Fieldnotes:
Cousins Beach, Contemporary (p.2009-2011)

3 Books

2 Brothers, Both Alike In (Teenage) Dreaminess
- 1 Mysterious, Brooding & Emotionally Unavailable
- 1 Sunshiney, Laid-Back Best Friendly
1 Latin Class Crush
1 Summer Where Our Protagonist Finally Brings All the Boys to the Yard

Beach Parties
1 Mother Figure with a Devastating Not-As-Secret-As-She-Hopes Illness
Parent Issues

Grief
1 Very Ill-Advised Proposal
Terrible Decision-making
So Much Drama

The Short Version:
I picked this up after enjoying the first episodes of the TV show and previously being a big fan of the author's Lara Jean in To All the Boys I Loved Before. But this was a bit more teenage melodrama than I was interested in as it focused pretty exclusively on a love triangle with the two paragons of Dreaminess that are the Fisher brothers. A lot of the storylines/characterization worked better for me in the small bit of the show that I've seen.

Book 1 - probably the one that worked best for me. Isabel "Belly" Conklin is about to turn 16 and when she shows up at the beach house to spend the summer at Cousins with her mother's friend Susannah and the Fisher boys like they always do - this summer is different. It's the summer they *notice* her. A bunch of flashbacks to episodes from previous summers fleshing out the relationships with the two boys a bit - give a real sense of family history. Belly swoons over Conrad since she's had a crush on him forEVER. Essentially Team Conrad's book.

Book 2 - Conrad mucked up their whole relationship by being emotionally distant between books, so Jeremiah gets his chance & we as readers get some of his POV. This book is also about grief, perhaps mostly about grief and how differently people react. Sweet, sunshine, supportive Jeremiah gets short shrift. Team Jeremiah's book.

Book 3 - The Book to End It All. This book. It's a mess. To get us back to the Love Triangle, there's a complete mess of drama and to get to the Obvious Outcome from the Beginning, the author just trashes Jeremiah in his entirety. He's a lazy, entitled, self-centered frat boy who behaves like a complete asshole and evades consequences through a Grand Gesture that 1) throws both families into disarray and 2) he does no work to follow through on. I knew better than to be on "Team" Jeremiah when it is made clear that for Belly "it's always been Conrad" since Book 01. But this guy is AWFUL.
They all just need to meet and date OTHER PEOPLE.

Will definitely watch the show, but no need to pick up the source material again for me. ( )

One of my favorite trilogies! ( )

Eh.... Not the worst def not the best. ( )