Reviewed by Kellie Nissen
Kissing him, being with him like that … it was cool
lemonade with a long straw, sweet and measured and pleasurable in a way that
felt infinite.
Except, it wasn’t infinite.
Ever since Belly (Isabella) could remember, she’d spent summer at the
Fisher’s beach house. Susannah and her mum had been childhood friends. Belly
had practically grown up with the Fisher boys – she was best friends with Jeremiah
and had given her heart to Conrad.
Now, it was all over. And things would never be the same again.
Being seventeen is tough. You’re on the cusp of change, no longer a
child but not quite an adult. Emotions everywhere. Confused. Happy. Miserable.
Readers will be drawn to Belly as she navigates true highs and lows – love and
loss.
In It’s Not Summer Without You, Jenny Han continues Belly’s story
from where she left off in The Summer I Turned Pretty. Having achieved
her goal of getting the Fisher boys to notice her – really notice her – Belly’s
world is rocked when the boys’ mother, whom she adores, passes away from
cancer.
With her own mother devastated and emotionally unavailable, her best
friend Taylor wanting her to snap out of it, and the boys distant with their
own grief, Belly feels her world will never be the same again. Worse still, in
her own grief, Belly says words to Conrad, on the day of Susannah’s funeral,
that no apology will remedy.
Then, Conrad disappears.
Jenny Han reaches inside the turbulent and emotional world of
adolescence and deals masterfully with the issues of grief and uncertainty. She
brings humour and passion to the story, developing believable characters who
all readers will recognise.
A beautiful, poignant story, It’s Not Summer Without You will
appeal to the lower end of the Young Adult readership.
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