Idk, I'm tired. lol.

[texas forever]

i was sort of semi-rooting for cam in the beginning there, but he was so totally filler... just like jeremiah. teehe.

belly seemed to give everyone a damn pass BUT conrad. i was like, girl, he's your number one fan. ZZZzzz. and taylor, yea, just because you're friends with someone for what seems like forever, doesn't mean you have to drag on a friendship with them for life. people evolve, yadayada, but the way she treated belly was fail. so much. it's really as you say, belly wanted so badly to mirror her mom and beck, yet she forgot she didn't have to be a doormat to do so.

i know there was the whole ten month jump and then, bang, she's dead, which took what, ten chapters to unravel? but i was still left wanting more. i mean, one last good something to remember beck by. same thing with the ending of book three. those two things were so prompt and, well, conrad and beck were teh best!

[Queen of Babble]

that really sounds very interesting.. That definitely goes on my Want-to-read-booklist..

[texas forever]

you won't regret it. at all! such a nostalgic summer read. sigh.

[keep the starlight]

Yes, definitely read it! Nostalgic is a perfect way to describe it. LOVE.

Conrad and Beck really were the best. I love how she called him Connie. Well, a couple of people called him that but I just thought it was so tender when Beck did it. I loved me some Beck. <3

[texas forever]

conrad's middle name is beck too, right? awwz!