User reviews

Amongst the cliches, irritating characters, and the irritating choices they make, there is something comforting about this series. The soundtrack, stunning locations, colorful costumes, excellent casting, and all around solid performances make an otherwise unoriginal series quite entertaining....and by the way, I'm team Conrad.

This is more like a 6.5/10 for me. It was a sweet and fun. I liked the setting and the chill beachy vibe. It was a pretty easy binge watch too. But it felt a little shallow and repetitive. I feel like we've seen this story many times already. And that's totally fine, but I just wished this series had had something more interesting that would have made it stand out from the other stories. Some of the interactions between the characters felt unnatural to me as well.

Season Two, 2023: It is July 2023 and the second season of this limited series is available on Prime. My wife and I watched the first two episodes and we are not impressed. This season has none of the novelty and charm of the first season. It is focusing almost solely on the relationship triangle, Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah. And frankly it isn't scripted very well and comes across as too juvenile. This whole series of episodes are written and directed by a number of different people and it seems they didn't really know a good path forward after season one. We might watch additional episodes but it doesn't have that "must watch" feel that season one had. We are mildly disappointed.

Season One, 2022: My wife and I just this evening finished this Amazon streaming 7-episode limited series. Each part about 45 to 50 minutes long. It focuses heavily on four teenagers, two boys from one family and a boy and a girl from the other. They have been knowing each other essentially all their lives and grew up mostly like brothers and sister, their moms are best friends. The story is told mostly from Belly's (Isabel) point of view, she is the one, just turning 16, that became pretty that summer.

There are a few side stories going on, some involving an ex-husband or an estranged husband. And the usual "on again, off again" teenage friendships. The 16-yr-olds getting ready for the debutante ball. But the most significant is the illness of one of the mothers.

While we, grandparents in our 70s, are not the target audience for this type of teen-focused programming we enjoyed it quite nicely. With a show like this it hinges on whether you can care about the characters, if you can easily put aside the fact that you are watching actors playing fictional roles. And we were able to do that with this series.

The last episode ends in a way that it certainly sets up for a sequel and my wife tells me that a second season is in the works. We will also watch that when it becomes available.

I loved the first season of this show. It's a fun, bingeable, teen-angsty series. The setting creates an environment you can escape into. The teens were also very well-cast and engaging to watch. The adults not so much, but that could be overlooked. However, this second season drags. Everything just seems sad. It lacks complexity and all the color of the first season. Their cousin is also such a bad actor it's distracting. If there is a third season, I would love to keep watching if they're able to rebound and get back to the energy of the first season. But maybe the "will they, won't they?" drama has played itself out...

I feel like people get way to critical about these easy watching, light, young adult TV shows. If people read the books they would realise that actually the show adapts the storyline much further - the books are meant to be easy reading and therefore the show is also meant to be easy watching.

I really loved this show. I found it so comforting and entertaining and will continue to rewatch it. Sometimes the simplicity and cheesiness is just what you need and it clearly isn't aimed at adults or those who don't enjoy said shows. If you want something light hearted and fun, this is perfect. Cant wait for season two.

It's alright, good binge material if you're bored.

Decent acting in season 1, the second season however fails to deliver. The story lacks depth in both seasons and is very predictable.

The source material feels as though it was taken straight out of Wattpad, no idea why there's so much hype out there.

I take it the books are better?

Jeremiah is by far the best character of the series. Such a cute tween book to series adaptation. There's many layers and relationships from parents to children that everyone can connect with.

One of those series that made me watch just because I saw the trailer and I was hooked.

Based on the books by Jenny Han, this series is good as its own. There's the summer story, romance, drama and sadly tragedy. At first, it is a simple story of how Belly spent her usual summer until everything is different and how that year changed everything.

It's a usual growing of age story yet it is still enjoyable and fun to watch. Easy to binge with good ensemble cast and really good soundtrack. A romance story with songs from Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo? It's a yes. So if you are looking for a series to easily binge and enjoy, this is a good series to begin with. Season 2 is also about to get released this week. Crossfingers on that Back to December version from the trailer.

At the end of season 1, you're gonna have a question whether you are team Jeremiah or Team Conrad

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 1 is 7/10. It'll make you smile and cry.

I read so many bad reviews saying how poorly was adapted but I guess people didn't pay attention that the author itself created e co-wroted the series so I guess all the changes from the books were made because she thought it would fit better. I'm in the middle of the book right now and so far the series was much better and the changes elevated the stories for me. Oh and also if you're a middle age man and you're saying this is trash then maybe you should watch appropriate things for your age and your wonderful IQ. And for the one that only paid attention to the politics, belive nobody that cared about the romance and the untangle of it paid any mind to it. It's a great series, very easy to watch and will hold your attention for sure. And the tracklist is great! Highly recommend the show!

Even though I haven't read the books, I still came to like it in the end--hold on, let me rephrase that, I actually came to love it! There's no single episode that doesn't make me chuckle or smile because of its romantic scenes. All in all, it was an unexpected experience because I actually watched this series with low expectations because I thought this will be full of cringe scenes, but I was wrong, instead it made my day complete! 10/10 for me. Keep up the good work!

P. S. I think every season needs to end with a Taylor Swift song because her songs are just sooo good!

I thought this show would be just another Gen Z kind of show with exaggerated acting from mediocre actors and a generic story. But it's actually really well made. This is probably the closest to realistic portrayal of modern youth I've ever seen a tv show do. The acting is good, the character development is great, and it keeps you entertained. Nowadays so many movies and tv shows make Gen Z look either incredibly depressing and dramatic or some completely unrealistic fairytale. There are some moments that feel very genuine I'm the show, like you are actually witnessing a real conversation happen with the characters.

I haven't read the books so I cannot have an opinion about the adaptation; but I did watch the whole thing at once. It has been a long time I had not been swept into a story like that, I did feel a lot of emotions throughout the story, with good actor play and good filming plus a perfect soundtrack! It makes you fall in love again, go on vacation and enjoy the simplicity of life again. I miss shows like this, where there's no display of drug use/almost explicit sex scenes or stupidity to make it more thrilling: it's a comeback to more simple and qualitative times and human interaction. A big thank you and I'm excited for season two this summer.

Edit S2: haven't been able to finish season 2 as it was so bad. All the spirit of season 1 is gone. Bad writing, stupid story line, annoying new characters. Now they are just trying to keep it going to « create content ». Extremely disappointed and gave up after 5 long and stupid episodes. I wish they would have stopped after season 1 and make it a mini-series. This isn't ok. Haven't changed the rating as it only stands for season 1.

Binge watched drama 'The Summer I turned pretty'

Ok, again this a teen romantic drama based on book.

Most of the characters are stereotypical which makes it predictable. The decisions some characters take are frustrating, But....

The soundtrack, stunning locations, colorful costumes, excellent casting and all around good performances make an otherwise unoriginal series quite entertaining to binge. It's like 'Kissing booth' meets 'Bridgerton'.

It made me emotional at 2-3 scenes, It has all those heart-fluttering, young daydreaming, coming-of-age, first love vibes. I'm team Conrad. Decent entertainer.

It's 4am and I just finished binging this show in one night. I am not gonna shut up about this for a while istg i'll tell everyone i talk to about this. The plot, the tropes, this is RIGHT up my alley it's insane. Everything from the summer-house vibe, old childhood friends turned into love-triangle, the friendship between the moms (!!!!!! Oh my GOD), the girl best friend... the list goes on - i'm so obsessed. Belly is me, I am Belly. It's insane how much I relate to her. The volleyball tournament scene AHHHH and oh god how much I cried. The Fourth of July episode already wrecked me out of various reasons but the final episode? Excuse me??? I swear to god I can't remember the last time a show or movie has made me sob like a baby on this level and broke my heart into pieces. I'm happy with the kind of hopeful/happy-ish ending but still. Also, I've had an inner battle going on for a while about whose team I'm on but I think eventually I might actually be Team Jeremiah which is really surprising to me. Oh god I can't stop rambling about this. Anyways, this show is so much better than I expected. I would've been happy with regular clichée teen romance but it's so so much more than that. Haven't read the book but gonna start reading asap tomorrow.

This show was really amazing and special to me for the 1st season. I felt that magical, butterflies, carefree on the beach, can't wait to open the car door when you get there, warm sunny days, seeing friends that you haven't all winter, the smell of the ocean, salt water taffy, kayaking, sparkly wonderful everything the 1st season. I fell into it all as if I was there and watched it multiple times. I have been waiting for what feels like years and years for the 2nd season and what I was worried about happening, did. I understand the tone is different because everyone is grieving but it's just so different in so many ways. There's a bunch more swearing, so many scenes done in a very dark lighting. I hope it gets better but if not it really should of stopped at Season 1.

The perfect show to watch again and again in the summer. No it doesn't follow the books exactly but it's fun, the love story is sweet, and the cast and social media along with it is fun. Not everything has to win awards.

First of all, I have no idea why I watched it. I haven't watched a teenage drama since I was one. But for some reason I did. Second, I've never read the book so I have no idea if it is so mush worse as people comment.

So, the acting is generally decent, if not good, the story is simple but they have done a good job with it. It doesn't try to be deep which is fine by me and I think that's the way the wanted it to be. Although it's not shallow. I don't remember any plot holes, although it would be hard thing to achieve with only 7 episodes.

So why only 6 stars... I was about to give 7, until I watches the last scene. It almost ruined it for me, but I understand why they did it so I removed only one star.

So, don't expect much, don't compare it with books and just relax an enjoy it.

I have to say this series deserves a way less rating than it got- was expecting a 'to all the boys I've loved before' vibe, bur doesn't even come close. Instead got a bunch of insufferable and frankly speaking annoying characters. They're forcing the love triangle down our throats when there's zero sparks or chemistry between the characters. Have not read the book but majorly bored by this series *yawn*

Ps belly is the most frustrating character ever.