Winter TV Finales - The Summer I Turned Pretty - Season One

The Summer I Turned Pretty is my latest Winter TV binge, or finale as the entire series landed mid last month.

Based on the books by Jenny Han, the first season consisting of seven episodes, is just the start. Ahead of the series commencing, it was renewed for a second season, potentially based on the second book in the trilogy, It's Not Summer Without You.

The storyline goes like every other teen drama, however it does have real heart along with a killer soundtrack. On an annual summer vacation to their family friends' beach house, Belly reunites with her friends, brothers Jeremiah and Conrad, and she finds herself caught in a love triangle. Well if you add her other bachelor contender, it is more like a love quadrangle.

Following the Amazon series debut, all three The Summer I Turned Pretty books skyrocketed into the top three spots on Amazon Best Sellers list, with the second book, It's Not Summer Without You, at number one. 

Like I said it's a killer soundtrack, which also equals a pay day for the artists featured. The artists whose music is used in the show have also seen an increase in streams, sales and followers, with some experiencing up to a 6,000% increase in song sales. Taylor Swift's seventh studio album, Lover, resurged in sales and streaming, and re-entered the top 40 region of the Billboard 200 chart as well, after three of its song Cruel Summer, Lover & False God were featured in season one. 

The series also had a massive social media reach, with the hashtag #TheSummerITurnedPretty accumulating over 1.3 billion views on TikTok. It generated over 107,000 global posts over launch weekend and 725 million potential impressions across platforms, according to social analytics agency DMS.

I actually really enjoyed the coming of age romance by the summer seas story. It is sweet, cute whilst also being a bit thirsty in parts!

Starring Lola Tung, Rachel Blanchard, Jackie Chung, Christopher Briney, Gavin Casalegno, Sean Kaufman, Minnie Mills and Alfredo Narciso, Summer Madison, David Iacono, Rain Spencer, and Tom Everett Scott. A few fresh faces, however the series is well acted, whilst also feeling rather fresh.

I recommend this a lot. Following The Boys on Amazon, this is a totally different shift in gears for Amazon original programming which I welcome. Next up for me on Amazon is Panic. Looks interesting! Until next time, hello from sunny, warm, friendly Bali. What a change from Sydney!