Book Recommendations
10 Book Recommendations Based on Your Favorite ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Character
Get out your library cards, The Summer I Turned Pretty fans, because we’ve got some book recs that you’re going to want to add to the top of your TBR.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 premieres on July 16, and we’ll finally get that long-awaited update on the college/post-grad lives of all of our favorite characters. This season, which is based on Jenny Han‘s final TSITP book, We’ll Always Have Summer, follows Belly Conklin (Lola Tung), who has always been caught between the Fisher boys, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). Season 3 will also continue the love story between Belly’s brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman), and her best friend, Taylor (Rain Spencer).
While we’re eager to find out how the show will wrap up both love stories, we’re also preparing for life after The Summer I Turned Pretty officially ends. If you’re feeling the same way, just know that while TV shows are temporary, vibes are forever. So while Belly, Jeremiah, and Conrad’s story is entering its final chapter, we’ve compiled a list of book recommendations based on your favorite character from The Summer I Turned Pretty. Scroll to find out which romance book recs you should pick up this summer!
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Season 3, July 16, Prime Video
Belly
Whether Belly ends up with Conrad or Jeremiah one thing is clear: Our girl Belly knows how to pine after a crush like no one’s business. Fortunately, Belly isn’t the first teenage girl to practice endless yearning, so we’ve put together some yearn-tastic books for everyone on Team Belly.
Our first pick is People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, which is coming to Netflix in January 2026. The story follows Poppy, a travel journalist who has had a thing for her best friend, Alex, since college. Told between years of summer vacations and their second chance at friendship (or more), if you swap out the word “Alex” in Poppy’s internal monologue for “Conrad,” you’ve got Belly’s thoughts from Season 1 on a silver platter.
For everyone who loves to hate Belly’s questionable choices in the romance department, we’d recommend Call It What You Want by Alissa DeRogatis. Here at Swooon, we make screaming at the TV “GIRL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” while we’re watching The Summer I Turned Pretty look like a sport. (Because honestly, Belly just needs to move on.) If you love a romance that has you wanting to rip your hair out, trust us, Call It What You Want is right up your alley.
Jeremiah
Oh JereBear, the lovable yet misguided bi-con that you are. This season, we expect to see many sides of Jeremiah, so for our Team Jeremiah readers, we’ve picked two very different reads.
Our first pick is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, which was recently adapted by Prime Video. While We Were Liars and The Summer I Turned Pretty have opposite vibes, the summer-centric teen dramas’ characters are more alike than they are different. If you love Jeremiah, chances are you’ll adore easygoing golden boy Johnny Sinclair, one of the main Liars in both the We Were Liars book and TV show.
If you’re a Jeremiah stan, even after reading We’ll Always Have Summer, we’d recommend Sarah J. Maas‘ A Court of Thorns and Roses. We’re not saying that Jeremiah is anywhere close to being Tamlin in The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s love triangle— but we’re definitely not saying he’s the Rhys in this scenario.
Conrad
If Connie Baby is the one for you, we’re going to assume you love a moody, meditative love story. As the oldest of the bunch, Conrad brings a massive sense of reality to Cousins Beach, giving his story massive themes of loss and a touch of melancholy. While what we’d really like to recommend to Conrad is a hug, we’ve selected two books that (at least sort of) feel like one.
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston is a romance in which a grief-stricken woman finds a man in her apartment who is living seven years in the past. Of course, external factors like timelines and strange disappearances get in the way, but Iwan and Lemon share a cozy romance within the walls of that apartment reminiscent of Conrad and Belly’s winter trip to Cousins, spent sipping hot chocolate by the fire. (Bring us back!!)
Our next pick for the Conrad stans is One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Following a widow who has found love once more, only to find her missing (and declared dead) husband has returned, One True Loves contains a fantastic love triangle, where you truly don’t know who the main character will pick until the very end. Not only do we think Conrad would eat up this book, but we also think the main character’s struggle to balance grief and hope would really resonate with him.
Taylor
If you’ve read our Taylor and Steven superiority hot take, you’ll know that Team Staylor is where it’s at. For anyone who watches The Summer I Turned Pretty, rooting for Belly’s spunky, tell-it-like-it-is bestie, there are a few books that we think you would really dig.
If you come to The Summer I Turned Pretty for the teen love triangle vibes, you should check out Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter, which follows a high schooler whose former crush moves back to town, but still sees her as the weird little kid he once knew. To show him how totally awesome she is now, she employs her neighbor/enemy, who agrees to fake date her to catch his attention. What ensues is a love triangle reminiscent of the absolute mess (in the best way) between Taylor, Steven, and Milo.
For Taylor fans, we’d also suggest The Score from Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus series, another title making its way to Prime Video in the near future. What makes The Score so incredibly Taylor-coded is the fact that the book follows the original main character’s best friend, who was a side character in the first book. We don’t know about you, but we would be sat for a Taylor Jewel spinoff.
Steven
Don’t worry, Steven fans, we didn’t forget about you. For anyone whose favorite character is Belly’s self-assured brother, we’ve got a few picks just for you!
Steven stans, meet Twisted Hate by Ana Huang. Yes, this book is far spicier — you’ve been warned! — than The Summer I Turned Pretty, like Huang’s MMC Josh, Steven is no stranger to falling in love with his little sister’s best friend. Plus, if you loved Steven and Taylor’s enemies-to-lovers vibe during the first season, this is definitely the pick for you.
Our other pick for Steven is The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. While no one is getting married (at least, not in the first two seasons), Steven’s banter with Taylor is very reminiscent of Ethan’s romance with his nemesis, Olive, the maid of honor at his best friend’s wedding. In both stories, a summer vacation is the perfect forced proximity setting for a budding romance.
