Summer, schools out, everyones down the shore; it’s the perfect time to binge a new series. Specifically the series The Summer I Turned Pretty. The first season of the show follows the first book in the series. 

  The series follows teen Belly Conklin as she deals with love, loss, friendship and growing up. Belly has been going to Cousins Beach every summer since she was a baby with her mom, Laurel, and brother, Steven. 

    The book goes into detail about some things while in the show things aren’t nearly in depth. For example in the first episode of the show Belly is shown with a stuffed polar bear, Junior Mint, but we don’t get the story behind how she got the bear or how long she’s had it. While in the book it’s explained that Conrad won it for her on the boardwalk while he was trying to impress a girl. 

  As I was reading I noticed a few other differences that were worth mentioning. The first being in the show Susannah gets Belly a ticket to be a part of a debutante ball and the entire show is leading up to it but in the book there’s no debutante ball there’s not even a mention of it. 

  Second, in the book Jeremiah is written to hate Taylor Jewel, Belly’s best friend, while in the show he doesn’t have a problem with her. Everyone at the summer house knows Taylor as she’s come to visit before and everyone likes her; in the book however Jeremiah does not like Taylor. Even though in the show Taylor is Jeremiah’s number one cheerleader and really roots for him and Belly to end up together. 

  The third one I was a bit shocked to see that it wasn’t in the book; Jeremiah and Belly’s first kiss in the pool of the summer house. In the show that scene solidified that Belly was officially in a love triangle with Conrad and Jeremiah. The entire series is centered around how Belly has liked Conrad since she was ten and then when she turns sixteen Jeremiah starts showing an interest so it’s a bit shocking that Bellys first kiss isn’t documented in the book.  

    I noticed that the books were written in 2006-2009 while the first season of the show was made in 2022 so a few of the changes that were made make sense. They added a lot of diversity in the show. In the beginning of the series Belly, Steven, Conrad and Jeremiah go to a summer kickoff bonfire and Conrad is seen to be kissing a blonde girl with blue eyes but in the show she is black and has braids. 

  Another change I noticed was that in the book Jeremiah is written to be straight while in the show he is queer. In the third episode of the show he can be found at a party kissing a guy. 

  There are many other differences between the show and the book but these are a few that I found to be important because even though they are little things they really move the story along. Regardless of these differences; this series is great for a hopeless romantic or if you need a new series and just wait because they’ve recently started production for season 2.