The Summer I Turned Pretty is a book/T.V. show about a girl choosing between two brothers. Every summer Isabel "Belly" Conklin, her mom, Laurel, and her brother, Steven, go to Cousins Beach where her mom's best friend, Susannah Fisher, and her two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah, have a summer home. Belly has been in love with Conrad Fisher from before she could remember, but the summer of her 16th birthday is when it all changes because she changes and becomes "pretty" (hint, hint, the title), and both Conrad and Jeremiah notice.
Belly has always seen Conrad, but Jeremiah has always been one of her best friends and him noticing her creates several problems, but the love triangle between the boys and Belly is not the only problems going around the Fisher household. The Fisher family is going through a very rough patch. With Susannah and their dad getting a divorce and (secretly) Susannah's cancer getting worse, the whole house's emotions are off, none more than Conrad. Conrad became very distant from everyone, but Belly saw this and did everything to help change that, growing their relationship in the process and damaging her and Jeremiah's relationship. Despite the challenges, Belly and Conrad end up together, at least at the ending of the first book.
Even though it's the same story, the book and the T.V. show for The Summer I Turned Pretty have their differences. Some of the more minor changes in the T.V. show compared to the book would be that Steven stays in Cousins the whole time and does not leave to go on a college trip, Taylor (Belly's best friend) comes to Cousins to visit for Belly's birthday whereas in the book, she is only shown at Cousins in flashbacks, and Belly finds Conrad's necklace for her in the first season when she finds it in the second book.
As for the big changes, there are two very notable ones. The first one is that the Debutante Ball, which is a huge plot for both drama and development in the show, does not even exist in the books. The books focused on the romance and only the romance. By adding the Deb Ball, the show gained direction, plot points, and story. The show was not just about the romance, and not just about Belly, so other characters were able to develop for themselves. The first book is primarily written from Belly's point of view, so if it didn't include Belly, it wasn't in the book. In the show, almost every character got their own plot line, making the show more interesting to watch.
The differences between the two are definitely there, but it doesn't make it better or worse. If anything, it expands the story to the fullest extent.
