Who knew Cousins Beach had more drama than waves? Cousins Beach might look like paradise but beneath the bonfires, fireworks, and dreamy romances lies a constant cycle of betrayal. Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty is sold as a sweet coming-of-age story, but if you peel back the pastel aesthetic, you’ll find that almost every character lies, cheats, or betrays someone they claim to love.
The result? A narrative that forces us to confront messy truths: love isn’t always pure, chemistry doesn’t erase consequences, and forgiveness never comes without scars.
The Cracks Beneath the Surface
Right from the start, The Summer I Turned Pretty makes it clear that relationships here are anything but simple.
Season 1: Take Steven Conklin, for example. Yes, Steven cheats on Shayla by hooking up with Taylor (Belly’s best friend) but the “cheating” label isn’t black and white. At the time, Steven and Shayla weren’t officially together, more in the “just seeing each other” zone. Still, Belly drunkenly spills the tea, making the whole situation explode.
Belly points out that Steven was “dating someone he actually liked” when he hooked up with Taylor. Translation? Steven did have real feelings for Shayla. That’s why the hookup stings because it wasn’t just casual, even if the relationship status was.
This messy triangle between Steven, Shayla, and Taylor becomes one of the first major cracks in the series’ glossy, beach-house surface and a warning shot that betrayal is going to be a recurring theme. Meanwhile, Belly herself is already emotionally torn between Conrad and Jeremiah. Even before things officially unravel, the blurred lines of loyalty and love are setting the stage for chaos.
Season 2: Taylor was with Milo, yet she spent most of the summer emotionally cheating with Steven. The attraction between them was undeniable, even if it was unfair to Milo.
Season 3: By now, the “will-they-won’t-they” tension exploded into full-blown betrayal. Steven was with Mia, Taylor with Davis, but they couldn’t resist sneaking around behind their partners’ backs. Fans rooted for “Staylor,” but it left Mia and Davis as collateral damage. To be fair, both Steven and Taylor cheated at different points, which makes their “endgame” romance bittersweet.
Their arc forces one of the toughest questions: when two people have undeniable chemistry, does that justify the betrayals it took to bring them together?
For “Staylor” shippers, the answer is yes, their connection was inevitable, written in the stars. But for Shayla, Mia, and Davis, the answer is a painful no. They were left as collateral damage in a love story that prioritized passion over honesty.
Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah: A Love Triangle Fueled by Betrayals
The heart of the series is Belly’s tangled love triangle with the Fisher brothers and it’s messy from the start. If we talk about season 1 , Belly was already torn between Conrad and Jeremiah, emotionally straddling both sides before anything official even happened.
During Season 2 : Belly was with Jeremiah, but her lingering feelings for Conrad led to the kiss! one moment that broke Jeremiah’s trust and put the brothers in direct conflict. Even though she and Jeremiah had been together for just a day, it still counted as betrayal.
Season 3: Belly and Jeremiah gave their relationship another shot, but cracks widened after Jeremiah’s spring break “incident.” He hooked up with Lacie while claiming they were “broken up,”
The problem? He and Belly were “on a break.”
Belly believes it was a pause a cooling-off period before continuing. Jeremiah insists it was a breakup, leaving him free to do what he wanted. Jenny Han herself has called the distinction “debatable,” which only fuels fan arguments. The truth comes out in one of the show’s most dramatic moments: at a frat party, Belly overhears Lacie talking, confronts Jeremiah, slaps him, and ends their relationship.
Though they later reconcile (and even get engaged), the trust is irreparably shaken. Forgiveness exists here, but it’s layered with doubt, fear, and the painful knowledge that betrayal once committed can’t be undone.
The Fisher triangle proves that cheating isn’t always physical it’s also about blurred lines, unresolved feelings, and emotional disloyalties that cause as much damage as a kiss does.
The Adults Aren’t Innocent
Even the parents get tangled in betrayal. Adam Fisher, Susannah’s husband, carries on an affair that lingers like a ghost in the background. After Susannah’s death, his mistress Kayleigh resurfaces during wedding preparations for Belly and Jeremiah, reopening old wounds and reshaping the Fisher brothers’ memories of their family.
This subplot proves that cheating doesn’t just wreck relationships it reshapes legacies, bleeding pain into the next generation.
At its heart, the series makes one thing crystal clear: cheating doesn’t “just happen.”
Whether it’s Jeremiah’s hookup, Belly’s kiss, or Steven and Taylor’s sneak-arounds every betrayal is a decision. The excuses (“we were on a break,” “it was complicated,” “I didn’t mean to”) soften the blow for characters, but they don’t erase accountability.
The End of Summer: What the Finale Leaves Us With
By the time The Summer I Turned Pretty reaches its Season 3 finale, it’s clear that every messy betrayal, heartbreak, and confession has been building toward one thing: closure. Belly and Conrad’s Paris reunion finally proves that their story was never just about grief or Susannah’s influence it was about two people who kept finding their way back to each other, despite everything. Their kiss by the Seine, Belly’s dramatic chase through the train station, and the quiet moment of them returning together to Cousins mark not just a rekindling, but a choice. For the first time, Conrad gets to be chosen, and Belly admits her love for him isn’t tied to circumstance but to her own free will.
Meanwhile, Jeremiah takes his own first steps toward growth. His romance with Denise may or may not last, but the real victory is his willingness to admit his flaws that his need for Belly had been about fear of being alone. Paired with his career rise in Boston’s food scene, his ending feels less about who he ends up with and more about finally carving out his own identity beyond being “the other Fisher brother.”
Steven and Taylor, after seasons of running in circles, settle into something surprisingly steady. Their decision to move to San Francisco together isn’t framed as sacrifice but as partnership, Taylor insisting she’s moving with him, not for him. It’s a subtle but important reminder that healthy love is built on mutual growth, not dependence.
The finale makes a few departures from Jenny Han’s original epilogue , gone is the wedding-day letter from Susannah and the symbolic dash into the ocean—but the heart of the ending remains. Belly and Conrad are together, older, wiser, and still in love. Jeremiah is healing. Steven and Taylor are building a new life. Even if the road there was paved with betrayals, heartbreak, and choices that hurt, the destination feels earned.
And maybe that’s the real legacy of Cousins Beach: love isn’t about perfection. It’s about mistakes, forgiveness, and finding the people who are worth choosing again and again.
Step into more articles crafted by this author – Sharishtha Lal | Her Campus.