The Summer I Turned Pretty Books in Order

The Summer I Turned Pretty is Jenny Han's YA trilogy about Belly Conklin, the summers her family spends at Cousins Beach, and the two Fisher brothers - Conrad and Jeremiah - who are the great love triangle of its generation of teen readers. Published 2009-2011, the trilogy became a phenomenon twice: first as a print bestseller that made Team Conrad versus Team Jeremiah a school-lunchroom industry, and again in 2022 when Prime Video's adaptation - with its Taylor Swift soundtrack - turned the books back into a top-ten global franchise and gave Han a second empire beside To All the Boys. Three books, two brothers, one question that the finale answered on screen in September 2025 (2009–2011).

Where to start

The Summer I Turned Pretty (2009), book one - there is no alternative and no skipping. The trilogy is one continuous story told in three summers: Belly turns sixteen and stops being the little kid at the beach house, and the first book plants every card the last one plays. It is short, propulsive, and written in Belly's breathless present tense. Read the three back to back if you can - each ends on a cliff designed for immediate continuation, and the second book, It's Not Summer Without You (2010), is the angst peak most readers reread first.

Does the reading order matter?

Publication order, which is chronological order: The Summer I Turned Pretty (2009), It's Not Summer Without You (2010), We'll Always Have Summer (2011). The main wrinkle new readers ask about is flashback - the books are studded with memories of earlier summers, and Han weaves them in deliberately, so nothing needs reordering. For viewers coming from the show: season one covered book one, and the Prime Video finale (July-September 2025) adapted the final book, with material from Han's companion writings folded in - so reading the trilogy after the show is a reunion, not a spoiler.

Which one is the best?

Book one is the classic - the beach-house atmosphere, the kickoff of the triangle, the famous last line. It's Not Summer Without You is the fan favorite: darker, wintry in places, the book that made the Team wars vicious. We'll Always Have Summer (2011) is the definitive ending readers still argue about. Han's other empire, To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2014-2017), is the natural next series - three more books, also adapted to screen.

Related guides

Readers finishing this shelf usually want the map next door: Virgin River books in order, Bridgerton books in order, The Hunger Games books in order. Every guide follows the same format — the shelf, the entry point, the honest answer about order.

Make it a project

Pick a session size and let the days accumulate — at the pace our reading speed test measures, most shelves above clear in a few weeks of half-hours. Every guide on the books in order shelf follows this same format, and when a book lands, its 8-question quiz is waiting on the original book quiz.