The Summer I Turned Pretty

Meredith returns to her family's Martha's Vineyard summer gathering after her sister's death. A wedding, an elaborate family game, and a new romance give The Summer of Broken Rules the closest blend here of shore, relatives, grief, and a summer that feels different from earlier ones. The romantic choice is not between two brothers, and the story unfolds around one wedding week rather than Belly's repeated visits to Cousins Beach. Start here if the place and the family history mattered as much as Conrad and Jeremiah.

Auden spends a summer in a beach town and begins roaming its nights with Eli, another person awake while everyone else sleeps. Dessen captures the feeling that a short season can alter how a teenager sees her family and herself. The romance is quieter and more private than Belly's triangle; there is no lifelong pattern of returning to the same house with the same two boys. Along for the Ride fits readers who want coastal coming of age without the constant pull of choosing between brothers.

Samantha's view of the lively Garrett family next door changes when she gets to know Jase. The relationship asks how far she can step outside the rules of her own household, which echoes Belly's growing awareness that a familiar family can become something more complicated. My Life Next Door stays closer to an everyday neighborhood than a recurring beach summer. Its conflict grows from secrecy and family pressure rather than a triangle, making it a useful choice for readers drawn to the families around Han's romance.

After her mother's death, Lina spends a summer in Italy and follows a journal that opens questions about the past. Love & Gelato pairs a new romance with grief and a family story the heroine did not fully know, two currents that also run through Belly's summers. The setting is Tuscany, the mystery concerns Lina's mother, and the love interest is not one of two brothers from childhood. Pick it for a hopeful summer of change with more travel and discovery than beach-house nostalgia.

Jenny Han gives Lara Jean a very different romantic problem: private letters to her old crushes are sent without her permission. The same attention to a teenage girl's family life and changing feelings makes this the clearest author-to-author choice. Yet To All the Boys I've Loved Before begins a separate trilogy, mostly set around school and home; it does not continue Belly's story or revisit Cousins Beach. Try it if Han's observant, family-centered voice is what you want more of after the summer triangle.