'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Book-to-Show Changes: All Seasons

Book-to-screen adaptations are all the rage, and The Summer I Turned Pretty is one of the most popular ones out there! Since the premiere of season 1 in June 2022, and then season 2 in July 2023, fans have noticed multiple changes in the show that differed from the original book series, written by Jenny Han. Keep reading to uncover all of the biggest departures from the books so far.

Lola Tung, who stars as Belly Conklin in TSITP, revealed to J-14 that it was “really cool” to have a blueprint such as the original book series when preparing for her role as the show’s main character.

“But then, also recognizing that with the script and everything, it updated a little bit — it was changed a little bit,” she told J-14 exclusively in June 2022.

“Jenny [Han] was saying this before, but she always says to her readers — I guess I’ll just take her little line here — that you already have this version of your characters in your mind and that’s yours forever,” she continued. “It, for me, was obviously, ‘I wanna make the readers happy and the viewers happy,’ but I think it’s really important to not try to exactly replicate whatever there is in the book, you know what I mean? Or try to be whatever … I tried to bring myself to the character and make it my own.”

Gavin Casalegno, for his part, told J-14 that it was “cool” to bring himself into Jeremiah. “I think we all are very blessed to be able to have an outline in the book,” he explains. “It’s actually very rare. We got really lucky.”

In season 2, two additional characters were added to the series that didn’t appear in the books: Elsie Fisher as Skye, Conrad and Jeremiah’s cousin, as well as Kyra Sedgwick as their aunt Julia.

“We get to create this whole new person,” Elsie told E! News in October 2022 of their season 2 addition. “Part of what really drew me to the project is that I get to play a person that still feels very true to myself, but is different from the kind of character people have seen me play before.”

Sean Kaufman, who plays Belly’s brother Steven, put fans’ minds at ease regarding the faithfulness to the original material.

“Without giving too much away, I think for fans of the books, there’s gonna be a lot of material that’s there to look forward to if they have read,” Sean told TV Insider. “And also at the same time, I think Jenny [Han] does a wonderful job of balancing for people that haven’t read the books and just started with the show.”

Scroll through our gallery to uncover all of the biggest changes from The Summer I Turned Pretty books to the Prime Video series.

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Debutante Ball

In season 1, author Jenny Han added a debutante story line for Belly, which allowed her to explore a lot of “great” female friendships.

“I think it’s so special. I talked to Jenny a little bit because I said to her, ‘What was the idea behind having this debutante ball plot?’ And she was like, ‘I think it’s such an actual representation of growing up because this is when, you know, girls are presented to society’ or whatever,” Lola recalled to J-14.

Jeremiah’s Sexuality

In the books, Jeremiah has eyes for only Belly. However, the show turned him into a LGBTQ+ character that fans love.

“I think it’s so important to do Jeremiah justice, and I feel like the way Jenny updated the script — as far as Jeremiah goes — I think it really just brought it up to date with where the world is,” Gavin told J-14. “I think that’s so special, and I feel so honored to be able to represent that in a way. I think it represents Jeremiah exploring himself and, you know, that’s exploring his relationship with Belly, Conrad, himself, his mom, his dad, and I think that his sexuality is also a part of that. It was fun for that to be a part of the script.”

Conrad’s Mental Health

While Conrad is still the moody brother fans know and love from the books, Christopher was able to delve deeper into the character’s mental health on screen, as his character often suffers from panic attacks on the show.

“It was fantastic,” he said. “I think that everyone has their own journey with mental health, and everyone’s journeys are different. So, to be able to explore Conrad’s and help build the world. … Honestly, I give so much credit to the script because I didn’t write it. I was there to be a part of it. But I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s a great conversation to be having on a platform like that — people’s journeys with mental health.”

Steven’s Presence

Steven, Belly’s big brother played by Sean Kaufman, gets a lot more screen time in the show than he does in the books. In season 1, he even has a love triangle of his own!

“I think the love triangle is just a bunch of Steven messing up and making mistakes — not saying that either girl is a mistake. He makes mistakes,” Sean explained to J-14. “I think that lends itself to the tiny love triangle that he has because he is just working through it. Working through himself and becoming a man, and he is working through the love triangle and finding out what he wants — in this case who he wants.”

Taylor and Steven’s Love Story

Belly’s brother Steven and her best friend Taylor (Rain Spencer) are both given expanded roles compared to their book counterparts in season 2. In the show, the two decide to hop in the car and head to Cousins to help Belly and the Fisher boys in the show. As for the second book, which is what the second season is based off of, the two only make brief appearances.

On top of that, the two characters did not have any kind of romantic relationship in the books, which definitely does not look to be the case for the Prime Video series!

That Fireplace Scene

During a flashback scene in season 2, fans learn that Conrad and Belly slept together during a surprise December trip to Cousins Beach.

In the book, things are kept much more PG, as all that happens is a few intense make-out sessions. While they do discuss sex, with Conrad revealing that he’s not a virgin and Belly sharing that she is, just before Conrad stops things from going further.

Deep Dive‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Books to TV Show Changes: Breaking Down the Biggest Differences