(Summer #2) It's Not Summer Without You

Blurb:

One girl. Two brothers. Which one will she choose?

Isabel's lazy, long hot summers at her family friends' beach house are over.

Conrad - sexy and unavailable - is the only boy she's ever loved. He's left for college, taking her heart with him. Jeremiah, his gorgeous brother, is still Isabel's best friend - but maybe friendship isn't enough for him anymore...

Isabel just wants everything to stay the same, because change means moving on. But if she stops looking back, will she find a future she never knew she wanted?

It's Not Summer Without You adalah buku kedua dari serial Summer-nya Jenny Han setelah The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Nah, jadi tidak disarankan membaca review ini buat kalian yang belum baca buku pertamanya karena bakal spoiler, hehe. Atau yah, kalau kalian belum baca yang pertama tapi enggak keberatan kena spoiler ya enggak apa-apa... wkkw.

Jadi, di It's Not Summer Without You, Susannah ceritanya udah meninggal *nangis sepanjang summer* dan Belly sama Conrad yang ceritanya sempet HTS-an, udah lost contact gitu.

Buku ini alurnya tetep maju-mundur, tapi enggak kayak buku pertama yang flashback-nya selalu ke summer-summer sebelumnya, di buku ini flashback-nya juga ke kejadian-kejadian di antara summer di The Summer I Turned Pretty sama di summer yang ada di buku ini.

Nah, karena Susannah udah meninggal, Belly ngiranya, dia enggak bakalan ngabisin summer di Cousins. Tapi ternyata, ada suatu kejadian yang bikin dia ujung-ujungnya ke Cousins juga. Wayolo apa tuh... hehe.

"I'd thought I'd be in Cousins every summer of my life. The Summer house was the only place I wanted to be. It was the only place I ever wanted to be."

Setelah Susannah meninggal, Conrad jadi bener-bener enggak bener ~~(?)~~. Parahnya lagi, dia tiba-tiba ngilang dari sekolahnya dan nge-skip summer school-nya. Jeremiah pun mau enggak mau nyari kakaknya dan dia ngajak Belly karena dia merasa enggak bisa ngelakuin semuanya sendiri.

Awalnya, Jeremiah sama Belly pikir, Conrad cuma lagi bersikap ngeselin dan egois. Mereka kesel banget gara-gara Conrad susah diajak kerja sama. Tapi ternyata... ada alasan di balik menghilangnya Conrad.

Oke, oke, sampai sini dulu aja ya, takut spoiler dan jadi enggak seru. ((Dari tadi ngetik ini udah pengin banget nyeritain dengan spoiler-spoiler-nya aaaaa ;-;))

Oke.

Satu... dua... tiga...

Saya suka banget buku ini!!!!

Saya bener-bener puas bacanya, karena buku ini jelas-jelas lebih bagus daripada yang pertama--yah, seenggaknya menurut saya sih, gitu.

Pertama, konfliknya lebih jelas. Kalau di buku yang pertama tuh, kesannya datar banget dan kebanyakan flashback. Tapi di buku ini, konfliknya jelas.

Kedua, karakter Belly enggak se-annoying pas di buku pertama. Oke, kadang dia emang tetep ngeselin, tapi enggak se-menye-menye di buku pertama dan saya suka!

Ketiga, ada point of view-nya Jeremiah!!

Emang enggak banyak sih, cuma beberapa bab aja yang pakai point of view-nya Jeremiah dan babnya juga pendek-pendek, tapi saya seneng banget karena saya bisa 'ngintip' isi kepalanya Jeremiah.

Gara-gara saya bisa tahu cara Jeremiah mikir dan emang dari buku pertama saya lebih suka Jeremiah daripada Conrad, di satu titik, saya bener-bener pengin Belly sama Jeremiah aja. Dan saya seneng banget karena di buku ini, Belly mulai ngelihat Jeremiah lebih dari sahabat.

"He smiled, a real smile, and a real Jeremiah smile was the kind that could melt an ice cream."

Oh ya, dan saya jadi pengin nendang Conrad jauh-jauh karena dibanding Jeremiah, dia ngeselin banget.

Tapi, setelah saya selesai baca buku ini dan saya merenungkan ceritanya ~~(apasih)~~ saya pikir, saya harus kasih Conrad kesempatan karena emang Conrad itu... enggak bisa ditebak.

Tapi kemudian saya mikir lagi. Gimana kalau ending-nya Belly sama Conrad? Nanti kasihan Jeremiah-nya : "")

Ya udah, Jeremiah sama saya aja, yuk.

*krik*

*hening*

Oke, lanjut.

Sekarang... Conrad. Well, kayak yang saya bilang, at some point, Conrad ngeselin abis. Pokoknya saya udah pengin teriak di depan mukanya karena jadi orang kok, enggak tahu diri banget. Tapi kadang... dia bener-bener sweet and cute (??) dan saya bisa ngelihat kenapa Belly cinta banget sama Conrad.

“But I had loved him. I loved him longer and truer than I had anyone in my whole life and I would probably never love anyone that way again. Which to be honest was almost a relief.”

Dan kadang, saya juga kasihan sama Conrad. Dia sedih banget karena ibunya meninggal, tapi dia nyimpen semua kesedihannya sendiri. Harga dirinya terlalu tinggi buat minta bantuan orang lain.

"And she'd said, "Conrad is sensitive. He has a lot of pride. Let him have that."."

di situ kadang saya merasa kesal

Dan satu karakter penting lain yang harus dibahas di sini adalah Laurel a.k.a Laure a.k.a Laura a.k.a mamanya Belly!

Sebenarnya, dari buku pertama, saya udah lumayan suka karakter dia, cuma karena Susannah lebih ditonjolin, jadi karakter dia agak ketutup gitu.

Di sini, pas Susannah udah meninggal dan dia ngadepin Mr. Fisher soal... itu, ya ampun, dia keren banget!

"I looked over at Conrad, and he said in a low voice, to no one in particular, "Laurel is amazing."

I'd never heard anyone describe my mom that way, especially not Conrad. I'd never thought of her as "amazing." But in that moment, she was. She truly was."

Dan--ini sedikit OoT--saya suka banget ini:

"My mother told me once that when Conrad was very young, he called her "his Laura". "Where is my Laura?" he'd say, wandering around looking for her. She said he followed her everywhere; he'd even follow her into the bathroom. He called her his girlfriend and he would bring her sand crabs and seashells form the ocean and he would lay them at her feet."

HAHAHA. Ya ampun, Conrad : "" ). Sini saya peluk. Wkwk.

Tapi, ada satu hal yang bikin saya bingung. Ini enggak penting, sih, tapi saya bingung aja.

Di buku The Summer I Turned Pretty, dibilang Belly bisa siul:

Tapi terus, di buku ini, dibilang Belly enggak tahu caranya siul:

Jadi dia bisa siul atau enggak ya....

Oke, mungkin segitu dulu bahasan bukunya. Ini ada beberapa kutipan yang saya suka dari buku ini:

"I used to believe. I used to think that if I wanted it bad enough, wished hard enough, everything would work out the way it was supposed to."

"But Conrad wasn't just my first love. He wasn't rite of passage. He was so much more than that. He and Jeremiah and Susannah were my family. In my memory, the three of them would always be entwined, forever linked. There couldn't be one without the others."

"And no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can't stop yourself from dreaming."

“How do you regret one of the best nights of your entire life? You don't. You remember every word, every look. Even when it hurts, you still remember.”

“I didn't want to make the same mistake my parents made. I didn't want my love to fade away one day like an old scar. I wanted it to burn forever.”

“That's when I finally got it. I finally understood. It wasn't the thought that counted. It was the actual execution that mattered, the showing up for somebody. The intent behind it wasn't enough. Not for me. Not anymore. It wasn't enough to know that deep down, he loved me. You had to actually say it to somebody, show them you cared. And he just didn't. Not enough.”

Habis baca ini, saya rencananya langsung baca We'll Always Have Summer. Saya udah buka-buka dikit dan saya lihat ada point of view-nya Conrad!! YAAY.

Tapi saya deg-degan juga sih... enggak siap buat tahu Belly milih siapa. Wkwk.

Terakhir, saya kasih 5 dari 5 bintang buat Slurpee rasa Coke campur cherry hehe.