Ahhh it’s just been such a delightful experience to travel to Cousins Beach with the whole gang ON MY SCREEN.
I’ve been a long time fan of the books and a huge fan of Jenny’s books in general and it’s seriously such a pleasant surprise when the book to movie adaptation just captures what you love about the books and does it justice. Probably one of my top five favorite book adaptations ever!
As I was watching the first 3 episodes of season two, I realized I had a guide for what to read if you love To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before but I have never written anything about books like The Summer I Turned Pretty series — and that’s just a travesty.
That series captures everything I love about YA books — especially YA summer romance books! Honestly — it’s the standard for which I judge most summer romance books. The ultimate beach read binge honestly!
So let’s get into some of the best summer romance books like The Summer I Turned Pretty series. I’ve included a couple that are adult fiction that, for me, as an adult hit that teen summer nostalgia but have that romance element in the present when they are adults which I REALLY like.
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Best Books For Fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty
I’ve struggled to find book series like The Summer I Turned Pretty — so if you know any send it my way — but these are all standalone books that definitely gave me those vibes or at least satiated what I was looking for in a readalike.
The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther
Read it if you like: summer traditions, beach settings, big families, summer romance
A fantastic YA beach read that really brings a lot of what I loved about The Summer I Turned Pretty series — a vivid setting, summer traditions, romance and grappling with grief.
While the romance isn’t of the friends-to-lover variety, you will fall head over heels in love with this romance.
It’s about a girl who heads to Martha’s Vineyard with her family every summer but this is the first year heading there since the loss of her sister.
Going there without her is overwhelming enough but it’s going to be a busy time with her cousin’s big wedding and the fact she got dumped and is now dateless.
But a summer tradition of a family-wide game of Assassin and a groomsman she tries really hard not to fall (who also happens to be her target) for provide a fun distraction as she tries to get through this summer tradition without her sister.
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Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
Read it if you like: lake settings, messy romances (and people), books that feel like summer, nostalgia
All throughout reading this book I couldn’t help thinking about Jenny Han’s Summer series. It was EVERYTHING I loved about The Summer I Turned Pretty and if you are looking for a more adult book similar to The Summer I Turned Pretty — you need not look any further!
Seriously, when I dove in to edit my list of best beach reads (after reading this book) I said it was perfect for readers who grew up devouring The Summer I Turned Pretty or Sarah Dessen but want a book for adults.
It’s got a to-die-for setting, a childhood friends to lovers situation, messy romance, and summer nostalgia. Make sure you go into knowing it that the romance situation gets MESSY but if you liked The Summer I Turned Pretty I’m hoping you will be okay with that.
When Sam and Percy meet the first summer at the lake, they become inseparable for the next six summers as friendship blossoms into something more.
Now, a decade later, and Percy hasn’t been back to the lake since the summer she made a mistake that led her to never coming back or ever seeing Sam again.
But when she receives a phone call that Sam’s mother died she heads back home and confronts all she ran away from all those years ago.
Meet Me At Midnight by Jessica Pennington
Read it if you like: hate-to-love YA romances, lakeside summer settings, summer traditions
This one is like if Belly and either Conrad/Jeremiah didn’t along so well and spent their time feuding during their summer trips together. This one is really fun! It’s got that fun childhood frenemies to lovers vibe.
Two teens and their families have spent the past six summers together at the lake but every summer — in between bonfires and boating — have spent every summer finding new ways to torment and prank one another.
Now it’s their last summer of high school and they want to go BIG in their prank war — a move that ultimately gets them kicked out and their families scrambling to find a new accommodation together.
The two decide to call a truce and combine their efforts to get back at the woman who got their families kicked out forcing the two together to spend time scheming and planning and even realizing how well they get along when they aren’t hating the other.
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Float by Kate Marchant
Read it if you like: books that feel like summer injected into your veins, beach settings, grumpy/sunshine romances, memorable friend groups
This one is about a girl from Alaska who ends up spending the summer with her aunt in a beachy Florida town (thanks messy parent drama) and gets adopted into the friend group of the hot boy next door and spends a summer full of adventures with them.
Doesn’t have that whole childhood summer nostalgia factor that books like The Summer I Turned Pretty but it captures the essence of a beachy summer romance and friends turned family.
P.S. I liked it the whole time I was reading but it didn’t really wow me until the second half of the book! So be patient if it’s not clicking with you at first.
The Last Things You Said by Sara Biren
Read it if you like: lake settings, childhood friends, emotional reads
This one is so underrated but I feel like it reminded me a lot of The Summer I Turned Pretty but especially the more emotional, grief-driven aspects of book 2.
Summers for Lucy used to be idyllic on Halcyon Lake with her best friend Trixie and Trixie’s brother Ben (who seemed to share the same feelings she’s harbored for years) — up until tragedy strikes and changes everything.
Now Trixie is gone, Ben is distant and a totally different person and Lucy is trying to survive summer as best she can now that everything has changed — two summer jobs and a new romance.
But living in a small lake town she can’t avoid Ben — or her grief in this place where Trixie is everywhere — and their connection draws them back together.
(At the time of writing this, it’s $1.99 for Kindle)
You May Also Like: Best YA Book Club Books
Love And Other Words by Christina Lauren
Read it if you like: childhood friends to lovers, second chance romances, nostalgia, more emotional reads
If you want a good childhood friends to lovers story without the love triangle and don’t mind if it’s not YA, this is one of my all time favorite romances!
There’s no beachy setting (San Fransisco instead) but it really is a great read if you are looking for friends to lovers romances like The Summer I Turned Pretty and their little library nook felt as vivid to me as Cousins Beach.
It does the past/present timeline where we watch Macy and Elliott as friends who fall for one another and then we see them in the present where they are basically strangers to one another until a chance meeting brings them back together. All the while it slowly pieces together what happened that made them as distant as they are in the present.
I’d love to hear your best recommendations for books like The Summer I Turned Pretty series!
P.S. You may also like:
- New YA Books To Read This Year
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- Best Books Like Fourth Wing
- Best Books For Fans of Sarah Dessen
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