{"id":14794,"date":"2025-07-16T22:03:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T22:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/14794\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T22:03:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T22:03:04","slug":"the-summer-i-turned-pretty-season-3-biggest-book-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/14794\/","title":{"rendered":"The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3: Biggest Book Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Note: This story contains spoilers from \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d Season 3, Episodes 1-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d<\/a> is back for its third and final season, bringing Jenny Han\u2019s beloved book trilogy to a close. But Han has teased that book fans might not know how the Prime Video series will conclude.<\/p>\n

The author and series creator has gone off script in past seasons \u2014 most notably in crafting a romance between Belly\u2019s best friend, Taylor (Rain Spencer), and Belly\u2019s brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman) \u2014 but in Season 3 bringing an end to the love triangle between Belly (Lola Tung), Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), even more changes to the book \u201cWe\u2019ll Always Have Summer\u201d could impact the endgame.<\/p>\n

See below for the biggest changes from the book in \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d Season 3 so far. This story will be updated weekly as new episodes drop.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Time jump to Belly\u2019s junior year<\/p>\n

While Season 3 kicks off by showing Belly\u2019s move-in to Finch for her freshman year of college, \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d quickly jumps to the end of Belly\u2019s junior year and Jeremiah\u2019s senior year, pushing back much of the action that happens in the book two years.<\/p>\n

The Prime Video series fills in the gaps of the last two years: Belly had an injury that forced her to leave the volleyball team and meanwhile discover her passion for sports psychology; Jeremiah has been enjoying his fraternity life, but will be graduating a semester late after not completing the correct classes; Taylor has become rush chair of her sorority; Steven has graduated from Princeton early and began working at finance firm Breaker \u2014 headed up by Mr. Fisher; and Conrad is still pursuing his medical studies at Stanford.<\/p>\n

Belly and Jeremiah have seemingly been together this entire time, and their conflict in Episodes 1 and 2 surrounding Jeremiah\u2019s spring break trip to Cabo is the same turn of events as in the book. <\/p>\n

\"The-Summer-I-Turned-Pretty\"Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Adam (Tom Everett Scott) in \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d Season 3 (Erika Doss\/Amazon)<\/p>\n

Taylor and Steven\u2019s on-again, off-again relationship<\/p>\n

Given that Taylor and Steven don\u2019t have a romantic relationship in the books, Han has already gone off script with their fling in the first two seasons, and she told TheWrap crafting their storyline was the hardest part of writing Season 3.<\/p>\n

Season 3 establishes that Taylor and Steven broke up before Belly and Taylor\u2019s move to Finch, but it\u2019s clear they\u2019ve hooked up across the past years, leading to them now cheating on their respective partners \u2014 Davis and Mia. Notably, Taylor does date a Davis in the books, but it\u2019s earlier while she\u2019s in high school, who was seemingly subbed for Taylor\u2019s boyfriend, Milo, in Season 2.<\/p>\n

Steven breaks up with Mia (who remains unseen) to be with Taylor, who is hesitant to truly pursue a relationship until \u2026 <\/p>\n

\"The-Summer-I-Turned-Pretty\"Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor (Rain Spencer) in \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d Season 3 (Erika Doss\/Amazon)<\/p>\n

Steven\u2019s car accident<\/p>\n

As soon as \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d dropped its Season 3 trailer, fans immediately glommed onto the car crash involving Steven, which is entirely new from the book, with some fans even speculating Steven could die. <\/p>\n

Luckily, fans didn\u2019t have to anticipate the car crash for too long, as Episode 2 sees Steven crash his car after Taylor tells him to let her out of the car. Steven is okay by the end of Episode 2, but he said it serves as a \u201cwake up call\u201d that he shouldn\u2019t be pursuing Taylor anymore \u2014 a realization that he tells Taylor right as she\u2019s about to ask him to make a relationship work.<\/p>\n

New characters<\/p>\n

While book fans were waiting to meet Belly\u2019s college best friend Annika, Conrad\u2019s close friend and former hookup, Agnes, and other Finch students Redbird and Lacie Baron (if you know you know), some new characters were introduced in Taylor\u2019s boyfriend, Davis, Steven\u2019s girlfriend, Mia (who remains unseen), and Steven\u2019s co-worker and junior associate at Breaker, Denise.<\/p>\n

\"The-Summer-I-Turned-Pretty\"Laurel (Jackie Chung) in \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d Season 3 (Erika Doss\/Amazon)<\/p>\n

Laurel and John\u2019s Romance<\/p>\n

Belly\u2019s parents, Laurel and John, are divorced in the books and don\u2019t rekindle their romance on the page, but the first two episodes of Season 3 see them running into each other at a conference and flirting up a storm before eventually hooking up.<\/p>\n

Redbird Is Potentially Queer<\/p>\n

In the books, Redbird is one of Jeremiah\u2019s fraternity brothers who sparks the eye of Taylor later in the book. In the show, Redbird mentions to Jeremiah how emotionally devastated he was after he and Sean broke up, though Redbird\u2019s sexuality is not discussed further.<\/p>\n

Study abroad discussed earlier \u2014 and in a different place<\/p>\n

The possibility of Belly heading to Paris to study abroad during the fall semester of her senior year is brought up in the Season 3 premiere, much earlier than the discussion in the book, which sees Belly head to Spain during her junior year. Jeremiah graduating late factors into her potential study abroad, but Jeremiah encourages her to go and follow her dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d Season 3 releases new episodes Wednesdays on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

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