To choose jer or con, that is the question

*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I got to listen to Conrad this time around?? Woohoo! And yes, I've reached the end of this series firmly on Team Conrad. The events of this book solidified it for me, but honestly not until the very end. I think this series is deeply rooted in absolutes that were established in the first book: Belly has always loved Conrad and always will, Beck was always sure Belly would marry one of her sons, all of these characters will be inextricably entwined because of their shared love for the late Susannah and the beach house, etc. A sense of nostalgia floats above the whole story, too, made stronger with every flashback scene. These absolutes aren't expected to change as the series continues, which is part of why Belly and Jeremiah being together seemed too good to be true from the get go. I really like how the book starts, how we get a glimpse of Belly's life at college navigating new female friendships and a boyfriend. But their relationship shatters when Belly finds out Jeremiah cheated on her. This immediately made their decision to get married feel doomed from the start. It was totally clear to me that they were rushing into marriage because they needed to prove that they could still trust each other and never hurt one another the way Jeremiah hurt Belly again. But that's not a reason to get married at all, and Laurel, Steven, Conrad, and co.'s reactions to the news were all completely valid to me. The riff between Belly and Laurel really made me quite sad; I couldn't imagine trying to go through with an already shaky wedding without the approval or presence of my mom. But I'm glad the riff doesn't last the whole book, and that when Belly really needs her, Laurel shows up. I also think, considering the timeline of how long Susannah has been dead, the depictions of grief are still really accurate. My heart twisted when I realized the letter meant for Conrad was given to Jeremiah. We don't get to see what it says, but I can imagine what a letter from a late mother to her son the night before his wedding could entail. I'm glad we get to see Belly's letter from Beck, though. The lack of Conrad's name until the very last second here was also a subtly effective craft move, since it's pretty clear by the end of the book that Belly ends up with Conrad. There's still room for a little bit of doubt. Because that's the thing about Conrad that bothered me until the end: he's supposedly Belly's endgame, yet keeps her on her toes to the point where she never really knows if she can trust him with her whole heart. I think it comes down to Conrad caring so much for Belly that he pulled away during times when he wasn't emotionally stable or knew he couldn't provide for her in the ways he wanted to. That's precisely where Jeremiah stepped in: he communicated how he felt, Conrad recognized the true love he had for Belly, and he took a step back. We see in his perspective chapters how the regret really eats at him, how he never stopped loving Belly but hardly ever acted on what he wanted to act on. It just makes for a more complicated plot and romance, I guess. In general, this book's plot depending on the "will they, won't they" of the marriage happening was unexpected, and a little disappointing. Disappointing might not be quite the right word, but it expresses the divide between my expectations and reality well enough. I like how Belly and Conrad waited a few years before deciding to tie the knot, which seems to be an indicator of healthier relationship choices when compared to Belly and Jeremiah's rushing. The fact that Belly studies abroad and doesn't answer Conrad's letters as soon as they start arriving made me happy, too. In my opinion, Belly's a boy-crazy kind of female main character. Her decision to live with her girl friends from college, experience living in another country, and put physical space between her and the Fisher boys made me happy to see. I feel for Jeremiah, though; the cheating is inexcusable in my eyes, but how hard it must've been for him to tell Belly he couldn't marry her when he still loved her is unimaginable. One of the things I cared most about was knowing Conrad and Jeremiah make up after their terrible fight. Seeing Jeremiah at the wedding is closure enough. I adore the ending scene and can picture it so clearly: a rainy day, Conrad in a suit and Belly in her white dress, both running carefree toward the ocean with so much history at their backs. It's one of many scenes I'm looking forward to seeing in season 3 of the show. :) The parallelism of the book starting and ending with this scene is so good too! It hit me later on that you can half expect the boy in the scene to be Jeremiah on a first read, but have it be confirmed as Conrad on a second read.



Some of my favorite quotes from We'll Always Have Summer:

"But just because you bury something, that doesn’t mean it stops existing."

"There hadn’t been one specific moment. It was like gradually waking up. You go from being asleep to the space between dreaming and awake and then into consciousness. It’s a slow process, but when you’re awake, there’s no mistaking it. There was no mistaking that it had been love."

"A fight is like a fire. You think you have it under control, you think you can stop it whenever you want, but before you know it, it’s living, breathing thing and there’s no controlling it and you were a fool to think you could."

"'Sometimes it hurts to look at you,' I said. I loved that I could say that and he knew exactly what I meant."

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