We'll Always Have Summer [Hardcover]

** MAJOR SPOILERS of `We'll Always Have Summer' **

Belly made her choice, and she chose Jeremiah. Conrad didn't want her, may never have loved her, despite her ages-old devotion to him. But Jeremiah - he was always there, and Belly finally realized that. They have been together for two years now. Two perfect years of contentment and love, spent at the same university and heading in the same, permanent, direction.

But when that love is tested by a hurtful mistake, Jeremiah takes drastic measures to keep Belly. A proposal on the back of an apology, and suddenly Belly finds herself growing up faster than she may be ready . . .

`We'll Always Have Summer' is the final book in Jenny Han's wonderful `Summer' trilogy.

I wanted this finale to go out on an explosive BANG - instead I got lukewarm and slight disgruntlement with this, the final instalment to a wonderful contemporary romance series . . .

The book kicks off with a betrayal. Jeremiah does something not unusual, but still heartbreaking and disappointing. What follows is an appalling marriage proposal (on the back of an apology over a meaningless and regrettable one-night-stand). And Belly accepts. At the tender age of eighteen, Belly decides to marry Jeremiah start a life with him. But her mother's adamant disappointment in the whole affair is a tragedy, and Belly escape to Susannah's summer house to finish planning her wedding (with just two months preparation before the big day!). But when she arrives at the summer house, she discovers a live-in resident in the form of Conrad, home from California and his premed studies. Belly has managed to run from her torn-in-two love for the Fisher boys, but an impending marriage to one of them stirs up old feelings for the boy she always thought she'd end up with . . .

I had a few grumbles with this finale. The first, and most annoying, was Belly's seemingly stilted personal growth. When she discovers Jeremiah's infidelity (via an overheard confession from the scarlet woman) she initially assumes his `hook-up' was a kiss. Oh, dear. When she learns that `hook-up' is college-speak for `sex', Belly's heartache is ten-fold. She is adamant on leaving him, and disgusted at their tainted love.

But when Jeremiah apologizes and proposes marriage (practically in the same breath) Belly is quick to forgive and put the past behind them . . . and, really, Jeremiah's infidelity is hardly touched upon again. Belly doesn't even think about his betrayal, nor discuss it with her friends . . . once that ring is on her finger, all is forgotten.

Sorry, but I wasn't buying that. Forgiven, but not forgotten - and not when the boy in question is your first serious, *serious* boyfriend whom you picked colleges with and have known your whole life. Belly's determined silence about Jeremiah's hurtful mistake spoke volumes and turned into a character flaw on her part - making Belly into a child, content in her blissful ignorance. I would have at least liked a proper confrontation with the `other' woman.

My second complaint about `Always' was Jenny Han's absolute character assassination of Jeremiah. The book begins with his unfaithfulness, and he only gets worse from there . . . devolving into a parody frat-boy whose glaring childishness made me cringe at every turn. The highlight was when he requested a Quentin Tarantino themed wedding (I'm still not sure if he was kidding. . . ?)

The `Summer' series hinged on Belly's growing into a young woman, and being torn between the brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah. In the beginning there was only ever Conrad for Belly . . . until he eviscerated her heart and forced her to question if he ever had feelings for her. Jeremiah, by contrast, was Belly's loyal and stead-fast friend, the boy waiting in the wings hoping for the day when Belly would look away from Conrad long enough to notice him. . . this was a brilliantly complex love triangle. And Han started out by complicating matters further when she made both Conrad and Jeremiah true contenders for Belly's heart.

In `Always', there is no competition and no real conflict of love. Jeremiah bears no resemblance to himself from two books previous, and can therefore never be taken seriously as a contender for Belly's love. By default, it has to be Conrad. Although, I wasn't even overly thrilled with the choice of him. . .

In `Always' we get Conrad's interiority alongside Belly's. We come to understand his conflicted love for Belly, which came at the inconvenient time during his mother's final months. We learn that Conrad decided to pretend he never wanted her, never loved her - thereby pushing Belly into Jeremiah's arms. But now that his brother is marrying `his girl', Conrad wants her back - for good and forever.

At one point in `Always', Belly's previously air-head friend, Taylor, makes the astute observation that Conrad is like a child. A little boy who put his toy down and walked away, but is now upset that someone else is playing with it. Too true. Throughout `Always' Han tries to reconnect Conrad and Belly (via wedding preparations for her and Jeremiah's wedding. Awkward!) but it feels forced and there's a severely missing spark between them. I was inordinately annoyed when Conrad proclaimed his love for Belly, and asked her not to marry his brother. Big talk. But that's all it was - talk. In my opinion, Conrad never did anything to earn Belly's love. It was always her, chasing after him . . .

And that leads to my final complaint about `We'll Always Have Summer'. We needed more. We needed at least another 250-pages to read Belly grow up and Conrad earn her love. Han rushes the ending, leaving present-time Belly on a sour note and dumped at the altar, only to summarise in the epilogue that she spent two years doing a lot of growing (student exchange to Spain!) and falling back in love with Conrad - enough to marry him. Skip to - happily-ever-after. But it's too fast. By the end of `Always' I still wasn't convinced that Conrad was the guy for her. I needed to read him fight to regain her trust and fight for her, for them - I needed to read Conrad's long, outpouring love letters to Belly while she was away in Spain . . . I needed to read the brother's reconciliation since Jeremiah and Belly's disastrous break-up. I needed more. Not this rushed amalgamation of a happily-ever-after tied up with a neat little bow.

Ahh. It's spring finally and though this is the perfect beach read, love is in the air. If you've read the other two books in the Summer series by Jenny Han, you'll appreciate that we finally get closure in the final book in the series. Belly, now in college and known as Isabel, has been dating Jeremiah for two years and though the course has not always been smooth, it's been pretty good and they are in love. So when they decide to get married they can't understand why everyone is so against it. Didn't everyone expect her to marry one of the Fisher boys and everyone knows you can't count on Conrad. The obvious choice is Jeremiah. Isn't it?

Okay, you know that much from the book jacket so no spoilers there. This book explores Belly's and Jeremiah's relationship and a few bumps they face in it leading up to the big question. Then all the problems that question causes. Jenny Han writes that part of the book-the headlong rush into marriage just like that. There is a flurry of planning and questions and troubles and the book rushes too so that you can feel the underlying panic, maybe, that both Belly and Jeremiah feel to get it over and done with. Belly wants to prove that she loves Jeremiah. And maybe Jeremiah wants her to say "I do" before his brother can enter their lives again. For some reason there is a sense of urgency and as a reader, I felt it too, rushing through the book as I read. Yes, Belly loved Con, when she was younger. He was her first love, but hey we all remember our first loves. Some of us fondly, some not so fondly. But, they have a part of our hearts because they were the first to break them. This was true with Con. He hurt Belly and she ran off to Jeremiah. The question is did she choose him, one of the two she loved or was he the one she loved?

And then in this book, we finally get a peek into Conrad's head. Thank God! He'd always seemed like a heartless bastard before and I could never figure out what he wanted. He just seemed to be toying with Belly. And he seemed to delight in hurting her except for those six months they dated. Now we find out just how he felt and his motivations and it all makes sense. It's kind of like getting a chance to see inside Edward's head in Midnight Sun. (Twilight fans will know what I'm writing about.) The distant, enigmatic Conrad becomes a real person in this novel and I say it's about time. In fact, it would have been nice to have had his perspective all along. It would have made for a more tragic love story. But maybe Ms. Han just wanted us to have a nice light series to keep us entertained. And I have been. I read this in about four hours, stopping only to help tape up the air conditioner in our room. It's light, easy reading and satisfying to the very end. I loved the ending. It didn't feel contrived, but very natural and Cousins like. Now, if we could all have grown up that way....

In previous books, Belly and the women were the most developed characters, but in this one, Jeremiah, Conrad, Laurel, Belly's mother and Taylor, Belly's best friend were well developed as well. Cousins, the beach where most of the action of the series takes place has always seemed like a character, the house, the beach, the pool, Belly's room, the kitchen table, each played a part in the series. Belly, Jeremiah, Conrad and Steven (Belly's brother) grew up in the house during the summers and monumental things happened there. If an inanimate object can be a character, then Cousins is definitely a character. It had it's effect on everyone.

This would definitely qualify as a One Sit Read for me. I wasn't going to bed until I read the last page and I didn't cheat. It would have cheapened the series for me. I highly recommend this series for a light summer read, now that all three books are out and there are no cliffhangers. Teenage girls should love this one, but I'm way past that and eagerly anticipated this last book in the series so any YA lover looking for a nice easy read should read this series. I can't wait to see what Jenny Han writes next!

This book or series was amazing. This is the kind of book that when your finished makes you just want to lay down and cry. Not because youre happy and not because youre sad. Its something i cant explain. Belly's relationship with the boys is so complex you cannot even come close to explaining it. Now that i am finished i feel a bit hallow. It feels like i have just lost a close friend. This book was one i will never forget and most defi nitely now my favorite. i will be keeping an eye out for more works by jenny han and really am hoping that belly, jeremiah, and conrad will make a return to my life. this book, simply put, is amazing.

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