This one is for my fellow book lovers.
More specifically, it’s for my fellow lovers of young adult contemporary romances – I know you’re out there.
I must have been living a sheltered life under a rock in a cave, because I was in my early 50s before I read the deliciously authentic and young love-infused joys known as Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy and The Summer I Turned Pretty series (also three books).
I have Prime Video to thank for this later-in-life discovery because we first stumbled across The Summer I Turned Pretty TV series there. After one episode, I was intrigued; after three, my teen daughter and I were both hopelessly hooked and madly in love with protagonist Belly and the two boys she loves: the Fisher brothers.
Season one of the Prime TV series tracks with the first book in the trilogy, The Summer I Turned Pretty. Season two tracks with book two: It’s Not Summer Without You. Season three, delayed due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes, is expected sometime in 2025. That will likely wrap up the story a la book three: We’ll Always Have Summer.
Although Han published the first book in the Summer trilogy in 2009 and the others soon after, they rocketed to new popularity when the Prime TV series came out in 2022. Then, when season two of the series came out in the summer of 2023, also featuring five Taylor Swift songs, the show and books reached increasingly new heights.
When Z and I finished watching season two of TSITP, I immediately got the books and raced my way through all three of Han’s bestsellers. I love the show, but it’s as great as it is because of Han’s books. Each chapter is jam-packed with wonderful, tiny, lifelike details. Need I say it – the books are even better than the show and the show is pure summer magic.
Why you should read TSITP trilogy: the characters are wonderful, the setting is pure summer magic and the love triangle is intriguing and fun. The TV show is all of this, plus a killer soundtrack studded with T-Swift bangers. You can’t miss.
If you too are in the dark about the rockstar that is Jenny Han, allow me to introduce you. She’s a multiple-times #1 New York Times bestselling author; creator and co-showrunner of The Summer I Turned Pretty series on Prime Video; and executive producer on the Netflix films To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, and To All the Boys: Always and Forever. She’s also the creator and co-showrunner of XO Kitty, a To All the Boys spinoff series also on Netflix.
Han’s books have been published in more than thirty languages and she has created multiple movies and TV series starring Asian American actresses – both impressive feats.
I had seen the To All the Boys films in my Netflix recommendations, but I hadn’t considered watching them until after I finished the third book in the Summer series. Hooked on Han’s writing by then, I immediately devoured the three books in the To All the Boys series and loved those, too. Her young heroine in that series even shares my first name – imagine my surprise!
Now that I’ve had my heart broken and stitched back together as only a gifted YA author can, I’m going to hunt down all of Han’s other novels – she is prolific – and watch her Netflix films and spinoffs. She has a deft hand with teen romance and her books and shows are truly delightful. I’m a huge fan!
Have you read Jenny Han‘s books or watched their corresponding movies and TV shows? As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below or over on Facebook or Instagram.
