It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
Series: Summer #1
Publisher: Recorded Books
Publication Date: September 10th 2010
Source: Audible

Belly was ecstatic when Conrad, the son of her mom's best friend and the boy she'd loved for years, finally kissed her. But when Conrad's mom dies, he withdraws from everyone and eventually disappears completely. Not sure where to start looking, Belly and Conrad's brother Jeremiah figure Conrad's college is a good place to start—but they soon learn he's actually at the family beach house.

When Belly and Jeremiah find Conrad, they realize he wasn't running away—he'd come to keep the house from being sold. Belly's romantic feelings for Conrad begin to resurface even as she's growing closer to Jeremiah, and as emotions run high, it's unclear if things will ever go back to normal—especially when a real estate agent shows up.

It's Not Summer Without You is the follow up to The Summer I Turned Pretty. The Fisher's boys mother has died and Conrad withdraws from everything. Jeremiah phones Belly to tell her Conrad has disappeared and asks if she'll help find him. So Belly and Jeremiah head off to Conrad's college but soon realise that Conrad has headed to the summer house. Conrad ran away to the summer house to try to prevent his father from selling it. It was the one place his mother loved and Conrad can't bear to part with it. He tries to protect Jeremiah from finding out.

Belly is still pretty immature, but I really like her. She's just a normal teenager with normal teenage worries. Belly has been in love with Conrad for as long as she can remember, but Conrad broke her heart and Belly is determined to get over him. I wasn't a huge fan of her attitude towards her mother. Her mother is grieving too and sometimes Belly came across extremely spoiled.

Jeremiah is the light-hearted Fisher brother. He's always laughing and joking, and always has a smile on his face. Jeremiah is extremely sweet and I loved getting a few chapters from his POV in this one.

Conrad is complicated. He keeps his feelings bottled up and doesn't really talk about them much. He's always looking out for Jeremiah even if it seems like he isn't.

It's Not Summer Without You revolves around the three of them trying to find a way to prevent the summer house from being sold; trying to get Conrad back to college and Belly trying to get over Conrad. 

It was a fantastic follow up to The Summer I Turned Pretty and I'm loving listening to this series on audio. Jessica Almasy is a fantastic narrator and she definitely hooks me into the story. I'm moving straight onto We'll Always Have Summer because I'm intrigued by the sneak peek into Belly's adult life that was at the end of It's Not Summer Without You, and I'm dying to know which Fisher boy she ends up with.