17 biggest differences between the ‘Summer I Turned Pretty’ book and Amazon series

Belly’s mom, Laurel, is an author on the show. But her job isn’t mentioned in detail in the “Summer I Turned Pretty” book trilogy. Her literary rival-turned-love interest Cleveland is also a new addition to the Amazon series.

Without Cleveland, Conrad also has a different summer job in the book — he buses tables at a nearby restaurant. On the show, Laurel and Susannah discuss the return of Susannah’s breast cancer pretty early on. But in the book , the news isn’t shared until the very end.

To delay the conflict, there are many things that foreshadow Susannah’s health, including that she’s taking a nap when Laurel, Steven, and Belly first arrive in Cousins. But she runs out the door to give Laurel a hug on the show. On the first episode of the show, Belly goes out for a late-night swim and catches Conrad smoking a joint.

A very similar scene happens in the book as well, but instead of smoking weed , Conrad is smoking cigarettes. Although this is a very minor change, it highlights some ways the show made the 2009 novel more current. Today, almost half of US states have fully legalized marijuana, and weed has become more fashionable than cigarettes in many ways.

On the show, Belly takes her friend Taylor’s advice and wears a dress to the bonfire she attends at the beginning of the summer. Her outfit causes some tension between her and the guys because they’ve never seen her dressed up. In the book, however, Belly wears shorts and a tank top to the party and regrets the decision when she arrives and sees girls who are more dressed up.

The party itself also happens much later in the summer in the book, and Steven isn’t even there. On the first episode, the kids get caught by a cop for underage drinking at the bonfire. The book doesn’t include this scene, and the moms rarely discipline the kids over the summer.

In fact, Laurel and Susannah are often relaxing together while encouraging the kids to explore the boardwalk and spend time with other teens. Jeremiah is a flirt in both the book and on the show, but in the book, he only appears to be attracted to girls. On the show, he chats up and hooks up with both boys and girls at the parties he attends.

The Cousins debutante ball is a large part of the show, but it isn’t in the book at all. The plotline also adds more girls for Belly to interact with, whereas in the book, Taylor is really her only close female friend. Taylor doesn’t visit the Fisher’s beach house in the present-day plot of the book.

The “Summer I Turned Pretty” book trilogy features a lot of flashbacks woven into the story. In the first book, Belly describes the time Taylor visited her at Cousins when they were 14. The visit made Belly miserable since Taylor was flirting with both of the Fisher boys and Steven.

On the show, the tension between the best friends is still present, but there are fewer flashbacks, so Taylor comes in the present-day summer. Like in the book, Conrad makes a last-second decision to not give Belly the infinity necklace he bought her for her 16th birthday. Belly later finds the necklace in his desk drawer and immediately knows it’s for her because of a memory of Conrad teaching her the concept of infinity when they were kids.

But in the books, Belly doesn’t find the necklace until the second novel in the series, “It’s Not Summer Without You. ” Belly’s parents had been divorced for several years in the book. But on the series, it’s the family’s first summer in Cousins since the split .

Her dad appears in many flashbacks in the book, and he’s mentioned throughout — Steven even leaves the beach house to go on a college tour with him. But on the show, he actually comes to Cousins with his new girlfriend and returns for the debutante ball. There’s generally more teen partying on the Amazon series.

Though Belly doesn’t declare herself straight edge like her love interest Cam, she doesn’t drink in the first book, opting for soda during party scenes. Jeremiah and Steven also don’t seem to drink in the book, which makes Conrad’s overindulgence in alcohol stand out even more. Susannah and Laurel don’t have a big argument in the book.

In fact, they’re somewhat absent from the story since they’re usually running between doctor appointments disguised as fun outings. The only disagreement Belly mentions between the mothers is over an expensive dress that Susannah wanted to buy for her. This conflict was referenced a bit with Belly’s debutante dress.

But the big argument between the moms over Susannah keeping her marital issues from Laurel is only on the show. Steven only spends part of the summer at the beach house in the book because he goes on the college trip with his dad. On the show, Steven has several new plotlines about his dating life, his job at the country club, and his conflicts with Belly.

There’s a bit of tension between Belly and her mother, and Belly generally prefers talking to and spending time with Susannah in the book. For example, after her first date with Cam in the book, Belly tells Susannah all about it. The show instead gives Belly and Laurel more moments together, including one where they talk about Belly not feeling fireworks with Cam.

Susannah sets out to paint all the kids’ portraits over the summer one by one. She seems to have planned this as a way to honor what she believes will be their last summer together because of her progressing cancer. The portrait plotline isn’t in the book at all, and Susannah has very few moments alone with her sons because she’s trying to keep her marital and health problems a secret from them.

Jeremiah and Belly share a kiss in the pool on the show, which sparks something more than friendship between them. In the first book, however, Belly shares via flashback that Jeremiah was her first kiss in a game of truth or dare when they were younger. Jeremiah also doesn’t fully disclose his feelings for Belly until much later on in the book series.

At the end of both the book and the first season of the show, Jeremiah and Conrad get into a big fist fight that Belly worries is over her. But in both cases, she quickly realizes there’s something much bigger going on between the brothers, namely the return of Susannah’s cancer. On the show, this happens in public at the debutante ball, but in the book, they fight outside the beach house.

The show also allows for more tension to build between the brothers at the debutante charity volleyball tournament and when Conrad steps in for Jeremiah as Belly’s dance partner at the ball. .