Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Published: 5th May 2009
Series: Summer 1
Source: Own Copy

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 terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along. - From Goodreads

OH MY GOD!!! Next time I need a good cry I will pick up either this book or "It's Not Summer Without You" and I will re-read them and weep! Belly, Isabelle, has always spent summers with the Fisher family in their beach house. Susannah Fisher is like a second mother to Belly and both Conrad and Jeremiah treat Belly like an annoying little sister, that is until this year.


This book gives the appearance of being a light-hearted girly romance - but don't be fooled!! This is a touching story of growing up, extended family and first love. It deals with some honest and real situations in a lovely way and I could completely relate to secretly pining over the "close family friend" (although if you ask my mother it was not so much of a secret!!) For me, Belly became such a real and well rounded character to me so that when she was happy, I was happy and when she was sad, I weeped!!


If you are looking for a YA book which is more than a book about a teen crush then I would turn you around, march you to the nearest bookshop and order you buy a copy!

Review: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Title: Going Too Far
Author: Jennifer Echols
Publisher: Pocket Books/MTV Books
Published: 17th march 2009
Source: Own eBook on my Kindle

All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.
John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge -- and over....

I finished reading this book about 5 minutes ago and even though I have a number of other books waiting for review I just couldn't wait to share my thoughts on Going Too Far. Without making you wait for my thoughts I absolutely loved this book. I devoured this from the very first page and I could not put it down. This was one of those books that even when I was not reading it I was thinking about it. If I thought I could get away with having spent the day working today on no sleep I would have pulled an all nighter last night to finish it. This is one of those books that I will be pushing on anyone I, even remotely, think might like it.

The main character is Meg. A feisty girl with bright blue hair and a habit of getting into trouble. The book begins with her trespassing on a railway bridge, drunk and stoned. After having to spend the night in jail, thanks to Officer After, Meg ends up with a unique punishment. Meg has to spend her Spring Break doing night shift ride along with Officer John After. Quickly Meg finds out that Officer After is only a few years older than herself and they begin to bond.

I really liked Meg as a character. She makes lots of mistakes and is flawed in that she has serious panic attacks whenever she feels trapped. This spills over into her feeling trapped in her own town and life leaving her eager to do whatever she can to get into Collage and out of her town. Meg never feels sorry for herself or complains about her situation and to me I thought that this was what made the book so enjoyable. You follow Meg through her story just hoping and praying that she wont say or do the worst.

Can I also just shout about the romance in this book. Fantastic!! The relationship which builds between Officer After and Meg through the whole book is brilliant. Quickly they are able to go from them wanting each other and then something is said or done and before you know it they are arguing, usually for one of them to save face. I found myself on a number of occasions wanting to shout at the characters and give them a good talking too. Then when the passion was building between them it was hot. I loved it.

I came late to this book, and more than a few young adult fans will probably have already read it, so all I can say is if you have not read this book go and get it now!! I loved it!!