If you have not read The Summer I Turned Pretty series, then you are surely missing out. I was introduced to the first book, The Summer I Turned Pretty in middle school by my friend, Alexandra. I did not think too much of it as she pointed it out to me in Barnes and Noble that summer, but then when Christmas came around, I decided to add it to my list. Christmas night, I started to read and I kid you not, I finished the book in hours. From the first sentence, the first introduction to Conrad Fisher, I was completely and utterly booked. Three books later from that series, and I still find myself picking the novels up and reading them over and over again.

Jenny Han is a talented writer who was able to dive in to the minds of teenagers in love without sounding like an adult writer who really had no idea. The love story between the main characters is something that I tried to replicate in my own writings, but no matter how much I try to write such a beautiful story, I know that I can’t. Jenny Han had influenced the way I write, although my writing would never be half as good as hers.

I want to thank Jenny Han for not only creating a series that makes me cry just at the thought of it, but also for shaping how I look at stories. Her writing is crisp, short, without an overbearing amount of details. She does not spend too much time outlining why the curtains are blue or the expression on Belly’s face, but engages in a lot of dialogue. I feel that dialogue is the most important aspect of a story; it is when a reader is truly introduced to the character’s feelings, beliefs, life. Because of Jenny Han, I stopped trying to create an enormous amount of detailing and stick to what I want the story to truly be about.

Jenny Han has bought a timeless book into my life that I cannot stop reading. She has another series, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which is equally as amazing, but it did not steal my heart as much as the Summer series. I’m not sure if it’s the setting or the characters or the story that brings me to tears, challenges me to be a better writer, and opened me up to a newer writing style, but I cannot stop reading these books.

Thank you, Jenny Han, for writing. The literary world is a better place because of you. I try to be a better writer because of you. I try to write beautiful stories because of you.