Starting July 16, fans of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” can return to Cousins Beach to watch the show’s messy summer love triangle culminate in its third and final season.
The series, which is available to stream on Prime Video, is based on the book trilogy of the same name by author Jenny Han. While the show, created by Han herself, has largely stayed true to the plot of the books so far, watchers speculate whether the third installment will follow suit.
The show follows the complicated dynamic between the show’s main character, Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung), and her two romantic interests, brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno).
Like many famous fictional love triangles (think: “Twilight,” “The Vampire Diaries” or “The Hunger Games”), the show has viewers sharply divided on which suitor Belly should select.
In the books, she makes a clear choice, though it takes plenty of heartbreak and drama to get there.
Below, we recapped what happens in Book 3, “We’ll Always Have Summer,” but be warned: There are major spoilers for the ending of the book series ahead.
What Happens in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Book 3?
At the end of Season 2 of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” Belly chooses Jeremiah, which aligns with the ending of the second book in the series, “It’s Not Summer Without You.”
The third book opens with a notable time jump. Two years after Belly and Jeremiah started dating — and Belly and Conrad seemingly closed the chapter on their love story — our heroine is now in college.
At the beginning of “We’ll Always Have Summer,” Belly is still with Jeremiah. In fact, the two attend the same university. The pair heads into the third year of their relationship, but not everything is as idyllic as it seems.
(Last warning for book spoilers!)
In a bombshell revelation, Jeremiah admits that he cheated on Belly. To reconcile their relationship, he immediately proposes, and Belly accepts.
Eager for the wedding bells, Belly prepares to marry Jeremiah for a large portion of the book. While she tries on dresses and brainstorms venues, she attempts to get her hesitant family and friends on board. She ultimately is not very successful, especially after her loved ones learn that Jeremiah cheated.
It may seem like Belly has found her happily ever after with Jeremiah.
But over the summer, she and Conrad reconnect, and he finally confesses his feelings to her, revealing that he originally let her go because he didn’t think he could love her the way she deserved amid his grief over his mom’s death. He tells her not to marry Jeremiah, but she rebuffs him.
The day of Belly and Jeremiah’s wedding, Jeremiah receives a letter left for him by his mom. Only the envelopes were switched, and he reads the letter meant for Conrad, in which Susannah wrote that she only ever saw him in love once: with Belly.
Jeremiah then goes to Belly and asks her if she loves Conrad. While she insists she’s let him go, Jeremiah doesn’t believe her, and they call off their wedding.
The book finishes with an epilogue, in which Belly reads the letter Susannah left for her.
Good news for “Team Conrad” fans, the couple ends up married. The epilogue reveals that after Belly and Jeremiah’s breakup, she went on to study abroad and have plenty of adventures. She and Conrad reunite at her college graduation and shortly before her 24th birthday, they get married. Jeremiah attends the wedding.
In the final sentences, Belly and Conrad run into the ocean and jump in the waves like they did as kids.
Will Season 3 Follow the Book?
With a few changes, the show’s first two seasons kept large plot points consistent with the books. Regardless, some fans have strong opinions on what path the show will take for its final run.
While fans can guess what might happen at the end of the series, ultimately, the only people who know what will happen are those who created it. So, what did they have to say about how the show will compare?
“There are surprises. And there are things that aren’t exactly like the books,” Han confirmed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Speaking with TODAY.com, she reflected on how she approaches making changes when adapting the events of the book.
“I think about the story so much and so deeply that I take everything really seriously,” Han says. “I think it’s all with the aim to tell, I think, the best story possible.”
While she can’t reveal what will happen, she shares that “we considered so many different things.”
“But ultimately I think whatever serves the story best is what I’m going to do,” she says.
Rain Spencer, who plays Belly’s best friend, Taylor Jewel, tells TODAY.com that this season, she was “very surprised by a couple of things.”
As she read the script, she says she shared her reactions with Tung.
“Lola and I would text each other and be like, ‘Did you read this?’” Spencer says. “’Is this real? Did you see that?’”
Steven (Sean Kaufman) and Taylor’s story represents one notable addition to the plot of the books. In Han’s series, Taylor and Steven share a brief kiss in Book 1, but it doesn’t progress to a romantic relationship.
“The writers, they came up to Rain and I and they were like, ‘Lowkey, you’re like, our two favorite characters to write for because your story is just so open. Everything is a possibility,'” Kaufman tells TODAY.com.
Spencer adds that the cast worked hard on the final product.
“We have a lot of really awesome surprises,” she says. “I hope everyone enjoys it.”
