The Summer I Turned Pretty is a realistic fiction book series written by author Jenny Han. The series is about a teenage girl Isabel Conklin, who goes by Belly. Each summer growing up, Belly visits Cousins Beach with her family. She also goes to Cousins with her mom’s best friend, Susannah Fisher, and Susannah’s sons, Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. The series has been turned into a three season television show. The first episode of the third and final season came out July 16, 2025, with new episodes releasing weekly. It has gained immense popularity with 25 million viewers worldwide within 7 days post premiere. The show is also the subject of a lot of attention, especially on social media platforms such as TikTok.
The show follows Belly’s life as she goes through love and heartbreak with the Fisher brothers. Conrad and Jeramiah are very different but they have one thing in common; they are both in love with Belly. This love triangle causes a lot of drama in the show, and a lot of conversation outside of the show as well. The most controversial topic is whether fans are team Jeramiah or Conrad. Students and teachers at the school shared their opinions on the show, favorite characters and which team they are on.
Freshman Vivian Triplett, who has been watching the show since the second season came out in 2023, shared her opinions about the show. Triplett’s favorite character is Belly’s brother, Steven. Triplett likes his humor and personality. Triplett also expressed how she wants Belly to end up with Jeramiah but thinks she will stay in Paris. Triplett said she read the book series and liked them better, saying the books were more interesting and had more details. Triplett likes season three the best, she enjoys how Belly was able to have her own adventure in Paris. She thought this showed her maturity and character development.
“Conrad is always changing his mind about Belly,” Triplett said. “Jeremiah is clear about his feelings, and has always been there for Belly when Conrad wasn’t.” Sophomore Monica Martinez has been watching since the first season came out in the summer of 2022. Martinez says her favorite character is Belly’s best friend, Taylor Jewel. Martinez likes how she is funny, relatable and truly cares about Belly. Martinez wants the show to end by Conrad coming to Paris and him and Belly ending up together. Martinez is a strong supporter of team Conrad.. Martinez also said that she thinks season one is the best compared to the other two seasons. She thinks it was interesting and was not as cringy as the other seasons.
“I feel like Jeremiah can be a little childish sometimes and Conrad actually likes Belly for who she is,” Martinez said.
Junior Ben Kerr, who started watching the show this summer, said he doesn’t like Conrad nor Jeramiah. Kerr thinks Belly should end up with Cam Cameron or Benito.
“Whichever brother she will end up with will just cause more drama in the family,” said Kerr.
PE/Health teacher and JV volleyball coach, Ms. Sarah Grosse is team Jeramiah.
“I’ve only seen up to the end of Season 2 but I know that a lot of important things happened in Season 3. From watching up to Season 2, I am team Jeremiah right now. Conrad wasn’t treating Belly right and even though he was going through a lot, so was Jeremiah. Conrad just wasn’t good to Belly but Jeremiah always has been,” said Grosse. Grosse’s favorite part of the show was when Belly was playing volleyball at the end of season two. Grosse thought it was cool to watch since she is a volleyball coach. Grosse also found it funny because she thought the actors were not very good volleyball players.
All of the respondents had first heard of the show from social media or their friends. Many students enjoyed seeing all of the edits and theories about the show on TikTok. Overall, all students and teachers really enjoyed the show and are sad that it has ended.
“My favorite part about the show was how much it brought people together, it started conversations. I loved talking to my friends about our thoughts and opinions after each episode came out. It felt like a fun community,” freshman Nina Burwell said.
