7 Big Differences Between the “Summer I Turned Pretty” Book and the TV Show

It’s common for books to have a limited point of view to tell a story, but it doesn’t always work quite as efficiently on screen. In the book, we see the plot unfold through Belly’s emotions and experiences. The show, however, widens its lens and tells the stories of the surrounding characters, which could increase the longevity of the series beyond the three-book arc because there is so much more ground to cover.

Belly’s mom, Laurel, who is a published author on the show, has a fling with a local author named Cleveland Castillo. We’re more privy to Conrad struggling to keep his mom’s cancer a secret, working with Cleveland for the summer, and confiding in him now that he’s on the outs with his dad. On the show, Steven dates a girl named Shayla at Cousins, and we see him develop hobbies outside of that like playing poker.

Belly’s friendship with Taylor gets some much-needed dimension in the show. In the book, Taylor’s mostly seen in flashbacks and she isn’t a positive energy for Belly, who finds herself making comparisons all the time. Taylor flirts with all the boys when she visits Cousins, going as far as to kiss Jeremiah and Steven. This strains her and Belly’s friendship by the time she leaves, and the awkwardness doesn’t really get resolved on the page.

On the show, after Taylor kisses Steven, she and Belly have a fight that exposes the ways both of them have fallen short as friends, making their friendship far more realistic and balanced. They end up making up, and Taylor acts as a supportive friend for the rest of the season.

One of the biggest differences between the book and the show is the debutante ball Belly participates in, which is not a plot line in the book at all.

On the show, Susannah encourages Belly to participate in the debutante ball, much to Laurel’s chagrin. Conversations about the ball are interwoven throughout season one, from who will escort Belly (Susannah asks Conrad to, but Jeremiah takes her instead) to Steven losing all his money at a poker game and not having money to buy a matching tux for his escort. Things come to a head at the ball when Jeremiah learns that Susannah’s illness is back. Struggling to deal with his emotions, he leaves Belly without a dance partner, and Conrad swoops in.

When the truth about Susannah comes out at the ball, it shakes their blended family and leaves them struggling to figure where to go from there.

In an interview with The Wrap, Han talked about the significance of the deb ball to the story. “The Deb Ball was a chance to really bring a rite of passage like a ceremonial rite of passage of growing up to life – to really see that visualized, because I think different cultures have many different ways of marking that moment of between, like, girlhood and adulthood,” she said. “And that’s what Deb Ball is, you’re coming out and being seen as an adult.”

Jeremiah’s flirtatious personality is ever present in the books and the show, but the biggest difference in the TV version is his sexual identity. In the book, we only see him date girls and his sexuality never comes up. On the show, he is more open about expressing it and hooks up with both girls and guys. In a scene in the second episode, Jeremiah which guys and girls from the country club that he’s kissed. He’s also a self-proclaimed “equal-opportunity” flirt.

Han spoke to TVLine about wanting to update certain characteristics of the story (which was written in 2009) to reflect teenagers in 2022. “I think perhaps if I was writing the novel today, I may have made that choice because I think that he’s always been a character, to me, that is really at ease with himself, really comfortable in his own skin, and openminded and open to exploration,” she said. “I do think that’s more reflective of today and young people today and the way they view sexuality being much more of a spectrum.”

Cam and Belly’s relationship starts pretty similarly at the bonfire in Cousins in both the book and the TV show, but it progresses differently. They certainly don’t kiss in the book until their first date, and Cam is a lot more present in the book and around Conrad, Jeremiah, and Steven more. Cam eventually breaks up with Belly in the book when he realizes she has her heart set on one of the Fisher boys, and he indicates that he’s around if she ever changes her mind, which she doesn’t. On the show, Belly is the one who breaks up with Cam because she’s not feeling any spark.

Although in the book Susannah remains adamant about not seeking treatment for her cancer, the show takes a different route. After the big reveal at the debutante ball, Conrad and Jeremiah manage to convince Susannah to participate in a cancer-treatment trial. Conrad also apologizes to Belly for being aloof with her and not expressing his true feelings before they share an explosive kiss at the beach that promises happy things for the both of them. In the book, it’s unclear who Belly ends up with, but her relationship with Conrad is up in the air.

The “Summer I Turned Pretty” TV show introduces a far more diverse cast than the original book.

While it’s never explicitly stated that Belly is white in the books, the original book covers circa 2009 depicted Belly as a white girl. On the show, Belly is Korean on her mother’s side and white on her father’s side. Cleveland, who is a new addition to the cast, is Filipino, and Conrad’s pseudo-girlfriend/friend with benefits Nicole is Black despite being described as a blonde in the book.

Han talked to Cinema Blend about the decision to include more diversity in the cast and more AAPI characters. “When I was approaching the adaptation, I wanted to really reflect the moment that we’re living in,” she said. “And I think the diversity of characters is a piece of that, so it felt like a really great opportunity to showcase different kinds of talent. We get to have like an Asian American family on the show. And then, we also have a new character Cleveland, who is Filipino. So it’s really exciting I think. And I think it feels really natural to the show, to the characters and the story.”