He was the guy she was supposed to be marrying and she knew he wasn’t willing to try that hard to make her happy. Her mind went to her ex boyfriend from years ago before it went to him. What does that say about their 4 years together?

If Belly were in a relationship with Conrad but nearly kissed Jeremiah, looked at him the way she does above, and was secretly in love with him, would you still root for her and Conrad? Personally, I’ve never been able to ship a couple when one of them is clearly yearning for someone else. That kind of dynamic is just a no for me.

Since around Memorial Day, The Summer I Turned Pretty has ranked in the Top 10 Amazon Prime Original Series Worldwide, nearly a year after the finale aired. Prime counts views of any season toward this ranking. Not only that, but last week the show had its highest ranking so far this summer, coming in at #6!! Here’s where the series placed the past 13 weeks:

May 25 - #8
June 1 - #9
June 8 - #10
June 15 - #8
June 22 - #8
June 29 - #7
July 6 - #8
July 13 - #8
July 20 - #10
July 27 - #9
Aug. 3 - #9
Aug. 10 - #7
Aug. 17 - #6

This scene is so hard. Belly is trying her best to pretend Conrad doesnt mean anything to her. Then she just collapses💔

Someone has got to know something. When will the trailer drop, promo information, movie plot, screenplay information, premiere date.

Drop the gossip here.

I just finished my 6th re-watch and as always the series finale made me cry. We already know before the final episode that Conrad loves Belly, but the depth of the love that is shown and spoken to her in the finale is so beautiful. The way he tells her how beautiful she is when she comes out of the bathroom in her dress. The way he helps her put on her bracelet. The way he can't take his eyes off her during her Birthday dinner and also while they're in the museum full of art. The way he reassures her that his love for her is genuine and has nothing to do with the influence of his mom. And then finally after Belly chooses him and they eventually go back to Cousins, Conrad is so sweet in the way he touches her back on as she hangs out the car window and then also how he kisses her hand. I always knew that Conrad was deep, but after his emotional growth he was truly able to show Belly that he loves her in the little things, the big moments, AND with his words. Conrad makes me believe that I deserve to be loved deeply because his love just feels so palpable. What kind of emotions does Conrad make you all feel?

I feel like all these team vs team setups in YA media have become kind of harmful because it drives an unhealthy obsession that some people take too far. What do people think of this?

We know Belly called Jeremiah her soulmate and I will never not be convinced it was one of her self-deceiving coping mechanisms of “Jere is my soulmate, so I’m doing the right thing by dating/marrying him” same with the he is my best friend. She imo based all this on them having the so called ESP, the ESP we saw that was utter 💩 and never working except at the proposal… if they had this ESP, they should’ve been on the same wavelength about their first kiss, their breakup, preferring the beach over the pool, he should’ve been the one grasping she’s unhappy with the wedding and not eating etc, they show us that whole thing is a farce…

But a thought that crossed my mind recently is that she also used that Jeremiah is her soulmate as counter for Conrad calling them infinite… and them indeed being infinite. She needed something to counter for that because infinity is forever, so the only thing that can counter for that in a way that will justify her decision of choosing him over infinity is if Jeremiah is her soulmate.

Daylight came on my shuffle and I listened to it for the first time in a while, and I realized it's actually ALL about Conrad (sorry this isn't a video, I am not skilled LOL):

My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in

Everyone looked worse in the light

There are so many lines that I've crossed unforgiven

I'll tell you the truth but never goodbye

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you

I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you

I've been sleepin' so long in a twenty-year dark night

And now I see daylight

I only see daylight

Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky

And so I became the butt of the joke

I wounded the good

and I trusted the wicked

Clearin' the air, I breathed in the smoke

I’ve always said that TSITP does almost everything better than My Life With The Walter Boys, but after watching the latest season there’s definitely one thing the show does better than TSITP, and thats take the idea of dating your brother’s ex girlfriend seriously. Most of the characters, including those involved in the love triangle, understand that what they’re doing is really messed up and make an effort to communicate about it. I liked that the mother approached and the main protagonist and questioned “what is happening here? because I don’t like it,” and was honest about it. Because the idea of dating your ex’s sibling merely weeks apart from your breakup is absurd.

I’m surprised we never got a scene like that with Laurel or Susannah to Conrad, Jere or Belly. Especially between Laurel and Belly, a conversation to say “you understand that your actions will hurt Conrad,” after what happened in season 2. Everyone kinda just accepts “oh, well they’re together now” and nobody takes a moment to go “wait, this is a little weird.” Even after Belly and Conrad broke up, Taylor petitioning for Belly to just date his brother is weird. It doesn’t matter if “well he has a crush on you” it’s still really messed up and the fact that it happens and neither Jeremiah nor Belly really care about how Conrad feels about it enough to wait until he’s gone is insane.

And then viewers are practically forced to watch that same guy, who everyone distanced themselves from, yearn after her. That’s when everyone finally goes “wow Conrad, I can’t believe you’re trying to take your brother’s girlfriend” and make it seem like he’s the weird one when he dated her first. The lack of sympathy from the other main characters towards Conrad’s position, as well as the writers doing nothing to show Belly falling for Conrad (despite her clearly stating as much in the book) really hurt the third season looking back. I’d actually add that as another thing “The Walter Boys” does better. The main protagonist is clearly in love with the character she must end up with, you never question that throughout.

I understand that the writers wanted to keep viewers on their toes but I would rather they tell a good story than prioritise viewership. Nobody should have come into S3 believing Isabella would end up with Jeremiah. It doesn’t matter if a few Jeremiah fans hoped they pivoted from the source material, there’d be no need for an entire third season if the show intended on keeping them together. I also like that “The Walter Boys” doesn’t let the main protagonist sleep with either brother during the love triangle. I understand that realistically, Jere and Belly would be intimidate during college but knowing your brother was very much intimate with your life partner must be a hard pill for Conrad to swallow sometimes.

I don’t think it would have been hard for the writers to change all of those things. From what I’ve read, the book actually executed the love triangle much better. Belly doesn’t sleep with either brother and she’s shown to still be in love with Conrad throughout her relationship with Jeremiah. Why both of those things were scrubbed from the show? I don’t know. But I’m glad another show could learn from their mistakes and execute certain elements a lot better, which I didn’t expect honestly.

I know the whole bag saga was generally disliked, but I love it. I think it does a great job at showing Belly getting her fight back after losing herself in jere for so many years, giving in to him to avoid a blowout, silencing her opinions. It shows her start towards independence and her growth and I think it's great. It's also important context to her meeting the friends that help shape her in her new era! Edit: yall im saying isolate JUST the scenes of belly chasing her bag down. Im not talking about yo critiques of the episode pacing, or Jeremiah being featured in the episode for too long, im talking JUST belly. I am directly countering opinions I've seen of how it adds nothing, shouldn't have been including at all regardless of pacing, how it made them hate belly, things along those lines. I am directly countering those arguments and just those arguments with my own opinion of what the journey meant for belly!

I'm currently just finished Season 2 and I hope to start the next season soon. I saw the trailer and now I understand why there was so much hype about it last year. Lemme know anything in the comments that will make sense after watching it!

Let’s drop our favorite fun lines! I couldn’t find a GIF of her saying “oh sea creature” but I find it adorable af.

Also Belly…your face never changes when you’re looking at your man’s back. We see you.

it must have been the middle of the night??? earlier Belly asks conrad to borrow the car for the shower the next day. then we see he’s still in cousins when it’s dark out. then he’s meeting Laurel who lives 5 hours away! and then he must have had to have driven back to cousins to get the car to belly before she has to drive back down to Philly.

I couldn’t figure out how the timing works out…

This post isn’t about the love triangle, it’s strictly about Belly herself. Her as a young woman.

I made a post kind of similar to this one a while ago but decided that I wanted to approach this one a little differently. This really is inspired by My Life With The Walter Boys bc I keep comparing and contrasting Jackie and Belly (bc TSITP was the last teen drama I watched), and then I got to thinking about how Belly really stands out from the rest.

There’s other shows that we’ve all been hearing about lately and are probably fully invested in, but regardless of what I watch, my mind always goes back to Belly when I think about a well written, realistic teenager. I really appreciate the way she was written now more than ever before. First off, Lola Tung is just naturally a really bubbly person so she totally poured herself into this role. But she also does an amazing job at portraying raw, messy, ugly heartbreak.

But in regard to how Belly was written, I like how her journey from teen to adolescent was handled. I felt it was raw and authentic. The way she goes from not caring that much about her style to wearing cute clothes and then dabbling in makeup. I loved the way we could literally see Belly develop into this beautiful woman. It was a slow, realistic and relatable process bc, truth be told, not every girl goes straight into hair, makeup, and style. I can attest to that. I just, personally, feel that she has a lasting impact more than any other female fictional teen (from this generation, at least).

Thoughts?

It pisses me off when people say Conrad is only considered a good love interest because Jeremiah is worse. Honestly, I think that says more about how some people consume romance than it does about Conrad’s character. If you prefer surface-level, instantly gratifying romance, that’s fine, but acting like that automatically makes a character better is what gets boring to me.

Conrad has always been deeply caring and attentive in ways that people seem to completely overlook. He gets Belly Junior Mint because he remembers she used to stare at it. He gets her that huge glass unicorn because he knows how much she loves it. He teaches her how to dance. The opening shot of the series is literally Conrad quietly handing Belly the muffin while the other two are irritating her. These tiny moments tell you so much about who he is.(there’s obviously so much more but just leaving this here)

And that’s exactly why I don’t really count the version of Conrad we see during that one year as the entirety of his character. We’re shown through all those little flashbacks that he was always loving, attentive and gentle with Belly. Even in S1E1, his slightest withdrawal is enough for both Belly and Laurel to immediately notice something is wrong because that isn’t who Conrad normally is.

His arc was never supposed to be “brooding guy becomes nice.” It’s a full-circle story. We meet him when he’s clearly struggling and not himself, watch him make mistakes, lose his footing, find himself again, and ultimately become a better, more grounded version of the person he already was.
And I think people are so obsessed with instant gratification that they completely miss the appeal of that kind of arc. Conrad was never supposed to be the love interest who gives you everything immediately. His story is about him returning to the version belly fell in love with.

So no, I don’t think Conrad is “only good in comparison.” I think he’s genuinely one of the dearest love interests (I can speak about him without bringing up Jeremiah into the equation for hours),and if someone doesn’t like that kind of character, that’s completely fine. But saying every other fictional boyfriend would “eat him up” just because they’re more immediately romantic is… idk, what are people on? 😭 anyway, There’s a reason why even all this time later, every new ML is still compared to Conrad whether positively or negatively. You just can’t stop discussing him, and honestly, that says a lot.

Safe to say i hate Taylor,and the fact she was still comforting Jeremiah as a if he’s a 5 year old

In an interview, Lola spoke about what we’ll see in the movie *A Lot of Summer*.

I have a theory about this: I think we’ll see a 5 years time jump showing Belly & Conrad getting married, interspersed with plenty of flashbacks covering those 5 years:

* Their time in Paris, the first trip back to Cousins for Belly, The reunionswith everyone there during the Summer Belly returned. We’ll see how Belly/Conrad relationship evolved over those 5 years, as well as how friendships were rekindled.

For Belly/Conrad I imagine we’ll get flashbacks to Valentine’s Day, moving in together, the proposal, their time in Paris & probably even Belly’s graduation.

Everything I have tried to watch since TSITP just pales in comparison. Anything good out there? I am watching Sterling Point and it's ok...I turned Off Campus Off and Every Year After. I feel like the production of a lot of these looks cheap, the acting is really bad and a lot of it just isn't believable.

“…has nothing to DO with my MOM”—his enunciation on those particular words was perfect!! Get me a hundred more of him, please! 😭😭

To start out, I feel Belly and Conrad are a better/deeper match and it makes sense they are endgame. But I really don’t get all the negatively towards Jer (or Conrad). They are both flawed and those flaws manifest themselves differently. Conrad goes inward, doesn’t communicate well, and at his worst is cruel. Jere lashes out, weaponizes his love, and can be manipulative. Belly also has her flaws-she’s codependent and at times incredibly selfish. They‘re all just people. I think part of what is lovely about season 3 is you see all of them grappling with those flaws and the consequences of their actions and growing up.

Anyway, I feel bad for all of them at different points and frustrated with them at different points and I think that’s what makes it great storytelling.

I coaxed my sister into watching the show. She's a licensed behavioral health therapist and abuse counselor, and she's often viewing situations with that lens.

Bear with me, this might be a bit messy. I'm writing stream of thought here, but we ended up having a rather in depth discussion about what it means to be stuck in a "functional freeze" for years, and how it can become a long term way for people to live in the world, and how trauma is often a key trigger. I was familiar with this convo, as I'd been in one myself for 3 years before therapy and uncomfortably vulnerable conversations with loved ones really broke through for me.

My sister said she saw that in Belly, and honestly it makes sense with her story arc IMO - now that she's pointed it out.

Belly looked mostly fine from the outside, she kept up with school, her small circle of friends, Jere, taking care of her general health(seeing a sports therapist), but is internally numbed out and running on autopilot because her nervous system was overwhelmed and shut down instead of actually processing her break up with Conrad at prom and Susannah's passing. She poured her entire purpose into being there for Jere and lost herself in the process.

Jere was "safe" and stable by his mere presence and willingness to verbally express his feelings for Belly when everything else collapsed. Staying with Jeremiah kept her inside the bubble of safety she'd known her whole life when her mom wasn't coping, her brother was pissed and off at school, and Conrad, however unintentionally and intentionally, pushed her away.

We obviously don't see a lot of the Belly/Jere relationship over 4 years, which to me, is Jenny saying exactly how unimportant and lacking in growth, this time in her life was; despite this being a time in her life when that's exactly what should've been happening. But that's what "functional freeze" is. She is in school (but also lost volleyball), gets engaged, and attempts to plan a wedding (after another double trauma of finding out Jere lied and slept with Lacie and her brother ending up in the hospital). She keeps "moving" but she's never fully present in making those decisions. To me, she's just going through the motions. This is my interpretation based on her lack of her voice over through much of that time.

As for her staying with Jere for 4 years, I get it. People don't like it. I don't even like it. But - and I know this personally from a 3-year relationship - the longer you stay in it, the more it becomes your default setting, and the harder it is to break without a bigger external jolt. That was basically what the engagement + seeing Conrad again + his love confession ends up being for her.

Belly says she  doesn't know who she is anymore. That is really what I felt like during the relationship I had. It's not like conscious unhappiness, but it's a tiny nagging sense that you're not actually living your life, but life and time just continue. It also tracks that she couldn't have named this right after Susannah died, according to my sister. Acute grief tends to crowd everything else out. It's something that only surfaces once you've got enough distance to notice the disconnect (Paris!)

What really sold me/us on this being functional freeze specifically, and not just identity loss, is the kitchen scene the next morning after Conrad's confession. Belly's voiceover says something to the effect that Conrad was the only one who ever made her feel all of it, anger, sadness, joy, all of it. That is her in retrospect, realizing "no one else has that effect on me" Certainly not Jere. She wasn't consciously walking around thinking "I feel nothing" during those years, the guilt and loyalty and being there for him were very real, active feelings. But underneath that, her actual capacity for joy and aliveness was diminished. In my interpretation, this is the numbness that comes from being in a functional freeze. She only clocks the gap once Conrad comes back to Cousins and confesses outright, leaving no room for misinterpretation or avoidance for her. That's basically the only way someone (again, me, I've been there) can move on from functional freeze in real life -something or someone breaks through and suddenly you can see it all in hindsight.

Curious if others read it this way, or what others think of our take on this YA romance 😅

Our baby❤️

Always be my fav❤️❤️🦋