Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3, Episodes 1-2.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” is back for its third and final season, bringing Jenny Han’s beloved book trilogy to a close. But Han has teased that book fans might not know how the Prime Video series will conclude.
The author and series creator has gone off script in past seasons — most notably in crafting a romance between Belly’s best friend, Taylor (Rain Spencer), and Belly’s brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman) — but in Season 3 bringing an end to the love triangle between Belly (Lola Tung), Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), even more changes to the book “We’ll Always Have Summer” could impact the endgame.
See below for the biggest changes from the book in “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 so far. This story will be updated weekly as new episodes drop.
Time jump to Belly’s junior year
While Season 3 kicks off by showing Belly’s move-in to Finch for her freshman year of college, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” quickly jumps to the end of Belly’s junior year and Jeremiah’s senior year, pushing back much of the action that happens in the book two years.
The Prime Video series fills in the gaps of the last two years: Belly had an injury that forced her to leave the volleyball team and meanwhile discover her passion for sports psychology; Jeremiah has been enjoying his fraternity life, but will be graduating a semester late after not completing the correct classes; Taylor has become rush chair of her sorority; Steven has graduated from Princeton early and began working at finance firm Breaker — headed up by Mr. Fisher; and Conrad is still pursuing his medical studies at Stanford.
Belly and Jeremiah have seemingly been together this entire time, and their conflict in Episodes 1 and 2 surrounding Jeremiah’s spring break trip to Cabo is the same turn of events as in the book.
Taylor and Steven’s on-again, off-again relationship
Given that Taylor and Steven don’t have a romantic relationship in the books, Han has already gone off script with their fling in the first two seasons, and she told TheWrap crafting their storyline was the hardest part of writing Season 3.
Season 3 establishes that Taylor and Steven broke up before Belly and Taylor’s move to Finch, but it’s clear they’ve hooked up across the past years, leading to them now cheating on their respective partners — Davis and Mia. Notably, Taylor does date a Davis in the books, but it’s earlier while she’s in high school, who was seemingly subbed for Taylor’s boyfriend, Milo, in Season 2.
Steven breaks up with Mia (who remains unseen) to be with Taylor, who is hesitant to truly pursue a relationship until …
Steven’s car accident
As soon as “The Summer I Turned Pretty” dropped its Season 3 trailer, fans immediately glommed onto the car crash involving Steven, which is entirely new from the book, with some fans even speculating Steven could die.
Luckily, fans didn’t have to anticipate the car crash for too long, as Episode 2 sees Steven crash his car after Taylor tells him to let her out of the car. Steven is okay by the end of Episode 2, but he said it serves as a “wake up call” that he shouldn’t be pursuing Taylor anymore — a realization that he tells Taylor right as she’s about to ask him to make a relationship work.
New characters
While book fans were waiting to meet Belly’s college best friend Annika, Conrad’s close friend and former hookup, Agnes, and other Finch students Redbird and Lacie Baron (if you know you know), some new characters were introduced in Taylor’s boyfriend, Davis, Steven’s girlfriend, Mia (who remains unseen), and Steven’s co-worker and junior associate at Breaker, Denise.
Laurel and John’s romance
Belly’s parents, Laurel and John, are divorced in the books and don’t rekindle their romance on the page, but the first two episodes of Season 3 see them running into each other at a conference and flirting up a storm before eventually hooking up.
Redbird is potentially queer
In the books, Redbird is one of Jeremiah’s fraternity brothers who sparks the eye of Taylor later in the book. In the show, Redbird mentions to Jeremiah how emotionally devastated he was after he and Sean broke up, though Redbird’s sexuality is not discussed further.
Study abroad discussed earlier — and in a different place
The possibility of Belly heading to Paris to study abroad during the fall semester of her senior year is brought up in the Season 3 premiere, much earlier than the discussion in the book, which sees Belly head to Spain during her junior year. Jeremiah graduating late factors into her potential study abroad, but Jeremiah encourages her to go and follow her dream.
The car accident plays a role in Belly and Jeremiah’s engagement
In the book, Belly and Jeremiah’s engagement happens purely in the wake of their breakup — prompted by Belly learning Jeremiah slept with Lacie over spring break. Jeremiah says their breakup made him realize he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Of course, the engagement in the show also happens in the wake of that, but it seems like Steven’s car accident plays a bigger role in raising the stakes for the characters.
Belly and Jeremiah’s original summer and living plans
In the book, Belly is planning to head back home and pick back up her old waitressing job over the summer while Jeremiah interns at his dad’s company in an effort to save money for the wedding, but it’s mentioned in Episode 3 that their plan was to spend the summer in Cousins together. Now with the wedding on their minds, Belly says their plan is to tie the knot over the summer.
As for their living plans in the fall, in the book, Jeremiah sells the engagement to Belly by promising they can live together off campus after they’ve tied the knot. In the show, Belly is still, at least by Episode 3, planning on studying abroad in Paris in the fall, while Jeremiah lives by himself for that last semester. Who knows if that plan might change …
Lucinda’s money woes
While Taylor’s mom, Lucinda, isn’t too big of a character in the third book, Episode 3 sees Lucinda meddling in Taylor and Steven’s relationship by asking Steven to take a look at her salon’s books, prompting Steven to reveal to Taylor — who then tells her mother — that the business is in grave danger of going under.
Details of the dedication
The dedication of the garden at the women’s shelter in honor of Susannah is also a major event in the book, but some details have been shifted in the series. Belly’s dad, John Conklin, had never planned to come to the dedication in the book, but his rekindled romance with Lauren sparked a question of if he might join, though he ultimately does not.
Like in the book, Conrad shows up at the dedication late and stays in the back until the end of the ceremony, when Laurel, Adam, Conrad, Belly, Jeremiah and Steven all head to lunch. (In the book, Adam pays for lunch, making the extravagant seafood tower and other meals less glaring than putting it on Laurel’s tab in the show.)
In the book, it’s Jeremiah who makes the grand announcement that he and Belly are engaged, but the series sees Belly share the news after seeing Steven and Conrad get applauded for their accomplishments while Adam lays it on thick that Jeremiah is graduating late, calling him a “super senior.” Like in the book, their announcement abruptly ends the lunch and Laurel drags Belly away from Jeremiah.
That birthday breakfast and John putting his foot down to Laurel
While Belly, Laurel and John have a similar breakfast conversation in the books to the one that plays out in Episode 4 — which sees Laurel say she won’t support the wedding — John is much more insistent to Laurel privately that he’ll be at the wedding, should it happen.
Notably, in the show, the family gathers for Belly’s birthday — which has been moved from August in the books to June — rather than the formal conversation set up to discuss the wedding in the book.
Lucinda joins for wedding dress shopping
With Lucinda playing a much bigger role in the show than the book, she joins Taylor and Belly as they hunt for a wedding dress. In the show, Belly expressly asks Laurel to join her — and Laurel says no — but their interaction in the book is more subtle.
In the book, they go to several stores before finding the right dress, but the show sees Belly hit the jackpot at the first prom-centric store and the dress is pretty much how it’s described in the book: “long and white and silky and something you could wear on the beach.”
Conrad’s decision to stay in Cousins
By the time Belly and Jeremiah wake up in Cousins, they’re surprised to learn Conrad has been staying at the beach house instead of heading back to California, though Conrad makes plans to head back west after learning he got a job at Stanford, and then reverses course to be there for Belly. In the book, there was never any consideration of Conrad leaving Cousins.
In the book, Conrad has a similar conversation with Jeremiah while surfing — down to the “ridiculous” comment — but their conversation doesn’t involve the prospect of Conrad being Jeremiah’s best man. In the book, Conrad seems supportive enough of the wedding to help Belly with wedding tasks.
Conrad’s resistance to help Belly run errands
The show sees Conrad having an internal crisis about helping Belly run her wedding errands in order to shield himself from his feelings for her, but in the book, Conrad has no problem offering to help Belly get her stamps, in fact offering to save her a ride.
Belly taking the GRE
One other addition from the time jump is Belly’s grad school aspirations, which sees her planning on studying for the GRE over the summer.
Adam wanting to move the wedding to the club
While Adam eventually does cave and offer his financial support for the wedding — which is sometimes less than ideal — there’s never a discussion about moving the wedding from the house to the club.
Adam still being with Kayleigh
In the books, Adam’s affair with Kayleigh is contained to the past, and it’s Adam’s colleague, Denise, who steps in to help plan the wedding. But in the show, Kayleigh steps in to plan the wedding, and Adam tells Conrad and Jeremiah in Episode 6 that he’s started a relationship with Kayleigh recently — which Conrad knows is not true, though Jeremiah is still in the dark about his dad’s affair with Kayleigh the first time Susannah was sick.
Belly’s decision not to change her last name
In a departure from the books, Belly receives personalized stationery during her bridal shower with her new last name on it, which prompts Belly to declare that she was planning on keeping her last name, like her mom did.
Taylor isn’t interested in any of Jeremiah’s groomsmen, except for Steven
In the book, Taylor is pretty interested in Redbird when the wedding party arrives in Cousins. But in the show, she’s pretty locked in on Steven, whether she admits it or not. Redbird also has his own romance to worry about, with Belly noting Redbird has dibs on Blake, who is also Jere’s ex.
Belly has her own bachelorette party
When the boys head out for Jeremiah’s bachelor party in the book, Belly, Taylor and Annika stay in to do their nails and practice Belly’s makeup for the wedding. In the show the ladies hit the town in Episode 7 for Belly’s own bachelorette party.
Belly realizes Conrad talked to Laurel on her own
In both the books and the show, Belly finds out Conrad convinced Laurel to change her ‘tude on the wedding on the night of the bachelor party, but in the book, Taylor delivers the news, while Belly puts it together on her own in the show.
Belly and Conrad’s beach confrontation
In the book, Belly goes looking for Conrad after seeing Jeremiah get home drunk. But in the show, Belly happens upon Conrad when she goes to meet up with Jeremiah on the beach.
Their confrontation on the beach, however, is almost straight from the book — down to Belly dropping down to her knees in the sand when she knows Conrad can’t see her anymore.
In the book, she heads back to bed with Jeremiah, but in the show she opts to spend the night in Taylor’s bed.
A day in between Conrad’s confession and the wedding
In the books, Conrad’s confession happens the night before the wedding, but the show gives Belly an extra day to ruminate on it as the boys (minus Conrad) head out for a day on the boat while Belly, Taylor and Annika head out for a spa day. The scene of Belly walking down the aisle in the trailer is revealed to be the rehearsal, and the group had a rehearsal dinner afterwards. The show then picks up the next day — the morning of the wedding — on par with the books.
Steven and Taylor’s morning-of involvement
In the book, Conrad goes off to find Jeremiah on his own, but in the show, Steven puts pressure on Conrad to fix the mess he made by finding him.
Likewise, Taylor plays a bigger role in the show when she makes a last-ditch effort to get Belly to stop the wedding, saying she thinks it’s not truly what Belly wants to do.
Everything after breaking off the wedding
While Belly’s decision to break off the wedding is pretty spot on with the book, the show goes off script with the end of Episode 8, setting the stage for new territory in the show’s final three episodes. In the book, Belly goes to study abroad in Spain after breaking off the wedding, and connects with Conrad via letters there. In the show, Belly heads to Paris and is surprised to see Conrad at the airport. It’s unclear how the rest of the season will play out, but it certainly won’t be by the book for the most part.
Belly’s Parisian adventure
In the books, Belly studies abroad in Spain. But in the show, things don’t go quite her way when she tries to reclaim her spot in the Paris program, leading her on an adventure as she searches for her stolen bag. However, Episode 9 does introduce Benito, who is mentioned in Conrad’s letters to Belly as “some Spanish guy” who “rides around on a scooter” with whom Belly is romantically entangled.
That ending
The series finale concludes with Belly and Conrad returning to Cousins years later, but, while the final pages of the book sees them tying the knot with their friends and family present, they simply drive through the town before walking through the empty Cousins house.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 releases new episodes Wednesdays on Prime Video.
