From Belly, Steven, Jeremiah, and Conrad have been going to the Cousins beach house every summer since they can remember. Everything this summer is different, Susannah has passed away and Belly feels lost. At Susannah's funeral, in mid-May, Conrad and Belly disagreed about their relationship when Belly found Conrad lying his head on another girl’s lap. Jeremiah is jealous of Conrad because, the winter before Susannah’s death, Conrad and Belly had spoken on the phone multiple times a week, while Belly had barely ever contacted Jeremiah before the funeral. Around July, while Belly is still mourning the loss of Susannah. She receives a phone call from Jeremiah telling her Conrad is missing and has been skipping the past two days of college summer classes. Jeremiah asks for Belly’s help to find Conrad in time for his mid-term exams. The two decide to check at his college for clues on where Conrad has disappeared. A helpful friend of Conrad, tells them that Conrad went surfing. Belly then had a hunch Conrad had gone to the Cousins beach house. Jeremiah and Belly drive to Cousins and find Conrad lying on the sofa, asleep. The next day they try to convince Conrad to go back to study and finish his midterms, but Conrad profusely refuses. Mr. Fisher, Conrad, and Jeremiah's father, shows up at the beach house demanding Conrad pack up his things. They all find out the real reason Conrad came to the beach house: because Mr. Fisher has decided to sell Susannah’s beach house. Conrad shouts that it’s not his to sell and he has no right to do such a thing. Mr. Fisher's persistence exclaims Conrad, Belly, and Jeremiah have lost, and the house will be sold. Belly panicked and called her mother to convince Mr. Fisher of his decision. Mr. Fisher makes a deal with Conrad, if he goes back to the summer college classes and passes his exams, they can keep the house. Conrad hesitantly accepts the deal with a helpful nudge from his brother. Laurel and Mr. Fisher leave the house for Belly and Jeremiah to help Conrad study for his midterms. After a long night of studying the three leave the beach house hopeful for the next summer, and drive to Conrad’s college. While waiting for Conrad to finish and ace his tests, Jeremiah kisses Belly desperately. After they look up and see Conrad already walking away, Belly chases after him trying to salvage their relationship. Belly reluctantly gets back into the car after taking a short stroll around the campus. They then head back to Belly's house, when a heavy rainstorm pressures them to pull over to a motel and they decide to stay the night. The next morning, Conrad explains his friend is going to pick him up to take him back to Cousins while Jeremiah and Belly continue to drive back to the Conklin’s house. On the way home, Belly anticipates that Conrad will never express his love the way she wants him to, and chooses Jeremiah to be with. She holds Jeremiah’s hand, happy with her decision.
The book was a very good read. A lot of the parts of the book just became too off-topic for my liking.
One idea I had was it didn’t really explain the situations deeply enough and sometimes trailed off into past memories. Some of the memories were funny and important but others were hard to read. Another idea I had was I enjoyed the ending and Belly’s decision to let go of her love for Conrad and how she chose Jeremiah.
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