If you’ve been watching this series — whether or not you read the books — you might be looking for more books like The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime. I have some options for you!
I never read the books (but they’re available for free if you have Kindle Unlimited), but I did enjoy the first season of the TV show. Jenny Han’s books have truly translated well to TV and her success has been inspiring to watch. For this list of books like The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime, I’m sharing my favorite YA books with either an angsty touch, love triangles, sibling drama, a summer setting, or all of the above.
7 Great Books Like The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime
Here are 7 awesome books like The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Published: April 15, 2014
This is a sweet, compulsively readable book about Lara Jean, who gets herself in a fix when all the letters she wrote to five crushes get sent out by mistake. Over the course of the three books in the series, she also gets stuck in a love triangle. Lara Jean’s story is less angsty, sweeter, and I like it better than Belly’s story. Great for teens ages 13+
Something More
Published: June 6, 2023
Jessie is a fifteen-year-old Palestinian-Canadian who’s getting into high school soon after an autism diagnosis. She feels “abnormal,” especially as she doesn’t have a cellphone, but is determined to belong to a friend group and fall in love this school year. But when she finds herself caught between two very different boys, she realizes that things don’t always go to plan. This is one my favorite YA reads this year and it’s laden with teen angst, pining, and awkward moments. For readers ages 12+
The Love Match
Published: January 3, 2023
Zahra Khan is a new high school graduate who’s saving up for college—which she’s had to defer because her mom can’t afford to send her just yet. Her mother, though? She thinks their family’s way out is an arranged marriage to a wealthy family. Too bad the family’s son Harun Emon doesn’t care for Zahra. Zahra herself is falling for a new waiter in the cafe where she works. So Harun and Zahra band together to make their parents call off the courtship. But we all know that love doesn’t quite play by the rules, don’t we?
This is a romantic, tender, feel-good Pride and Prejudice retelling with lots of insight into Bangladeshi culture, arranged marriages, and Bangladeshi film history. Great for teens ages 12+
Some Other Now
Published: February 23, 2021
Jessi used to be close to the Cohen boys before the tragedy occurred in their family and she lost them both. Now, their mother is terminally ill and Luke, one of the brothers, has asked her to pretend to date him for the rest of his mom’s life. While it’s nice to be close to Luke again, their faux-romance brings up all the baggage from their messy past as readers see the past and present in alternating chapters. This is an intensely emotional read that I’d recommend only for older teens ages 15 and up.
Better Than the Movies
Published: May 4, 2021
Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar—and maybe snag him as a prom date—even befriend Wes Bennet. This is an utterly delightful rom-com that younger teens can enjoy.
Happily Ever Afters
Published: January 5, 2021
Tessa Johnson and her family have moved into a new neighborhood, hoping for a fresh start. Tessa will be attending a high school for the arts where she can have dedicated writing classes and be surrounded by other creative kids.
As Tessa starts at the new school, she reluctantly cultivates a relationship with Sam, the culinary arts kid who lives next door to her and drives her to school (and also brings her baked goods!), but also with a couple of the other kids. But when Tessa attends her first creative writing workshop, she develops a crush on Nic, a guy in her class, as well as a major case of writer’s block mostly due to her severe anxiety around sharing her work with others.
All of a sudden, the wonderful experience at her school (where she’s finally not the token Black person) is under strain — until Caroline encourages her to try living out a love story for some inspiration.
Loveboat Taipei
Published: January 7, 2020
When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.
Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines. Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
There they are: 7 perfect books for fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime. Which of these books have you read and loved? Which other readalikes would you recommend?
More Readalikes for Teens
- Books like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
- Books like XOXO by Axie Oh
- Great books for teens who like Little Women
Pin This Post – Books Like The Summer I Turned Pretty
What do you think? Leave a comment