So, it looks like it’s going to be a while before we get The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 and I’m someone that has watched the show multiple times but I’ve also read the books so much more.
So, if you want to know what might happen in season 3 – and, honestly, the show hasn’t deviated from the books that much, so it’s likely it will follow book 3. The show has stuck to all of the major plot points, all they’ve done is change some characters and expanded on the stories of other characters like Laurel, Susannah, Steven and Taylor.
So, here is a complete recap of everything that happens in We’ll Always Have Summer. There will obviously be spoilers so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
The Beginning
We’ll Always Have Summer begins about 2 years after It’s Not Summer Without You which is the second book. Belly is now 18, she’s in college and the book starts with her studying for her finals with Taylor and her new friend, Anika.
Belly has just finished her finals and returns home to her dorm room where she finds Jeremiah sleeping in her bed.
Belly and Jeremiah are now studying at the same college. They started dating just before her senior year if high school and stayed together all throughout her senior year and her first year of college. She applied to the same college to be near him.
Jeremiah is a frat boy – obviously – so they attend an end-of-year party at his fraternity. Belly ends up going alone, without her friends. Belly mentions that Jeremiah wanted her to be in a sorority as well. Belly notes that girls keep coming up to Jeremiah and hugging him, and she sees a girl named Lacie who she knows has a thing for Jeremiah. But Belly is fine with that because she feels sure that Jeremiah would never look at another girl.
Relationship Problems
Belly goes to the bathroom alone where she overhears Lacie and her friends discussing Jeremiah. They were talking about how lucky Lacie was to get to hook up with Jeremiah when they were in Cabo.
Belly confronts Jeremiah and asks him if he hooked up with Lacie during spring break and he admits that he did but it was when they were broken up. Belly is angry and upset because she said it wasn’t even a real break-up. It was less than a week. She’d spent the whole week crying while he’d been in Cabo kissing Lacie.
Jeremiah then decides he wants to be completely honest with Belly – he didn’t just kiss Lacie, they had sex. Belly felt stupid because she hadn’t even considered that they’d had sex – she and Jeremiah still haven’t had sex at this point!
Jeremiah keeps apologising and telling her he loves her but Belly leaves.
Belly then thinks about some of the stuff that annoy her about him. Like about how he always wants her to spend time with him at his parties which meant she rarely spent time with her new friends, about how obnoxious he gets when he smokes weed with his friends, how annoying he is when he has hay fever, and how he was really oblivious sometimes to the point that she thought he was sometimes doing it on purpose.
She says that their short break in April had come out of nowhere for her. Jeremiah and his friends had decided to go to Cabo for spring break at the last minute. Belly was planning on going home and Jeremiah was also supposed to go home to see his dad who was pretty much alone now. They’d also discussed going to Cousins for a few days but he decided to go to Cabo with his friends instead.
Jeremiah said that if she had a problem with him going she could come as well. She finds out that other girlfriends in another sorority were already invited.
Belly implies he’s selfish and he takes that to mean she’s calling him lazy because he’s not pre-med like Conrad is.
So, they kind of broke up. They don’t speak for the entire break but Steven tells her it’s probably only because it’s too expensive to call from Mexico. And when he got back they got back together. Belly didn’t even think to ask if anything had happened over there because she didn’t feel like she had to. She thought she knew that he wouldn’t do anything.
So, at this point we learn that last year, the day after Christmas, Belly went to Cousins on her own and the next morning she woke up to someone coming into the house. It was Conrad. This was the first time that Belly had seen him since he transferred to California. They spend the next day or 2 in the house together and they both seem to have a lovely time seeing each other again.
When Jeremiah called Belly the day after, she didn’t tell him where she’d been or that she’d been with Conrad.
The Engagement
Belly asks Jeremiah to come over so they can speak about what he did. She missed him but she also wanted to confront him properly. She asks him how she knows he’ll never do it again. And you know what he does? He asks her to marry him. She is obviously very hesitant but he manages to convince her that he loves her and they should get married. So she eventually says yes.
And, that night, Belly dreams of Conrad.
Taylor is the voice of reason and tells Belly that the timing of the engagement is a little bit suspect and it’s very sudden but Belly says stuff like they don’t see the point in waiting and that they plan on getting married in August. Also, they obviously plan on living in an apartment off campus together next year even though Belly had planned to live with her friends.
One thing I think worth noting is that Jeremiah absolutely does not understand or care about money. They go out with Belly’s dad for lunch and Jeremiah orders the most expensive thing on the menu while Belly orders the cheapest because she can tell her dad can’t afford it.
Belly knows she’s going to have to start working more to be able to afford a wedding but Jeremiah basically encourages her not to and says they can just use the money Susannah left him for the wedding which Belly doesn’t really want to do.
Everyone heads to Cousins for a dedication to Susannah’s garden. When Belly sees Conrad again, she says that she forgets Jeremiah was even standing next to her and Jeremiah has to clear his throat to get her attention.
So, when everyone is together, Jeremiah announces that he and Belly are getting married. Everyone is shocked. Conrad’s face is completely blank. Laurel asks Belly if she’s pregnant. Like, Laurel gets mad. She doesn’t want this for Belly at all and they’re ecnouraged to wait until after they graduate.
Laurel and Belly don’t speak for a week after. But then she gets together with Belly’s dad and they say that if Belly wants to live with Jeremiah next year she can and they’ll even pay for some of it but they don’t want them to get married.
Belly says no and Laurel tells her that she won’t go to the wedding.
When Belly is looking for her wedding dress she’s surrounded by girls picking out their prom dresses.
The Beach House
Since Laurel is still very unsupportive, Belly decides to stay at the beach house until the wedding. When she’s on her way there, she finds out that Conrad has been stayin there.
They begin thinking about wedding planning. Jeremiah wants to invite his entire frat, but Belly says no. You can see very early on that Jeremiah isn’t really interested in doing any of the planning and it all falls on Belly.
Belly spends like 5 days alone in the house with Conrad and they don’t speak all that much but you can already see that he is just so much more considerate than Jeremiah has been so far. He lets her eat his food, takes her out on wedding errands when Jeremiah can’t make it. And, at one point a florist thinks that Conrad is the groom.
We also read a little bit from Conrad’s point of view in this book. We see that he hates that Jeremiah is marrying Belly but can’t do anything about it because he promised. And, we also see him talking to a girl that asks if he’s every been in love and when he says yes she asks on a scale of 1 to 10 how in love he was. He obviously says 10 and then he tells this girl he isn’t in love with her but he does like her.
Jeremiah starts to act like the wedding is a joke which Belly doesn’t appreciate. He wants to do a dance at the wedding to post on Youtube and tells Belly that she’s making all of the decisions and he just wants this one thing. Like, he doesn’t realise that she’s making all the decisions because the wedding is in a couple months and he’s never there to decide anything. And, when Belly gets mad he calls her a Bridezilla.
Conrad + Belly
Then you get the iconic Conrad line of ‘I would rather have had someone shoot me in the head with a nail gun, repeatedly, than have to watch the two of them cuddling on the couch together all night.’ So Conrad drives home to Boston to see his dad for a few days.
You can tell, in my opinion, that Conrad is more mature because when he figures out that Belly is having a hard time because her mother won’t go to the wedding, he goes to Laurel and asks her to reconsider. Even though he doesn’t want them to get married, he still just wants Belly to be happy.
On the way back from an errand one day, Belly and Conrad stop at a fruit stand to get peaches. Conrad buys her peaches and then wipes her chin with his shirt when she gets it all down her. Belly says it was maybe the most intimate thing anyone had ever done to her and it made her feel light-headed and unsteady on her feet.
Jeremiah and Belly then start apartment hunting for next year. Jeremiah is happy to live somewhere gross because it’s close to campus so he’ll be able to have parties. Belly learns that Jeremiah probably doesn’t have good credit because he opened a credit card and had some late payments. They didn’t get the apartments that they wanted.
Laurel decides to attend Belly’s bridal shower which makes her very happy.
Conrad goes to see the old owner of a seafood restuarant and Cousins and he asks Conrad if he’s gonna cry about Belly marrying Jeremiah or if he’s gonna do something about it. Like, it’s obvious that he still loves her.
Conrad gets hurt while surfing and Belly cleans up his cut for him. They’re standing so close and Belly thinks that if she leaned forward just a little, they’d be kissing. She knew she should move away but she can’t bring herself to do it.
On the night that Jeremiah is going to his bachelor party, Belly asks him if he remembers the time he found a dog on the beach but Jeremiah says that was actually Conrad not him. Belly wonders what else she has remember incorrectly about Jeremiah.
The Bachelor Party
Conrad goes to Jeremiah’s bachelor party but doesn’t drink. Jeremiah and his friends get drunk and Conrad hears them talking about the fact that Jeremiah will finally get to have sex with Belly. Conrad is shocked that they still haven’t slept together. He also hears them talking about how Jeremiah slept with Lacie over spring break and he gets so angry for Belly.
Conrad feels the need to tell Belly and is shocked to find out she already knew and is still marrying him. Belly tells Conrad that she put up with a lot worse when they were together and Conrad tells her that he never even looked at another girl when they were together.
He apologises to Belly and then tells her that he still loves her. He tells Belly that he messed up 2 years ago at the motel. He stayed up all night thinking about what to do and knew that at that point in his life, when he was still so angry about his mother dying, he knew he couldn’t love her like she deserved so he let her go. But this ummer has made him forget about all of that. He asks Belly not to marry Jeremiah and to be with him instead.
Belly tells him that she doesn’t love him and that they were never anything. When she gets back home, Jeremiah is passed out drunk and she tells him she loves him.
Conrad apologises for the night before and asks her to forget everything he said. He lies to Belly and tells her he was drunk out of his mind and he’s sorry. Belly asks Conrad to leave before the wedding.
Taylor tells Conrad to leave Belly alone because he’s confusing her.
Conrad tells Laurel that Belly marrying Jeremiah is killing him.
On the night before their wedding, Belly tells Jeremiah that Conrad told her he still has feelings for her. Jeremiah gets super angry, obvuously. And, he tells Belly that he knows they spent time here together at Christmas, and that when Conrad told him about he he had to pretend that Belly had already mentioned it and it made him feel stupid.
Jeremiah leaves and says he needs to think.
The morning of the wedding, Belly gets ready like nothing is wrong even thought Jeremiah still hasn’t returned. Belly is sure he will return.
Steven gives Belly advice. He says that she can take however she wants to and he says ‘go big or go home.’
Conrad decides he has to go look for Jeremiah and on his way out Laurel hands him a letter with Jeremiah’s name on it. It’s from Laurel.
He finds Jeremiah and they have an argument about Belly. Jeremiah asks why Conrad told him he was over Belly if he never was, and Conrad tells him that Jeremiah hadn’t exactly asked for permission when he walked into them kissing last summer. And, then Jeremiah punches Conrad. Twice.
Conrad hands Jeremiah the letter from Laurel that she wrote for his wedding day. Jeremiah reads the letter, starts to cry and tells Conrad that he’s dead to him now and he’ll never get to see Belly or Jeremiah ever again.
And then he hands Conrad the letter. There was a mix up and it ended up being Conrad’s letter from Laurel.
Conrad goes to see Belly one last time and he gives her the infinity necklace he bought her for the birthday. He apologises for messing everything up and has decided he’s leaving before the wedding and won’t see Belly again for a long time so he’s come to say goodbye. He tells her that being with her and loving her was all worth it. He kisses her on the forehead and then he leaves.
Then Jeremiah arrives and says he doesn’t want to talk about what happened but he does say that he thinks Belly is holding back from him. He knows he doesn’t have her whole heart and that he’s basically the second choice.
Belly tells him that she thinks she’ll always love Conrad a little bit but she still loves Jeremiah. He says that’s not enough.
Jeremiah reveals to Belly that in Conrad’s letter, Laurel says that she only ever saw Conrad in love once ant that was with Belly. And Jeremiah doesn’t want to be be the reason she doesn’t go to him because if she doesn’t see for herself she’s never going to be abel to let him go.
So, Jeremiah and Belly break up on the day of their wedding.
A Few Years Later
A couple of years later, we read the letter that Laurel wrote to Belly for her wedding day. She says that she pictures her marrying a man who is solid, steady and strong with kind eyes and she’s sure he’ll be wonderful even if he isn’t a Fisher.
Belly is 23 now and after she broke up with Jeremiah she went onto live with her friends and then studied abroad in Spain. When she was in Spain, she got her first handwritten letter from Conrad.
Belly and Conrad have just gotten married and the book ends with them running towards the water.
Well, kind of. The book also has some of the letters that Conrad sent to Belly when she was in Spain. They’re super sweet and I’d recommend reading them if you have the time.
