Can't get enough of 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' books? Try these romances next
Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah?
Gone are the days of the great Edward vs. Jacob debate – now we’re all watching to see who Belly ends up with on “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” The cast confirmed the hit Amazon Prime series will return for a third season in summer 2025.
In anticipation, many have turned to the original books by Jenny Han. But if you’ve already finished the trilogy and need another summer romance in your hands, we’ve got ideas.
What is ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ about?
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” is a coming-of-age story that follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin, a teenage girl who lives for summers. The rest of the year doesn’t matter – she only wants to be at her beach house with her family and their longtime friends. She’s known Jeremiah and Conrad, the sons of her mother’s best friend, practically her whole life. Over the years, she’s seen them as brothers, friends and even crushes.
Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist
For years, Belly has liked the older brother, Conrad, but he sees her as a little girl. And then there’s Jeremiah, who Belly realizes she may have been overlooking for too long. Now, as she’s nearing 16, everything changes and both boys begin to see Belly in a different light.
This series is a trilogy. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is followed by “It’s Not Summer Without You” and “We’ll Always Have Summer.”
Books like ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’
These young adult and adult books are the perfect follow-up to “The Summer I Turned Pretty” – full of fleeting flings, crushes on the friend next door and the enticing possibility that one summer can change your life forever.
‘Love and Other Words’ by Christina Lauren
This is a similar childhood-friends-to-lovers tale, except this book alternates between the “Then” and “Now.”
“Then,” Macy Sorenson was a teenager quickly falling for her best friend Elliot, who lives next door to her family lake house. “Now,” Macy is a pediatric resident and engaged to a practical, financially secure man. “Then,” Elliot and Macy spent summers and weekends bonding over their favorite books, words and growing pains. “Now,” they’re unintentionally reuniting a decade after the fateful night when a declaration of love changed and destroyed everything.
‘Some Other Now’ by Sarah Everett
Like “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Some Other Now” finds 17-year-old Jessi Rumfield caught between two boys who live next door – Rowan and Luke Cohen. They are more of a family to Jessi than her biological one. But after a tragedy and chain of terrible mistakes change everything, the broken bond between Jessi and the Cohen brothers seems unfixable.
One year of silence later, Luke reenters Jessi’s life with a proposition – will she pretend to be his girlfriend to make his mom, who is battling a terminal illness, happy?
‘The Summer of Broken Rules’ by K.L. Walther
In “The Summer of Broken Rules,” Meredith Fox returns to Martha’s Vineyard, where she typically spends every summer, for her cousin’s wedding. It’s also the first time she’s been back since her sister died and she was recently – and unexpectedly – dumped, which ushers in a whole host of complicated new feelings.
A family game of Assassin should take her mind off things, especially since her target is a very cute groomsman. But she also doesn’t want herself distracted enough to lose the game and fall into another doomed relationship.
‘Every Summer After’ by Carley Fortune
In "Every Summer After," Persephone “Percy” Fraser spent every summer of her childhood at a lake house with her best friend, Sam Florek. They were inseparable for six summers – a friendship that eventually blossomed into something more – until she made the biggest mistake of her life.
Now, years later, Sam and Percy reunite at the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral. “Every Summer After” is told over six years of summer and a once-in-a-lifetime weekend to set things right.
‘A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow’ by Laura Taylor Namey
In this young adult romance, Lila Reyes’ summer plans fall hopelessly apart. Worried about her mental health, her parents send her off to England to relax and recuperate with family friends. The summer vacation may be a dream to some, but it feels dull and grey to sulking Lila.
Everything changes when she meets teashop clerk Orion Maxwell, who is determined to turn the summer around for her by showing her around the city and countryside.
‘One True Loves’ by Elise Bryant
“One True Loves” follows Lenore Bennett, a recently graduated high school student looking forward to starting her new life at New York University in the fall. She’s under a lot of pressure from her parents, but luckily she has a family cruise to look forward to before the semester begins.
When her family bonds with another family on the cruise, she finds herself stuck with Alex Lee, an irritating, hopeless romantic golden boy. Sparks fly all across Europe in this summer travel romance.
‘The Infinity Between Us’ by N.S. Perkins
If you’re looking for another summery-friends-turned-lovers tale, try “The Infinity Between Us.” In this book, Violet Mitchell and Will Seaberg have spent eighteen years together in a beach house in Ogunquit, Maine with their families. But just when they’re ready to act on the love that’s been blossoming for years, a tragedy tears their families apart.
When they reunite after five years of estrangement, Violet and Will must confront the price of true love and of running from their past.
‘Going Bicoastal’ by Dahlia Adler
Described as a queer, young adult ‘Sliding Doors,' this rom-com opens as Natalya Fox is choosing whether she wants to spend the summer in NYC with her dad and the girl she’s always wanted or in LA with her estranged mom and the guy she never saw coming. Through alternating timelines in both settings, Natalya must make her choice and face the consequences of picking one summer love over the other.
‘Same Time Next Summer’ by Annabel Monaghan
An engaged woman runs into a first love she hasn’t seen in 14 years in this nostalgic beach read. In “Same Time Next Summer,” Sam has the perfect fiancé, the perfect job and is planning the perfect wedding. What’s not on her agenda is running into Wyatt, who broke her heart when she was 17. Reuniting with Wyatt back in the place where it all began, it feels like no time has passed. Can she keep the past buried in the sand of her Long Island beach house or will it follow her home?
‘Better than the Movies’ by Lynn Painter
In this “rom-com about rom-coms,” daydreamer Liz Buxbaum is doing everything she can to impress her crush Michael, who is back in town after moving away years ago. To help her, she enlists her annoying but attractive next-door neighbor Wes – a thorn in her side since they were kids playing pranks. Prom is creeping up, and as they scheme to get Michael to notice her, Liz realizes there’s more to Wes than meets the eye.
Just Curious for more? We've got you covered.
USA TODAY is exploring the questions you and others ask every day. From "Books like 'Verity' by Colleen Hoover" to "Where to buy cheap books?" to "How many 'Harry Potter' books are there?" – we're striving to find answers to the most common questions you ask every day. Head to our Just Curious section to see what else we can answer for you.