It’s not summer without The Summer I Turned Pretty. TSITP is back on our screens this summer for its second season, and as someone who read Jenny Han’s original book trilogy in a couple of days, I couldn’t be more excited to watch the second book come to life. Season 1 made some major changes to the series’ first installment (the entire debutante subplot was made up!), and TBH, it needed a refresh; the first book has no plot, just vibes. The second book, titled It’s Not Summer Without You, definitely has a plot — and it’s just as angsty, summery, and romantic as you want it to be.
Book-to-screen adaptations always tweak some details from their source material to better fit the show’s vision. As a Summer series lover, adaptation fidelity officer, and Team Conrad captain, I’m keeping my eyes wide open for every difference from It’s Not Summer Without You this season. Here’s my running list of TSITP Season 2’s biggest changes from the second book. Spoiler warning: Spoilers for It’s Not Summer Without You and The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 follow.
- The infinity necklace
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Erika Doss/Prime Video Show: One of Conrad’s douchiest moments in Season 1 is when he “forgets” Belly’s birthday and doesn’t give her a present, but Belly later finds the infinity necklace he bought her in his drawer. In the Season 2 premiere, he redeems himself by giving Belly the necklace along with the most soul-piercing look I’ve ever seen. I need the line “No matter what happens, we’ll still be infinite” tattooed on my forehead.
Book: The infinity necklace doesn’t come up at all in the first book. Instead, Belly finds it in Conrad’s dorm room when she and Jeremiah go looking for him in It’s Not Summer Without You. She secretly wears it all summer, but the only time Conrad acknowledges it is when he orders her to give it back. Ugh.
- laurel and susannah’s friendship
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Show: Laurel says in the premiere that she met Susannah in college.
Book: Laurel and Susannah had been best friends since they were nine. It’s a super minor detail to change, but the show’s version of their friendship timeline shows that it is possible to make lifelong friends in college!
- Taylor’s new boyfriend
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Erika Doss/Prime Video Show: Taylor’s all over her new boyfriend Milo in Episode 1. Milo’s main personality trait is being the edgy lead singer of a local band. Steven mockingly refers to him as a Machine Gun Kelly wannabe; I couldn’t have said it better myself. He seems a little too dependent on Taylor for my liking.
Book: We don’t find out much about Taylor’s boyfriend, who’s named Davis in the books, except that he and Taylor have broken up multiple times. He seems like a pretty average guy, which is probably why I forgot he existed.
- belly and conrad’s christmas in cousins
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Show: Conrad drives five and a half hours to pick Belly up for an impromptu night at the Cousins house during winter break in Episode 2. Things get hot, and not just because they’re in front of a fireplace. Although the camera predictably fades to black (or actually, to the fireplace), it’s heavily implied that Belly experiences her first time with Conrad.
Book: Nearly the same thing happens in It’s Not Summer Without You. Belly says that night with Conrad was one of the best nights of her life, but makes it clear that “all we did that night was kiss.” Belly chooses to not have sex in any of the Summer books. YA books tend to be a little more PG than their screen adaptations, but since the TV version of TSITP is angled at high schoolers and college students, it can afford to cross into PG-13 territory.
- aunt julia and skye
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Prime Video Show: Conrad and Jeremiah’s mission this season is to convince their Aunt Julia not to sell their summer house. We’re also introduced to their cousin Skye, who’s just along for the ride. Aunt Julia and Skye are new additions to the Summer series. You might recognize Elsie Fisher, who plays Skye, from Bo Burnham’s movie Eighth Grade (I knew they looked familiar!).
Book: Mr. Fisher, Conrad and Jeremiah’s dad, is the one selling the summer house instead of Aunt Julia. His rationale makes sense (the house painfully reminds him of Susannah), but he’s also kind of the worst.
- steven and taylor
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Show: In Episode 3, Steven and Taylor drive to Cousins together to help diffuse the tension between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah. I think the scene where they’re vulnerable with each other at the gas station scene is potentially the start of a beautiful frenemies-to-lovers slow burn that builds off their kiss in Season 1.
Book: Steven finds out that Belly lied about staying at Taylor’s house when she was actually in Cousins with Jeremiah and Conrad, but neither he nor Taylor go to Cousins that summer. They also don’t interact much once Steven discovers where Belly is. I’m glad they’re getting more screen time this season; a summer without Steven and Taylor just doesn’t seem right.
- Cam Cameron
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Show: Cam Cameron is back! He’s spending this summer working at the Cousins Beach Arcade, so I’m sure we’ll see him hanging out with Belly and co. a lot this season. He’s the chiller embodiment of Jeremiah’s golden retriever energy.
Book: Cam is literally mentioned once in a passing flashback. Justice for Cam Cameron!
- The Brown University sweater
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Show: In the car ride down to Brown in Episode 7, Jeremiah asks Belly if she’s cold. She says she’s fine, but she happily accepts the Brown sweater Conrad hands her from the backseat without even looking up from his textbooks. A win for the Conrad girlies!
Book: Belly buys herself a Brown sweater from the campus bookstore while Conrad takes his final exams. It’s romantic in a different way. What makes the show’s version even more special is that in the first book, Belly says it’s not Conrad’s style to give a girl his coat, much less his university crewneck. I’m swooning.
The show stays pretty faithful to the Summer books overall, so I trust Jenny Han’s updated ideas for bringing the series to life. I’m actually really happy with the changes we’ve seen so far this season! I’ll update you with any other page-to-screen differences I spot as Season 2 goes on. Anything can happen in Cousins, after all.