Salt, Sunscreen, and Second Chances: Jenny Han’s Summer Trilogy
I read this trilogy for its coming-of-age heartbeat and stayed for the way it lets you sit inside Belly’s messy, sun-drenched firsts: first love, first heartbreak, first real loss, and the first steps toward independence. Belly isn’t always lovable; sometimes I wanted to shout at her choices and her naïve ideas about love (and even her mom’s decisions). But there’s an honesty to how she stumbles and learns. The result is a story that’s painful, and sometimes painfully beautiful, in the way growing up really is.
Snapshot
Titles: The Summer I Turned Pretty, It’s Not Summer Without You, We’ll Always Have Summer
Author: Jenny Han
Genre: YA contemporary romance • coming-of-age
Vibes: beach house summers • love triangle • family and grief • firsts that change you
Heat Level: low (YA-appropriate, closed-door)
Why it worked for me
The courage to be imperfect.
Belly makes choices that can frustrate you as you read. She’s impulsive, naïve, sometimes blinded by what she wants love to be, but that’s exactly why the arc works. The trilogy doesn’t tidy her edges; it lets her be wrong, learn, and try again. Watching her move from wanting to be seen to learning how to see herself, her family, and the boys who matter makes the story worth it.
Firsts, rendered with honesty.
The series nails the visceral feel of firsts: the dizzy high of being truly noticed, that painful moment of a first heartbreak, the ache of losing a second-mother figure, the strangeness of preparing for college when home still needs you. None of it is melodrama; it’s every day life. Even when the situationships hurt, it feels earned.
Family as an anchor.
Mothers, sons, divorce, illness, tradition, each of these family dynamics tug at every decision. The beach house isn’t just a setting; it’s a memory bank where love and grief live. That family bond anchored so deep at Cousins Beach gives the romance stakes and situates Belly’s choices within a wider web of loyalties.
Summer as a structure.
By returning to Cousins Beach year after year, the books show how time changes everything. How the same porch light can look different once you’ve been broken and rebuilt. The seasonal rhythm becomes a mirror for Belly’s growth. Each year, Belly’s experiences in life give Cousins Beach a new meaning.
Favorite Quote
“Sometimes it’s like people are a million times more beautiful to you in your mind. It’s like you see them through a special lens—but maybe if it’s how you see them, that’s how they really are.”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty
Read if you enjoy
- Coming-of-age romance that feels lived-in, not polished
- Love triangle dynamics with emotional consequences
- Family-centered stories where mothers matter
- Beach-town nostalgia threaded with grief and hope
Content notes
Grief/illness (loss of a parental figure), underage drinking, heated arguments, breakup/make-up cycles, love-triangle jealousy.
Your turn
Which coming-of-age heroine frustrated you at times, but still had you rooting for her by the end? And what’s your favorite beach-set YA romance?
The Summer I Turned Pretty is a series on Prime Video.
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