12 books like The Summer I Turned Pretty
The pull of The Summer I Turned Pretty is the same house, the same beach, the same two boys, year after year — until the year everything shifts. These are books about summers that repeat until they break, first loves you can't shake off, and holidays that rearrange a life.
Updated September 2026
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The same summer house, year after year
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune 2022
Six lake-town summers with the boy next door, told with the same ache of a love that grew up alongside you; the narrator is an adult here, looking back at damage already done.
28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand 2020
Built entirely on one annual reunion at a beach cottage, so each chapter carries that 'this year is different' charge; the lovers are middle-aged and married to other people.
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson 2012
A family returns to the lake house they've always gone to, and old friendships and crushes are waiting there; the shadow over this summer is a father's illness, which gives it a heavier grief.
The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther 2021
Martha's Vineyard, a big family house and a summer romance that sneaks up during a week of games and weddings; it's lighter on longing and much more sociable in spirit.
Loving the same person since childhood
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren 2018
The slow accumulation of years spent adoring one boy, cut between then and now so you feel every missed moment; the adult timeline brings a sharper reckoning than Belly's summers do.
The Infinity Between Us by N.S. Perkins 2023
A friendship that's obviously love to everyone but the two people in it, stretched across years and returns home; the writing leans quieter and more introspective.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter 2021
Longstanding crush versus the boy who's been right there arguing with her, with the same 'who does she actually want' tug; the tone is comic and film-obsessed instead of wistful.
Holiday romance in a place that isn't home
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch 2016
A summer away that turns into first kisses and family secrets, with the same sense of a season changing who you are; Tuscany replaces the beach and the mood is sunnier throughout.
A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey 2022
Two people with history stuck together on a summer journey, all old resentment and obvious want; it's a road trip rather than a fixed place you keep returning to.
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon 2021
A summer of falling for someone while dreading how it ends, written with real tenderness; there's a touch of the magical here that Han's world doesn't have.
Summers that change a girl, not just her love life
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson 2014
A shy girl's summer of becoming braver, with a boy who fits into that rather than causing it; friendship, not a love triangle, is the engine.
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen 2004
Dessen's summer of grief, work and an unexpected boy has the same close first-person voice readers come to The Summer I Turned Pretty for; the family here is fracturing rather than gathering.
If you also liked…
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
- 1984 by George Orwell
Questions
- Are any of these spicier than The Summer I Turned Pretty?
- Yes — Love and Other Words, Every Summer After and 28 Summers are adult romances with on-page sex. The YA titles, like The Truth About Forever and Better Than the Movies, stay at roughly the same level as Han.
- I want the love triangle specifically. Which comes closest?
- Better Than the Movies gives you the clearest two-boys dilemma, and Second Chance Summer has old crushes and new ones tangled together at the lake.
- Which one will make me cry the most?
- Second Chance Summer, without much competition — it's a summer shaped by a father's terminal diagnosis. Every Summer After runs it close for the heartbreak of wasted years.