NEED TO KNOW
\nPrime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty is based on the best-selling trilogy by Jenny HanSince season 1, there have been several key differences between the book and showNow in the midst of its third and final season, Han teased there would be some “surprises” for fans of the book<\/p>\n
The Summer I Turned Pretty<\/a> went from page to screen \u2014 but not everything stayed the same.\n<\/p>\n Based on Jenny Han<\/a>‘s best-selling romance trilogy of the same name, the Prime Video adaptation first premiered in June 2021, introducing a new generation of fans to Isabelle “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung<\/a>) and the rest of the Cousins Beach<\/a> crew. The story follows Belly as she spends her summers in Cousins Beach and navigates a complicated love triangle between a pair of brothers, Conrad (Christopher Briney<\/a>) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n While the Prime Video series follows the same major plot line and re-creates some defining moments from the book (hello, season 3 peach scene<\/a>!), there have also been some changes along the way. Now in the midst of its third and final season<\/a>, Han, who serves as showrunner, told Entertainment Weekly<\/a> in March 2025 that there would be “surprises” \u2014 especially for those who are fans of her books.\n<\/p>\n “There are the things that [fans] know and then there are things they think they know, and then there’s going to be, hopefully, things that surprise them<\/a>,” she said.\n<\/p>\n From Susannah’s big secret to a new relationship, here are the biggest differences between The Summer I Turned Pretty book trilogy and the Prime Video show.\n<\/p>\n Warning: The Summer I Turned Pretty spoilers ahead!\n<\/p>\n The debutante ball <\/p>\n Lola Tung and Christopher Briney in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Peter Taylor\/Prime Video<\/p>\n Remember the drama-filled debutante ball that served as the catalyst for most of season 1’s drama? Well, it never actually happened in the books.\n<\/p>\n Early on in the TV series, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard) gets Belly an invitation to the ball, which takes place at the Cousins Beach Club. It’s a primary plot point in season 1 as it lays the foundation for Belly’s character arc: While her brother Steven (Sean Kaufman<\/a>), mother Laurel (Jackie Chung) and Conrad doubt she would participate because they think it isn’t her thing, Belly proves them wrong when she says yes.\n<\/p>\n At the end of season 1, the debutante ball is the intense culmination of everything that happens throughout the season. After Jeremiah, who is Belly’s escort to the ball, learns of his mother’s big secret, he leaves Belly stranded on the dance floor \u2014 that is, until Conrad jumps in to save the day.\n<\/p>\n In June 2022, Han opened up to TheWrap<\/a> about the decision to add the debutante ball, saying it was “a chance to really bring a rite of passage like a ceremonial rite of passage of growing up to life.”\n<\/p>\n “I think different cultures have many different ways of marking that moment of between, like, girlhood and adulthood,\u201d Han said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what Deb Ball is, you\u2019re coming out and being seen as an adult.”\n<\/p>\n Susannah’s cancer secret <\/p>\n Rachel Blanchard in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Dana Hawley\/Prime Video<\/p>\n Speaking of Susannah’s big secret, it isn’t as under wraps in the book, as both sons seem to be aware of her diagnosis from the beginning.\n<\/p>\n In the show, however, Susannah insists on keeping her sons in the dark in hopes of having one last normal summer in Cousins Beach \u2014 but it’s really only Jeremiah who doesn’t know. Conrad finds out early on, while Jeremiah doesn’t become aware until the season 1 finale, when he takes his mom’s phone and looks through her emails.\n<\/p>\n Jeremiah’s sexuality <\/p>\n Gavin Casalegno as Jeremiah in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Dana Hawley\/Prime Video<\/p>\n In the show, Jeremiah is more sexually fluid than his book counterpart, and kisses both boys and girls in the first season.\n<\/p>\n “My approach to this adaptation was: How would I tell the story in 2022? What would that look like? And how would that change things?\u201d Han told TV Line<\/a> in June 2022 of her decision to add this to Jeremiah’s character arc. “I think perhaps if I was writing the novel today, I may have made that choice because I think that he\u2019s always been a character, to me, that is really at ease with himself, really comfortable in his own skin, and openminded and open to exploration.”\n<\/p>\n She continued, “I do think that\u2019s more reflective of today and young people today and the way they view sexuality being much more of a spectrum.”\n<\/p>\n The showrunner acknowledged that, in her eyes, Jeremiah isn’t ready to identify as bisexual, though she considers him “sexually fluid.”\n<\/p>\n “He is a young person who\u2019s figuring out where he falls in all that and hasn\u2019t experienced a lot of of love yet,” Han said. “It\u2019s still kind of early on in that journey.”\n<\/p>\n Belly’s kiss and breakup with Cam Cameron <\/p>\n David Iacono in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Peter Taylor\/Prime Video<\/p>\n In both the show and book, Belly develops a relationship with someone other than the Fisher brothers: Cam Cameron (David Iacono<\/a>). But in the show, Cam is her first kiss, whereas in the books, it is Jeremiah.\n<\/p>\n As for their breakup, in the novel, Cam ends things with Belly because he knows she has her heart set on one of the Fisher brothers. Meanwhile, Belly is the one to call it off in the show.\n<\/p>\n Laurel’s career <\/p>\n Jackie Chung in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Erika Doss\/Prime Video<\/p>\n In the show, Belly’s mom, Laurel, is an author, though that was never mentioned in the books. The career choice is an Easter egg that ties the show to the novels, as the book Laurel writes in the second season is titled It’s Not Summer Without You, the name of the second book in Han’s trilogy.\n<\/p>\n Aunt Julia’s attempt to sell the Cousins Beach house <\/p>\n Kyra Sedgwick in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Prime Video<\/p>\n Season 2 revolves around Susannah’s half-sister, otherwise known as Aunt Julia (Kyra Sedgwick<\/a>), inheriting the Cousins Beach house and trying to sell it. In fact, it’s what brings Conrad away from Brown University and back to Cousins as he tries to stop the sale from happening.\n<\/p>\n However, Aunt Julia and her child Skye (Elsie Fisher<\/a>) don’t exist in the books, and it’s Conrad and Jeremiah’s dad, Adam (Tom Everett Scott<\/a>), who is instead trying to sell the house.\n<\/p>\n Conrad’s reaction to Jeremiah and Belly’s kiss in the season 2 finale <\/p>\n Lola Tung and Gavin Casalegno in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Prime Video<\/p>\n Toward the end of the season 2 finale, Belly and Jeremiah share a passionate kiss on the Brown University campus,\u00a0just as Conrad approaches them. After the intense moment, Belly and the Fisher brothers share an awkward car ride together as Conrad teases them about the kiss from the backseat \u2014 though it happened differently in the books.\n<\/p>\n In It\u2019s Not Summer Without You, Han’s second novel in the trilogy, Conrad completely ignores them the whole car ride after he witnesses Jeremiah and Belly’s kiss.\n<\/p>\n In August 2023, Han told PEOPLE that the subtle change was a way of demonstrating that Conrad is “still in the fight<\/a>” for Belly.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe sees that [infinity] necklace and he’s like, \u2018I’m not letting her go. I’m still here.\u2019 Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gotten in the car,” she said. “Even with him being a jerk to both of them, he’s still basically saying, \u2018Look at me. Don’t look at him.\u2019 It’s almost like he is still asking for her attention.”\n<\/p>\n Han continued, “In a way, it’s more active than we’ve seen him be in a while because he can tend to shut down and go within himself throughout his grief.”\n<\/p>\n Belly doesn\u2019t lose her virginity to Conrad in the books <\/p>\n Lola Tung and Christopher Briney in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Erika Doss\/Prime Video<\/p>\n Belly doesn’t have sex with either Fisher brother<\/a> in the books, though in the show, she loses her virginity to Conrad in a season 2 flashback, while they’re cuddled up by a fireplace during a getaway to the Cousins Beach house.\n<\/p>\n In May 2025, Han told Entertainment Weekly<\/a> that the decision to implement a sex scene was really based on Belly’s character in the show.\n<\/p>\n “Belly choosing to have sex with Conrad was really driven by Belly and her desire and what she wanted to do,” Han said. “It was really important to me for that moment to be just a very nice memory for her, that is a moment in time where she really loved that person and it happened exactly how she dreamed of and how she wanted it.”<\/p>\n Taylor’s relationship with Steven <\/p>\n Rain Spencer and Sean Kaufman in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty.’.<\/p>\n Erika Doss\/Prime Video<\/p>\n Belly’s love triangle isn’t the only intense connection through the series, as some may argue that the chemistry between Steven and Taylor<\/a>‘s (Rain Spencer<\/a>) is a central part of the show. But in the books, Steven is a much less prominent character \u2014 and the peak of his relationship with Taylor is a secret kiss that ends up ruining Belly’s birthday.\n<\/p>\n In the show, however, the pair’s slow-burn romance picks up in season 2 and culminates with a kiss \u2014 and continues into a season 3 on-again, off-again relationship (and a cheating storyline).\n<\/p>\n