Beach Blondes by Katherine Applegate

                                            Beach Blondes- Katherine Applegate


             Beach Blondes starts out with Summer Smith walking home from her high school, Bloomington High, in the freezing cold Minnesota snow, icy winds stinging her face. When she got home, she got the surprise of her life; her mom asked if she wanted to go spend the summer in the FL Keys and stay with her Aunt Mallory and cousin Diana. Flash forward to the first week of Summer; Summer Smith is on the plane off to The Keys for a few months. While on the plane, the lady next to her says she's palm reader, and she 'reads' Summer's palm and says Summer will meet three guys. One will be dangerous, one will be mysterious, and one will be the right one. Brushing it off, Summer arrives in The Keys and is waiting in the airport for Mallory and Diana, when she sees the cute guy from the plane who sat across from her, Seth. She starts chatting with him when he says he needs to take a passport picture in the airport photo booth. He gives the extra shots to her, and as shes entering and he's exiting, he kisses Summer, which makes her awestruck and surprised. Bam, that was her first kiss. By the end of her first day, she learns that her famous author aunt was leaving that afternoon for a summer book tour, and that she'd be stuck alone  for a few weeks with Diana, who doesn't particularly like Summer. Diana slyly sticks Summer into the old mildewy stilt house to stay in, while she keeps her mother's mansion to herself.

  The next morning summer wakes up to a stran sound in the stilt house, which turns out to be a guy, who is around her age and has no family and lives off of the land; definitely the mysterious one. Diver is like Summer in the sense that he has that platinum blonde hair and wouldn't hurt a fly. Summer heads to find a job that day, and she meets a new friend there; Marquez. Marquez invites her to a party at the Merrick Estate that night, which is the governor of New Hampshire's house. Summer gets asked to dance by Adam Merrick, the senator's son, when he ends up becoming her boyfriend. Seth is hired by Mallory to fix up the mildewy stilt house, so Summer begins to see him more. Finally, the truth about Adam Merrick's family gets unlocked- Diana used to date Adam, but she broke up with him because Ross Merrick, Adam's brother, tried to rape her. Summer got the police involved and took care of that, and broke up with Adam, of course. Because she was seeing Seth so much, she decides to give him a chance as a friend, and that soon leads to him being her boyfriend. So, Adam turns out to be the dangerous one, Diver is the mysterious one, and Seth… Well, Seth is the right one. The last bit of the summer chronicals through summer working, hanging out with Marquez, and just loving life. Heading back to Bloomington in the end of it all definitely is hard for Summer, but she knows she'll come back soon.




            Summer is a platinum blonde girl with slightly bronzed skin from being in the Keys, and she is 16 years old. Summer is as sweet as you can be, without even trying. Summer heads to the Keys with a hopeful outlook on the summer, because that's just her personality. Summer is polite to everyone, but she still knows how to stand her ground and have fun. The anaylsis of Summer being a sweet girl can be supported by this quote from the book: "Diana saw her cousin walking towards their car, and she instantly remembered, and was bothered, by Summer's sweet summertime-like personality." This quote from Beach Blondes shows Summer's pure sweetness. Summer interacts with others nicely, but sometimes lacks how she really feels or what she really thinks. A quote to support this analysis of Summer sometimes lacking her thoughts is this: "I wanted to ask Diana why I couldn't just stay in the house, but she seemed pretty set on not having me around." Summer is often caught in a daydream, like this one from the first page of the book: "Summer, come in my car, i'll give you a ride home. That way you don't have to walk in this cold." If only that was me he was talking to. Really, he was talking to Haylee Williams, cheer captain."' The character analysis described explains the main character of Beach Blondes, Summer Smith.


          A major theme in Beach Blondes is crushes. Crushes, from Seth to Adam, to crushes with other characters. Summer knew Seth was going to be a crush of hers from the moment she saw him in the row across from her. A quote to support this theme is this: "When I looked around, I saw a Jake Gyllenhal looking guy, about my age, sit down across from me. I looked down immediately, afraid he'd notice I was staring." This quote from Summer supports the theme of her developing crush on Seth. Summer also, within her first few days there, devolopes a crush on her soon-to-be boyfriend, Adam. A quote to support her starting crush on Adam is this one: "I was  dancing with Marquez, when I saw him. "That's Adam Merrick." Marquez whispered." That quote from Summer supports the theme of crushes in Beach Blondes. The theme of crushes described is the main theme in the book Beach Blondes.



           I would definitely recommend the book Beach Blondes to anyone looking for a great summer read. Beach Blondes is the type of book you just cant put down. Summer's whole story fully lurs you in, and this book is just very well written. I think any type of person would love this book, because its the type of life story that draws any girl in. I also think that even though its unlikely for that to happen to someone, I think it's nice to just escape reality in a fun summer read like Beach Blondes. 





Want to buy Beach Blondes? Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Beach-Blondes-Dreams-Promise-August/dp/141696133X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364798483&sr=8-1&keywords=beach+blondes

Image 1 (sums up the book/title- Fun at the beach in  the Keys!) http://thebarbadosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/beach-girls-barbados.jpg

We'll Always Have Summer- Jenny Han Book Review

           We'll Always Have Summer- Jenny Han

     We'll Always Have Summer, the third and final book following The Summer I Turned Pretty, and It's Not Summer Without You, starts off with  eighteen year old Belly, her longtime best friend,Taylor,and her new college roommate, Anika,studying for their last final of their freshman year at Fitch University. Her boyfriend of two years has been Jeremiah Fisher, the brother of Conrad, Belly's first love (and first heartbreak), and the son of Susannah, who passed away of cancer two years before. The Fisher's are Belly's summer family that she had spent every summer with in Cousins Beach, up until college, at their summer house.Since Conrad and Belly's winter romance fizzed off two years ago and Conrad went off to college, Belly has been dating Jeremiah, her lifelong best friend. Shortly after the last final, Belly heads to Jeremiah's fraternity's party, in celebration of the end of the school year. Belly isn't exactly comfortable there, as everyone is drinking or already drunk, and the only person she knows well is, of course, Jeremiah. After the party goes on, Belly is walking to the bathrooms when she hears this girl she barely knows, Lacie, and a few others gossiping in the girls' bathroom. After confronting Jeremiah up in his dorm room, Belly learns that not only did Lacie and Jeremiah hook up over their one week breakup, but that he also had sex with her. After Belly slapped Jeremiah, she begin to sob over the realization that Lacie had experienced things with Jeremiah that she had never experienced before with anyone. After a few depressing days sitting in bed alone, Jeremiah, seemingly caught in a moment of desperation, proposed to Belly. After a few minutes of being still angry and shocked, Belly agreed to marry Jeremiah. In a few days, at their families' reunion in Cousins Beach, Jeremiah and Belly announced their engagement. Everyone was in shock, and their parents only strongly disapproved, trying to convince them to not. Conrad left right after the lunch, seemingly upset and angry. Due to her mom not supporting the marriage at this age whatsoever, Taylor was who Belly had to do wedding planning and shopping with. Belly felt through all this planning this empty feeling, knowing in the back of her mind that wedding stuff is something you're supposed to be doing with your supportive mother, not your best friend. To clear her head from her disapproving mother and the stress that came with her, Belly headed off to stay the family summer house in Cousins Beach; the one place where she felt at home. The day she gets there she finds something out- Conrad is spending the summer there, too. Belly convinces herself that she'll be too busy planning the wedding to hardly even see Conrad, allowing herself to stay. The wedding planning gets more and more stressful, and the more Belly, deep,deep, inside realizes that it isn't the right thing to do. Though as the wedding stress comes to the surface of her, so does her ever-present, yet pushed to the very back feelings for Conrad that she's had her whole life. A few days before the wedding, Conrad knows that it's now or never before he confronts Belly with the fact that he's in love with her, but when he does, she only tells him that it's too late; his chances are over and he's not who he wants, though somewhere deep inside knows that that's all a lie and that she is completely in love with him. However, on the morning of their wedding day, Jeremiah finally asks Belly what he's known all along; the fact that she's still in love with Conrad, and always will be. Though Belly at first denies this, she finally admits it. The wedding is canceled after Belly realized that this whole wedding wasn't right. It was a moment of panic in Jeremiah, and it didn't feel right from the start, but however, she knew that if she wanted to, Jeremiah would've married her that day, but she knew that wasn't what she truly wanted. The book ends on a note of the future; Belly and Conrad, who had known each other forever and through it all been in love, were together for infinity.

     Belly is tall, brown-haired girl with ever deep brown eyes, who has gotten herself into one of those situations where she knew all along it didn't feel all the way right. Belly has a soft spot for Jeremiah in the beginning, but she has always been in love with Conrad, though many times she's tried to convince herself otherwise. A quote from Belly to support this analysis that she's always been in love with Conrad  but denies it is this one: "When I saw his face turning to look at me, I felt a rush of love coming to me, but had brushed it off as fast as it had come."  This quote shows how Belly is in love with Conrad, yet tries to push the feeling away. When Belly finds out Jeremiah hooked up with Lacie, she drops to the lowest point of sadness and and anger, all within seconds, showing her feeling betrayed. A quote to support this analysis of Belly being betrayed  is this one: "The fact that she (Lacie) knew him in a way that I didn't yet, had experienced something with him that I hadn't; that felt like the biggest betrayal of all." This quote supports my analysis of Belly feeling betrayed as she was left in complete, utter shock of being so deeply hurt by the boy who she thought of as so innocent; he couldn't hurt a fly, much less have sex over their one week breakup. After a few depressing days leaving bed no more than once or twice, feeling more betrayed than ever, Belly was given the shock of her life; she was proposed to by Jeremiah. Belly,throughout this trilogy, has frequently thought things were right in the moment. From dating Cam to push away Conrad, to making out with Jeremiah in his car, to even taking Conrad to prom, despite knowing he wasn't doing it because he wanted to. A quote from Belly to describe this analysis of her having a situation feel right in the moment is this one, written a few minutes after Jeremiah proposed: "He put his arms around me, and we held onto each other, clinging like we were each other's safe harbor. All I could think was, if we could just get through this storm, we will make it. He'd made mistakes, I had too. But we loved each other, and that was what mattered." This quote shows how Belly's personality leads her to feel like things are right in the moment.


    Onto the rest of the summary, when Belly decided to return to Cousins Beach to work on wedding plans, her finding out Conrad was staying there resurfaced a  kaleidoscope of old feelings and memories. A quote to support this analysis of old feelings resurfacing in Belly is this: "As I walked up the familiar wooden porch and saw Conrad watching TV through the blinds, old forgotten feelings and memories flooded me,and as I worked to push them all away." This quote from Belly portrays her feelings and memories of Conrad all coming back. Belly knew she couldn't hold onto them, she knew that that chapter of her life was over,and she knew she desperately needed to get rid of these memories and feelings that Conrad and Cousins Beach seemed to automatically resurface. Finally, the morning before the wedding, Belly knew she had to accept the knowing that this wedding wasn't right. No one could replace Conrad, and she knew she had to accept that. A quote from Belly is this one she said right after Jeremiah asked her if she still had feelings for Conrad: "I wanted to tell him no. I opened my mouth. Why wouldn't the words come out? Why couldn't I just say what he needed to hear? It would be so easy to just say it. One word and this would all go away. He wanted to forgive me and forget it all. I could see it in his face: All he needed was for me to say no. He would still marry me if I would just say the word. One word." This quote from Belly supports my analysis that she knows it isn't right, because she replied "Yes" after thinking that. As in yes, she still loved Conrad. Belly, after finishing out college and studying abroad, ends up with Conrad, her lifelong love. The description, feelings, quotes, and interactions with others described explain a complete character analysis of the main character, Belly Conklin.


   There are many themes in We'll Always Have Summer, but there is two main, extremely strong themes. Over and over in this book, Belly lies about things, convincing herself of her answers that she knows in the back of her mind aren't true. However, the main thing that Belly lies to herself about was Jeremiah being the right guy. A quote from the book to support the theme of Belly lying to herself about who her true love was is this quote: "There was this moment between us then, of us just looking at each other, holding each other's gaze. If I leaned forward just a bit, we would be kissing. I knew I should move away, but I couldn't". Following with the soon after quote, "Everything did go back to normal. I was normal, Conrad was normal: it was like nothing happened. Because nothing did happen. If he didn't have a bandage on his leg, I'd have thought I dreamed the whole thing." These quotes combined show the theme of Belly lying to herself about who she really loves, because even though yes, she loves Jeremiah, the one who she truly, truly, loves is Conrad. This quote really best describes this one of the two main themes. The second theme is memories coming back. Throughout We'll Always Have Summer, Belly has many memories come back, mainly ones with Conrad and her short-lived relationship with him. A quote to support this theme is this one, from Belly: "We spent the night lying there on the couch like kids that winter, and remembering that suddenly made my stomach flip." Belly remembers these memories all too well. If Conrad was just "some guy", she wouldn't have so vividly remembered everything. The themes described are the main themes in We'll Always Have Summer.


     I would one hundred percent recommend the book We'll Always Have Summer. It's the perfect raw story of a girl who's with the wrong guy. From being proposed to within days after finding out a huge secret, to her mother and father's zero support and complete disapproval, to feelings for Conrad coming back, she knows it's not write but pushes through it anyway, telling herself it's right. Though I am into some fantasy, I don't like a fantasy love story, so the fact that this book is so real makes me love it. In fact, this trilogy of The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You, and We'll Always Have Summer is my favorite trilogy. That being said, I would absolutely recommend the entire series, including this book.





*I chose the image 1 because it symbolizes Belly knowing the wedding not being quite right. Image 2 is of course The Notebook movie cover, because the story line of that movie kind of described Belly and Conrad's relationship with each other.*

Want to purchase We'll Always Have Summer ? Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Well-Always-Have-Summer-Jenny/dp/1416995595/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362108210&sr=8-1&keywords=well+always+have+summer

Want to check out the author Jenny Han? Click here: http://dearjennyhan.com/

IMAGE 1: http://hollywoodlife.com/interstitial/?ref=http%3A%2F%2Fhollywoodlife.com%2F2011%2F11%2F17%2Fbella-wedding-dress-replica-breaking-dawn-where-to-buy%2F
IMAGE 2:http://www.teen.com/2012/02/26/movies/classic-teen-movies-clueless-mean-girls-dirty-dancing/
     

It's Not Summer Without You- Ellies book review #4

It's Not Summer Without You- Jenny Han

            It's Not Summer Without You, the second book in a trilogy including the first book, The Summer I Turned Pretty, starts out with Belly, the main girl, daydreaming about her summers spent in Cousins Beach as if she'd gone as planned. She'd still be with Conrad, her mom and brother, Steven would be there, and Conrad and his brother, Jeremiah's, mom, Susannah, would be there, happy as ever. However, as she heard her best friend Taylor calling her name, Belly snapped back into reality; Susannah had passed away two months ago with cancer, and Conrad wasn't her boyfriend anymore, since their short lived winter romance fizzed out. Belly was home, five hours from Boston, MA.This summer was the first summer Belly wasn't going to Cousins Beach, like every single year of her life before, and it was killing her. Taylor continually tries to help Belly have fun back at home with her, but it's hopeless- Belly can't stop think about Jere, Con, Susannah, and Cousins Beach. However, within three days of Taylor failing to make Belly happy, Belly gets a call from Jeremiah. Conrad is missing- He left summer school and is no where to be found. After lying to her mom saying she's staying a Taylor's, the search finally leads to the summer house in Cousins, where Conrad is. Belly immediately has a flashback of her and Conrad's short lived winter romance, where they drove all the way to their empty Cousins house without telling her mom. At the summer house they kissed and made hot cocoa, and just lied in each  other's arms, before her mom called and demanded she come home. After  the flashback chapter, when Jeremiah and Belly arrive in Cousins, they stay for three days to figure out that Conrad left because his dad was going to sell the house; he was trying to save it.Throughout these three days, Conrad is very closed off towards Belly, having only few brief moments with Belly, where by the time she realizes their happening, they're over. Belly gets drunk for the first (and last) time on their last night there, accidentally calling her mom to come get her as she fell asleep. Her mom came, upset with Belly. However, after learning why they were all there, she invited Mr. Fisher, Conrad and Jeremiah's dad, over for breakfast and is successful in getting him to not sell the house- under one condition. Conrad  needs to get back to summer school by Monday to take his exams. While waiting in the car for Conrad to finish his last exam, Jeremiah out of the blue starts kissing Belly, and at that moment, nothing has ever felt so right in her life- until Conrad sees them. Then moment is over as Conrad tells Belly he doesn't want her now and never did. Later that night, in a motel on the way home, Conrad whispers to Belly while Jere sleeps, not receiving a response, "Earlier, when I said I never wanted you, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. Goodnight, Belly." The next morning, as Conrad was closed-off like nothing ever happened, Belly realized something- whatever they ever had that winter, it was all over now. He just couldn't be the guy she needed him to be. On an end note for It's Not Summer Without You, Jeremiah drives Belly  the rest of the way home that morning, hand in hand in with her in almost complete silence.

         Belly is a tall girl with wavy, light brown hair, and deep brown eyes. She is sixteen during early summer, but turns seventeen in July. Belly, in this second book of the series, is coming to realization that her precious summers spent at Cousins Beach were over, which makes her feel complete melancholy throughout quite a bit of the book.  A quote from Belly to support this analysis is this: "We drove through town, by all the old places, the mini golf course, the crab shack, and Jeremiah drove as fast as he could, whistling. I wish he would slow down, make the drive last forever, because I knew it might be my last. But it wouldn't last forever, of course. We were almost there." This quote from Belly supports my analysis of her really coming to full realization that the way she'd she spent every summer of her life wouldn't be perpetual- her summers in Cousins Beach were ending right before her eyes. Another feeling Belly is feeling is her yearning for Conrad, her lifelong love, who she knows she may never have. A quote from Belly to support the analysis of her wanting Conrad is this that she says after her best friend, Taylor, tells her she needs to forget Conrad: "But Conrad wasn't just my first love. He wasn't some rite of passage. He was so much more than that. If I forgot Conrad, if I evicted him from my heart, pretending like he was never there, it would be like doing those things to Susannah. And that, I couldn't do." This quote supports my analysis of Belly wanting Conrad, her first love, more than ever. As far as Belly's actions, she is willing to do absolutely anything for family, especially Conrad and Jeremiah, who are family to her, and feels it so intensely if any of them are in trouble. A quote to support my analysis of Belly doing anything for people she loves, like caring intensely, is this that she says after Jeremiah calls about Conrad going missing: "I tried to make my voice sound calm and reasonable, like I wasn't scared out of my mind, due to the thought of Conrad being gone. It wasn't so much that I thought he was in trouble. It was that if he left, really left, he might never come back. And that scared me more than I could say." This quote from Belly supports my analysis of her willing to do anything for family, and being scared for them, because right after she thought that, she left with Jeremiah to go find Conrad.

         As far as Belly's interactions with others, she is very prone to keeping things inside. Belly isn't the type of girl to spill everything on her mind, or tell how she really feels about something. A quote from Belly to support this analysis is this: "If I was very brave or very honest, I would tell him. I would say it, so he would know it and I would know it, and I could never take it back. But I wasn't that brave or honest, so all I did was look at him." This quote supports my analysis of Belly almost always keeping everything inside when interacting with others. Everything described in my character analysis of Belly, the main character, is how she interacts, feels, acts, and looks in It's Not Summer Without You. 

         A major theme in It's Not Summer Without You is melancholy. This is a major theme because Belly, and most of the other characters, are completely upset, feeling melancholy, throughout the whole book. A quote to support this melancholy is this flashback quote, from Jeremiah, as a few of the chapters have his point of view instead of Belly's: "My gut just twisted. I felt like somebody had drop kicked me in the stomach. I was completely upset with Conrad, and felt like crying, though I was still jealous, crazy jealous. I watched him and her walk away and I felt sick inside." This quote from Jeremiah completely shows a theme of melancholy, or sadness, in It's Not Summer Without You. A quote from Belly to support this melancholy is this one, where she realizes she needs to let Conrad go: "We stood there, looking at each other, saying nothing. But it was the kind of nothing that meant everything. In his eyes, there was no trace of what happened between us earlier, and I could feel something inside me break. So that was that. We were finally over." Due to this being such a major event in the book, I decided to include another quote backing it up, which is this one: "I looked at him, and I felt so sad, because this occurred to me: I will never look at you the same way ever again. I will never be that girl again. The girl who comes running back every time you push her away; the girl who loves you anyway." Those two quotes support my analysis of Belly feeling really upset with her realization that she needed to be done with Conrad; to stop chasing after him. I can relate well to the theme of melancholy; everyone can, because everyone has sad points in their lives. I've personally never have felt melancholy due to a boy, but I can relate it to my life because I've felt sadness over many things like: drifting friends, rumors, hormonal sadness, and many other common things. The theme of melancholy described is backed up by the quotes from Jeremiah and Belly, and can be related to my life in many common ways.

          It's Not Summer Without You is a book that I really enjoyed reading, and have read twice now. Its   very realistic, but not cliche', plot makes me feel like I'm there in the story, experiencing everything that happens. Not only that, but It's Not Summer Without You made me actually feel the emotions within the story line. it's such a raw, realistic, real-life seeming book, so I easily was left with the lingering emotions of Belly, Jeremiah,  and other characters for a while after each time I finished a reading session. That being said, I would completely recommend It's Not Summer Without You to anyone who is interested in a real, raw romance book. Though I'd definitely say I'd only recommend it to someone who also has the understanding that love is unexpected, and won't always turn out 'perfectly',  making for a book that may make you feel some sort of sadness. It's Not Summer Without You is very hard to put down, like the other two books in the trilogy, because it's a realistic plot that draws people in and leaves them wanting to know the whole story.




*I chose the first image (the one of the boy and girl) because it portrays Belly's memories of her summers at Cousins Beach, playing in the water with the boys*

*I chose the second image because a LOT changes this summer, and that quote really just sums it up- all Belly knew  was that everything had changed- some for the better, some for the worst.*

IMAGE 1: http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-cute-little-boy-girl-playing-wave-beach-image20986509

IMAGE 2: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/taylor%20swift%20everything%20has%20changed

Want to purchase It's Not Summer Without You? Click here- http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Summer-Without-You/dp/B00AK3OY6S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359530622&sr=8-1&keywords=its+not+summer+without+you

Want to learn more about author Jenny Han? Click here to visit her website- http://www.dearjennyhan.com/