The Summer That I Turned Pretty and It's Not Summer Without You

Just letting you know if you plan on reading these books, don't read this because it has a spoiler in it! 

           Over the Spring break I finished The Summer That I Turned Pretty, by Jenny Han.  I also began the sequel to the book It’s not Summer Without You.  The last part of the book was really sad, and from the small amount that I read of the second book, it is sad also.  What happens in the ending of the first book is Conrad and Jeremiah’s mom, Susannah, gets cancer again, and it is terminal cancer.  They don’t really know how long she has to live, but the two boys and Belly make a promise to always come back to the beach house for the summers to come.  That doesn’t happen though.

            In April of the year after, Susannah dies from the cancer.  We find out that she dies in the first chapter of the second book.  The way that Han describes how much Susannah cared about Belly makes it sad.  She also describes how sick and weak Susannah had gotten in the months before her death.  It is really sad and I hope that it gets a little bit happier, and not as depressing throughout the rest of the book. 

Reading Times:
Wednesday: TSTITP: 100 minutes 90 pages

Thursday: It’s Not Summer Without You: 50 minutes 30 pages