It's Not Summer Without You

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SPOILERS!

Another sad, sad book, but one that also had a lot of hope. Susannah was really the heart of this book, even though she is not physically present for most of the book. Everyone is reacting to her absence, in both negative and positive ways. People say things they don't mean, and then hold on to their hurt and regret.

When the air finally clears, it's like a cloud had lifted. Everyone can breathe, and be honest with one another, and start to deal with how wrecked they have been. It clearly wasn't working to deal with anything on their own, so when they could finally lean on each other, it was a relief.

Of course, this book once again danced around Belly's relationships with both Conrad and Jeremiah. We jump into the action after Susannah's death and after Something Major had happened to not only break up Belly and Conrad, but completely separate them. It actually was a little disappointing to eventually find out that there wasn't some sort of big blow out, there was just disappointment and hurt feelings and no communication.

I was also disappointed that Belly and Jeremiah let whatever was going on with Conrad, in addition to the overwhelming sadness of Susannah's death, keep them apart as well. As much as Belly should have called and gone to see him, he could have reached out to her, too.

As for the romance stuff, I'm not convinced Belly is really ready to move on from Conrad. She's said that before and gone back to him. Granted, she did seem to feel something when kissing Jeremiah that she'd never felt before, but is that enough to make a difference? I really hope so, because having chapters from Jeremiah's perspective this book made me realize how strongly he has cared for Belly, and made my heart ache for him. Conrad may love Belly, too, but when he won't even admit it to anyone, it's not actually real.

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