BookDragon Blog

Been waiting to exhale? Here it comes … who will Belly finally, irrevocably choose?

Reminder interruption: do NOT read further if you haven’t read Belly 1 (The Summer I Turned Pretty) and Belly 2 (It’s Not Summer without You). You really must follow the order for the full, fulfilling, final *SIGH*.

So Belly and Jeremiah have ended up at the same college. So has Belly’s best friend Taylor, too. College life has settled well … Belly and Jeremiah can see each other whenever, which means they also learn to deal with each other’s annoying quirks now that their relationship is year-round, not just over summers. Still, Belly has time to develop other friendships, and even some of the rough spots that she and Taylor faced have the chance to even out. Taylor’s actually matured enough to be less stifling now that she has other close friends. ‘Life is good,’ to quote a t-shirt …

And then Belly and Jeremiah spend spring break apart. And things happen. The lovebirds break up. But only temporarily, because Jeremiah reacts to the separation by getting a ring and proposing marriage. Belly accepts. No one else seems to be happy about the news, least of all Belly’s mother. Back at home for the summer, Belly and her mother have a blowout fight, and Belly flees back to Cousins Beach where she’ll be planning her August wedding, with or without her mother’s blessing. And who should be there … and what will happen …?

Oh, oh, oh … this is, at its core, a wonderfully mushy, old-fashioned, get-all-swept-up sort of love story. Two brothers and the one girl they both love. First love, chosen love, everlasting love, frustrated tears, miscommunications of seemingly epic proportions, heart-thudding confrontations, and the innocent sweetness of true love forever, white weddings and all …

Belly x 3 is a happily-ever-after sort of modern fairy tale you can’t put down.

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2011