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The Summer I Turned Pretty

This novel follows the story of a young girl spending her summers at a beach house, where she navigates the complexities of family dynamics and forms deep friendships and her first romantic experiences. more

Author

Jenny Han
Jenny Han

Jenny Han is a renowned writer known for her young adult literature. Her works are highly appreciated by young readers for their unique perspective and heartfelt emotional descriptions. more

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“Zoey picked up her spoon and tasted it, and she was immediately and startlingly transported to a perfect autumn childhood day, the kind of day when sunlight is short but it's still warm enough to play outside. For the second course, the chilled crab cake was only the size of a silver dollar and the mustard cream and the green endive were just splashes of color on the plate. The visual experience was like dreaming of faraway summer while staring at Christmas lights through a frosty window. The third course brought to mind the first hot day of spring, when it's too warm to eat in the house so you sit outside with a dinner plate of Easter ham and corn on your lap and a bottle of Coca-Cola sweating beside you. Zoey could feel the excitement of summer coming, and she couldn't wait for it. And then summer arrived with the final course. And, like summer always is, it was worth the wait. The tiny container looked like a miniature milk glass, and the whipped milk in it reminded her of cold, sweet soft-serve ice cream on a day when the pavement burns through flip-flops and even shade trees are too hot to sit under. The savory bits of crispy cornbread mixed in gave the dessert a satisfying campfire crunch.”

“Ah, summer! The season when worry steps aside, delight takes over, and every day is as good as the amount of time spent outdoors. It's a chance to swim past the breakers, take outdoor showers, hold court from a pool float, or rely on nothing but your wits, a pineapple, rum, and a blender to make the most of an afternoon. When the only imperative is to unwind, unplug, and open up to a day of possibilities, you know you're going to have fun.”

“We hope to inspire a communal kitchen, where one person makes the salad, another readies the grill, others set the table, more run to the fish shop, and someone dozes off on the beach and emerges around dessert time with renewed enthusiasm for margarita making. (That's an important role, too.)”

“10. maritime mail service When you're keen on sending a message in a bottle but dubious about the delivery mechanism, consider the following factors from science-minded seafarers: choose a dark bottle, roll the message inward to avoid the ink fading in the sun, drop the bottle in a place with a steady current, and wait a loooooong time. (As of this book's publication, the world's oldest message in a bottle was discovered 132 years after it was sent.) Is this the wrong time to mention that the greatest predictor of survival is hope?”

“3. burn, baby, margarita burn Avoid phytophotodermatitis, aka margarita burn, aka what happens when you gallantly make lots of gin and tonics on a sailboat, inadvertently squeeze citric acid on your skin, and spend the day in the sun, inviting a low-grade chemical burn. You can skip this very specific seasonal hazard by always washing your hands after playing beach bartender.”

“The empty block at the end of my street is probably the best hang-out spot of the lot. While these places aren’t that exciting, they’re all we’ve got, and we make the most of them. It only takes a little imagination to navigate Merri like it’s our own secret world and only we have the keys. The empty block isn’t just a dusty patch of land; it’s a meeting place, a safe haven to share secrets among the tall grass, a blank canvas for whatever projects Claire forces us into next.”