If you’re wondering The Summer I Turned Pretty who does Belly end up with, you’re really asking how Jenny Han resolves a long-running love triangle built across a beachy coming-of-age series. The answer matters because the romance is tied to Belly’s growth, not just her crushes.
This story follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin as she moves from adolescence into adulthood, with summers, family bonds, grief, and first love shaping every choice. Below is a spoiler-aware summary of the series’ ending, along with its major themes, characters, and why the books resonate so strongly with readers.
So, who does Belly end up with in The Summer I Turned Pretty?
Spoiler answer: in the book series, Belly ultimately ends up with Conrad Fisher. The romance is not simple or immediate, though; the trilogy spends much of its time balancing Belly’s feelings for Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher before settling on Conrad as the relationship that lasts.
What is The Summer I Turned Pretty about?
Jenny Han’s series is a young adult contemporary romance centered on Belly’s annual summers at Cousins Beach with the Fisher family. The books trace her emotional transition from childhood attachment to more complicated romantic and adult feelings, all against a backdrop of family history, loss, and change.
The basic premise
Belly has spent nearly every summer at the beach house with her mother, her brother, and the Fishers. As she gets older, the familiar setting begins to feel different: she is noticed differently, loves differently, and starts to understand that the people she has known forever are changing too.
The central love triangle
The series’ most famous element is the triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah. Conrad is the older, quieter, emotionally guarded brother, while Jeremiah is warmer, more open, and easier to read, which creates two very different romantic possibilities for Belly.
How the ending works in the books
The ending is less about choosing between two boys than about Belly learning what kind of love can survive uncertainty, grief, and growing up. After a great deal of emotional turbulence, the series ends with Belly and Conrad together, suggesting that their connection has matured enough to become lasting.
Why Conrad is the final choice
Conrad’s relationship with Belly is marked by deep history and emotional intensity. Their bond is often strained by miscommunication and timing, but the books frame their connection as enduring, even when it is difficult.
What happens to Jeremiah
Jeremiah remains an important part of Belly’s life and the emotional structure of the series. His role is not simply to lose a contest; rather, he represents a different kind of love—more immediate and affectionate, but ultimately not the final path the story chooses for Belly.
Why readers debate the ending
Many readers feel divided because the books invite sympathy for both brothers. Jenny Han makes the triangle emotionally credible by giving each character real strengths, so the ending can feel satisfying to some readers and frustrating to others.
Main characters and their roles in the story
The series works because its characters are not just romantic options; they are part of a larger family and friendship system. That makes the emotional stakes feel bigger than a typical teen romance.
Belly Conklin
Belly is the narrator and emotional center of the trilogy. Her arc is about self-definition: she begins as the younger girl who wants to be seen differently and gradually becomes someone making more serious choices about love, identity, and adulthood.
Conrad Fisher
Conrad is introspective, reserved, and often burdened by feelings he does not easily express. He is frequently interpreted as the more complicated romantic lead because his love is shown through restraint, sacrifice, and longing rather than easy declarations.
Jeremiah Fisher
Jeremiah is outgoing, affectionate, and emotionally available. He often functions as the more openly romantic brother, which makes him appealing to readers who value clarity and warmth in a relationship.
Susannah and the family dimension
Susannah Fisher is central to the emotional texture of the books, even when she is not at the center of every scene. Her presence helps explain why the beach house summers matter so much and why the series feels as much about family memory as romance.
Major themes in The Summer I Turned Pretty
The books are popular not just because of the romance, but because they connect first love to larger themes that many readers recognize from real life. The result is a story that feels both nostalgic and emotionally sharp.
Growing up and self-discovery
One of the strongest themes is the awkwardness of becoming yourself in front of people who have known you forever. Belly’s transformation is not only physical; it is emotional, social, and psychological.
Memory and nostalgia
The beach house summers are shaped by repetition, which gives the series a nostalgic quality. The same place feels different each year, showing how memory can preserve a feeling even when life changes around it.
Grief and change
Loss is woven into the story’s emotional core. The books show how grief alters family dynamics and how young people often have to grow up while still processing events they do not fully understand.
First love versus lasting love
The series asks whether the person who excites you most at sixteen is the same person who can truly meet you later in life. That tension gives the love triangle its emotional force and makes the ending feel like a statement about maturity as much as romance.
How Jenny Han tells the story
Han’s style is accessible, intimate, and emotionally direct. She uses a first-person perspective that keeps readers close to Belly’s feelings, even when Belly herself is uncertain or contradictory.
First-person narration
Because the story is filtered through Belly’s point of view, readers experience the romance as she does: through memory, longing, confusion, and hindsight. This creates intimacy, but it also means some characters remain partly mysterious.
Seasonal structure and setting
The recurring summer setting gives the books a natural rhythm. Each return to Cousins Beach feels like both a continuation and a reset, which suits a story about change that happens in small, cumulative steps.
Emotional pacing
Rather than rushing from one dramatic event to another, the series lets tension build through small gestures, silences, and misunderstandings. That slower pacing is one reason the romantic payoff feels so significant to readers.
Book summary without overcomplicating the spoilers
If you want the shortest possible version: Belly grows up at Cousins Beach, becomes entangled in a long emotional triangle with Conrad and Jeremiah, and eventually ends up with Conrad in the book series. But the real story is how she learns what love costs, what family means, and who she is becoming.
Why the ending feels earned
The final pairing works for the books because it reflects the series’ larger emotional logic. Belly and Conrad’s relationship is difficult, but it is also built on years of shared history, mutual understanding, and unfinished feeling.
Why some readers prefer Jeremiah
Jeremiah often feels like the healthier or easier choice in the moment, which is part of why the ending remains controversial. Readers who prioritize steadiness and open affection may naturally root for him, even if the books choose differently.
Who will enjoy this series?
The Summer I Turned Pretty is a strong fit for readers who enjoy contemporary YA romance, family-centered drama, and stories about first love that are emotionally layered rather than purely lighthearted.
- Readers who like love triangles with real emotional stakes
- Fans of summer settings, nostalgia, and beach-town atmosphere
- Anyone interested in coming-of-age stories about identity and change
- Readers who enjoy romance mixed with grief, family tension, and memory
How to read the series
If you are starting from the beginning, the books are best read in publication order so the emotional development lands as intended. The trilogy builds gradually, and later choices make more sense when you follow Belly’s growth from the first book onward.
- The Summer I Turned Pretty
- It’s Not Summer Without You
- We’ll Always Have Summer
Final takeaway
So, Belly ends up with Conrad in The Summer I Turned Pretty book series. But the deeper appeal of the story is not just the final pairing; it is the way Jenny Han uses romance, memory, and family to show how growing up changes what love means.
If you want to explore the series further, you may also enjoy what The Summer I Turned Pretty is about or a related character-focused reading question like who Jackie ends up with in the book.