What Jenny Han Changed From the Books and What Those Changes Reveal
Major spoilers for all three books and the complete series.
If you assumed The Summer I Turned Pretty was simply Jenny Han's books with a Taylor Swift soundtrack, the list of changes is about to surprise you. Han kept the love triangle and its final answer, but she rewrote so much of the journey that even book readers could never be completely smug about knowing what happened next.
The debutante ball did not exist in the books
No white dresses. No rehearsals. No Jeremiah disappearing from the dance floor. And no Conrad stepping in to dance with Belly while the entire room watched.
The debutante ball was created for the show, and it became one of its most memorable storylines. Han said she wanted a visual way to show Belly coming of age within the wealthy world of Cousins. She also admitted, very simply, that she loves a ball. Fair enough. It gave the show a perfect season finale and turned Belly's love triangle into something you could understand from one dance.
Verdict: Better in the show.
Belly and Conrad never slept together in the books
Belly and Conrad still visit Cousins at Christmas in the book. They kiss by the fireplace and talk about sex, but Conrad stops before anything happens. Belly remains a virgin throughout the story covered by the original trilogy.
The show changes that completely. Their Christmas night becomes Belly's first time, and Han makes the decision hers. It is romantic in the moment, but it also makes everything that follows considerably messier. Getting engaged to your ex boyfriend's brother was already complicated enough. The fireplace scene added another level that the books never had.
Verdict: Still dividing the fandom.
Jeremiah's sexuality was changed
Book Jeremiah is only shown dating girls. The series presents him as attracted to people of different genders, with Han describing the character as “sexually fluid.”
It feels surprisingly natural because Jeremiah was always written as confident, affectionate and willing to follow whatever catches his attention. The show simply gives that side of him more room. It does not change his feelings for Belly or the central love triangle. It makes his world a little wider.
Verdict: Better in the show.
Aunt Julia and Skye were created for the show
Neither character exists in the books. There is still a battle over the Cousins house on the page, but the person trying to sell it is Adam, Conrad and Jeremiah's father. The show hands that role to Susannah's half sister Aunt Julia and introduces her nonbinary child, Skye.
That change gives season two a new branch of Fisher family drama, although it also makes the house storyline much busier. In the book, Adam wanting to sell the home directly deepens the anger between him and his sons. The show gains two new characters, but loses some of that father son conflict.
Verdict: Better in the book.
Conrad's panic attacks were shown much more clearly
The books keep Conrad frustratingly difficult to read because Belly is the narrator. If he will not explain himself to her, the reader is left guessing too.
The show removes that barrier. We see his panic attacks, Cleveland helping him breathe through one and Steven supporting him through another. His grief and anxiety become visible instead of being buried beneath a bad mood and a cigarette. It does not excuse every terrible decision Conrad makes, but it finally lets viewers understand what Belly cannot see.
Verdict: Jenny Han knew exactly what she was doing. Team Conrad owes those scenes a lot.
Conrad never travelled to Paris to win Belly back in the books
Belly does not even go to Paris in the original ending. She studies abroad in Spain, Conrad begins writing letters to her, and they eventually see each other again at her college graduation. Their reunion is covered so quickly that the books practically move from “he wrote” to “we married.”
The series turns those few pages into a full romantic ending. Conrad arrives in Paris for Belly's birthday, meets the friends from her new life and finally has the conversations the book mostly skips. Belly then chases him onto a train and chooses him herself.
The letters are lovely. The Paris episodes let us watch them earn the ending.
Verdict: Better in the show, with an apology to the handwritten letter loyalists.
The show did not give us the book's wedding ending
The final book leaves no room for debate. Belly and Conrad marry at Cousins Beach, then run into the ocean together after the ceremony.
The series stops earlier. Belly and Conrad reunite, return to the Cousins house as a couple and leave the wedding dress packed away for another day. Prime Video has since announced a film to complete the story, and Han has teased one more “big milestone” in Belly's journey. Nobody has officially called it a wedding yet, but book readers have already done the maths.
Verdict: Jenny Han knew exactly what she was doing. Why fit a Cousins Beach wedding into ten minutes when it can have its own movie?
Taken together, the changes reveal a very simple rule behind the adaptation: Han was willing to keep the destination while rebuilding the entire road to it.
Book readers knew who Belly would choose. Jenny Han made sure they still had no idea how she would get there.