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Summary
Chapter One
Isabel “Belly” Conklin narrates this story, set during the year she turns sixteen. Belly, her brother, Steven, and her mother, Laurel, drive together to a town called Cousins Beach, where they spend all their summers. They stay at a beach house owned by the Fisher family: Susannah and her two teenage sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Laurel and Susannah have been friends for nine years.
Susannah thinks that Belly is destined to fall in love with one of her sons, and fittingly, Belly has had a crush on Conrad for years. As the family arrives at the Fishers’ summer house, the brothers come out to greet them. Both boys notice changes in Belly’s appearance, such as the fact that she wears contact lenses now instead of glasses.
Chapter Two
The next chapter shifts the setting by flashing back to the summer when Belly was twelve. In the flashback, Belly describes experiencing heartbreak for the first time, when Conrad asks her to spend an evening on the boardwalk. Belly thinks they are going on a date, and excitedly imagines Conrad holding her hand and maybe even kissing her. However, when they arrive at the boardwalk, he takes her to a carnival game where an attractive teenage girl works the ring toss game. It is obvious that Conrad has a crush on the girl. Belly makes small talk with her to facilitate an introduction, then leaves the two of them alone to get to know each other. She quickly walks off toward the Ferris wheel, hiding the fact that she is crying. Later, Conrad gives Belly a stuffed polar bear that he won playing the ring toss. She names the toy Junior Mint and leaves it on the dresser in her bedroom at the summer house.
Chapter Three
The story switches back to the present as Belly goes to the swimming pool where the boys are hanging out. Steven and Jeremiah quickly grab her and dunk her in the pool, because dunking is an annual tradition on their first day at the summer house. In the past, Belly would tattle to her mother about the boys pranking her. But this summer, she decides to be a good sport. She even tricks Conrad by asking him to give her a hand to help her out of the pool, before she yanks him into the water. As he playfully pulls on her foot, the two share a moment of romantic tension.
Chapter Four
After the teenagers leave the pool, Susannah appears and greets the Conklins, apologizing for missing their arrival. Belly hugs Susannah, and takes note of Susannah’s thin frame. Susannah, in turn, notices that Belly has grown into an attractive young woman. Belly realizes that she sees herself the same way that Susannah does. For Belly, this will become the summer that she turned pretty, and everything changed.
Analysis
In The Summer I Turned Pretty, 16-year-old protagonist Belly narrates a coming-of-age story about a tumultuous summer that ushers her into adulthood. The setting—the Fishers’ home in Cousins Beach —plays a central role in the novel, offering the familiar comfort of a typical small town while representing a magical escape from the tedium of real life. When Belly is at the Fishers' home, she feels alive and at ease, even though Conrad is moody to the point of being sullen, while Jeremiah is lively and lighthearted. They are two sides of the same coin, and Belly loves them both.
Throughout the novel, Belly vacillates between reaching for adulthood and holding on to the memories and feelings of her youth. The initial chapters set up the idea that growing up and experiencing love is exciting, but it can also be awkward and painful. Belly struggles with becoming a woman. She feels both flattered and uncomfortable by the attention she receives from the Fisher brothers, and is embarrassed that everyone in the house seems to know she has a crush on Conrad. These insights into the complexities of love help transform Belly’s understanding of her own feelings over the course of the summer.
