Summer Reading Response

“It’s not Summer Without You” By Jenny Han

“It’s not Summer Without You,” by Jenny Han, part of the ‘Summer Series’ is about two families whose mothers’ are best friends. They grew up together during summer, in Cousins, one of the families house’s, Susannah’s. Susannah, has two boys Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. Isabel (a.k.a. Belly) Conklin is the main character. Her mother is Laurel Conklin and she has an older brother Steven. In the “Summer I turned Pretty” which is the first book, she confesses her feelings about Conrad who is the same age a Steven, when Jeremiah who is a year older than Belly. Susannah’s boys have both been in love with Belly, and they are scared to admit their feelings for her. And Belly feels the same way for both of them.  And Susannah told Belly, “she was destine to be with one her boys.” But in “It’s not Summer Without You,” an event happens that changes all of their lives. Susannah passes away from cancer. Both families are devastated, and their lives will never be the same, and that also goes for Belly’s love life too. 

Both families have been like one for a long time. Now that one of the members is gone, it hurts them all and changes their lives. Belly and her mom were especially close, including her own sons. But Belly has a hard time dealing with it. When summer comes around, they don’t want to go back to the summer house. It was their place when they were all together, and without Susannah there it feels weird for them to go back. In the winter Belly runs away to the house to see it. And once she gets there she doesn’t want to leave, because there she feels closest to Susannah. Towards the end the book, Susannah’s husband wants to sell the house. But all the kids go there together and try to save the house for Susannah. In the end they save the house. Belly has been putting of her feelings for both of them when Susannah passes away. She needs to be there for the boys in a way a sister would be rather than a girlfriend. Jeremiah especially since he was always a mommy’s boy, and Conrad was more of a try to be tough and cool guy, when he really did care about all of them. Even if he didn’t always show it. 

Reading this, made me think about losing someone close to me would feel like. If I lost my mom or dad, sister, anyone close like family, it would change my life forever, especially if I were really close to them. People die, and people have to deal with it in their own way. My way to deal with it would be a lot like Belly’s. For a while Belly was in denial that it happened. All of them were. It’s a huge shock when you hear the news. Going to school or work and moving on is hard. At first it feels like you can’t go on, but eventually you have to. Moving on doesn’t mean you forget  about them. There will always be a special place for them in your heart. I think Belly’s way of dealing with Susannah passing away if how many people deal with death at one point in grieving. “It’s not Summer Without You,” is a great Y.A. about love lives and dealing with loss.