Jenny Han's Love Tropes in TSITP & TATBILB

Jenny Han, the author of The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP) and To All The Boys I've Loved Before (TATBILB) has very similar tropes used in both series.

I will preface this post by telling you that although I’ve read and watched The Summer I Turned Pretty series, I did not do the same for To The Boys I’ve Loved Before. However, as she’s been directly/loosely involved in both, we know that the love triangles/stories don’t change much from the books to the movie/television adaptation.

She’s got three major love tropes that show up in these series. Of course, we have the endgame, the one you spend the series thinking won’t work because something seems off about the love interest, but it still works. The one who’s too perfect to be true that all you can do as a reader/viewer is hope that guys like that exist in real life. Then there’s the best friend trope, the least expected, but you hope you will create the perfect friends-to-lovers storyline.

Another common theme in the series is that a teenage girl shouldn’t worry about finding true love and attempting to have multiple love stories before settling. Although Lara Jean’s is more tame: Josh tries to woo her after Margot breaks up with him, and John Ambrose tries to woo her when she’s on her break with Peter, it’s honestly always been Peter. Belly’s story is full of tries and tries again: Cam was the perfect gentleman for her, but not what she needed. Jeremiah was the ideal partner for her until he wasn’t, but Conrad was always there.

Cam Cameron is the perfect example of a gentleman who respects your decisions and can love you through all your changes. We, the audience, don’t fully understand the decision not to continue to pursue Cam. However, I guess almost kissing the guy you’ve been madly in love with for years is enough reason not to. Belly ending things with Cam then was probably her wisest decision as a teenager.

John Ambrose was the same way with Lara Jean. He was perfect in almost every way imaginable, but maybe that’s why it wouldn’t work out. I’m honestly sad that they didn’t work out, but I think the hopeless romantic in Lara Jean knew that Peter was always the one. Even though he wasn’t perfect, he was imperfectly perfect for her.

As adults, that’s what we want - the perfect man who respects and wants us at all points of our lives. But as teenagers, we want the ones who love us so passionately that some days, our friends look at us like we’re crazy for that choice. Because of this, I think that Cam Cameron and John Ambrose were perfect for Belly, but I believe that they are and were intended to be the wake-up call to the person doesn’t have to be perfect to be the person you want to spend forever with, or at very least until adulthood with.

I want to preface this by saying the best friend trope is my favourite, but it isn’t your typical best friend trope, so I’m not too fond of it in the two series. The title of this section should read “The Best Friend (The Certified Good Guy)” because that’s what these two are.

I love Jeremiah; he’s a flawed character like everyone else in the TSITP series. He’s been an excellent friend to Belly, but there are many instances that you can tell that he’s not good for her in the long run.

Josh is the same way in the TATBILB series. Again, I didn’t read the books, so this is purely from the movie. He’s Lara Jean’s best friend, then something happens, and now he’s dating her sister, so it’s even more weird than when they were just best friends. When Margot (Lara Jean’s sister) breaks up with him, and he gets Lara Jean’s letter, all the feelings he suppressed before come out. Suddenly, he’s entitled to Lara Jean’s feelings and jealous of Peter.

If this doesn’t sound familiar, many of these things happened with Jeremiah. Belly had all the reasons to love Jeremiah back when she thought Conrad was the best - he treated her well, he loved her, everything. But Taylor’s interest in Jeremiah blocks Belly from ever establishing these feelings for Jeremiah because that’s her best friend; she could never come between them. But then, when things end with Cam Cameron and Belly trying to pursue Conrad, Jeremiah intervenes (the book plays this out differently than the TV series, so this is purely the TV series). I know in the book series; he plays out his jealousy being more of Conrad than of Belly and Conrad because the TV show shows that he’s jealous that Conrad is the one Belly loves and not him.

The most significant difference between the two boys is that Josh plays a minor part in Lara Jean’s love story with Peter than Jeremiah does with Conrad. But it seemed like a good choice in both manners because who doesn’t love a good best friend to partner's trope? However, both series show that even though Peter/Conrad “don’t care about Lara Jean/Belly,” they know her better than their best friend.

My favourite trope Jenny uses in the two series is the realistic love. When you’re a young adult, you think of all the times you were disrespected by a boyfriend, a crush, or someone you thought had feelings for you. Then you look at boys like Conrad and Peter and think that’s what you want to avoid as an adult. You want the perfect boys, like Cam and John, or the best friends, like Jeremiah and Josh.

Peter is real; Lara Jean is a hopeless romantic who thinks everything is sunshine and rainbows, and when it’s not, it feels like the end of everything. She loves Peter so greatly, and she spends most of the series not knowing how Peter could ever love her back - he’s so carefree and fun and cares about things less than her. He loves her little quirks, and he understands her. Eventually, Lara Jean realizes that Peter is right for her, even though some days it doesn’t make any sense.

Conrad is real; he goes through life constantly being forced to push through, and he’s not suitable for Belly. He knows it; everyone else is telling him he’s wrong for her, everyone who doesn’t see how in love with Belly he is. We spend most of the books only really knowing Belly’s POV, and I love that way of writing. Because Belly and Jeremiah painted Conrad as this bad boyfriend who only treated Belly horribly her whole life, even though it was obvious she liked him.

My favourite thing about TSITP vs. TATBILB is that the characters aren’t so perfect; they’re all flawed. From the teenagers to the adults, they’re all flawed - well, maybe not Cam Cameron; he’s too perfect even to be real. This made Conrad different from the other characters; he saw it - his parents weren’t perfect, Belly’s parents weren’t perfect, and his brother, Steven, and Belly weren’t perfect. Conrad loved them all unconditionally still.

Even though we see how annoyed he is at his dad, we know he loves him. Even though he hates being Susannah’s perfect, mature son, he will do anything to make his mom happy. We know he loves Laurel more than any other adult in his life. Still, we know he sees her flaws in her relationship with Belly, especially in the third book in his POV. He loves Jeremiah; I know that because they’re different teams, this isn’t always seen by fans of either brother. Everyone makes it seem so simple that Conrad could’ve just told Belly he loved her and never taken it back. Still, Jeremiah was better than Conrad - even if not forever, he was better than Conrad when Belly eventually chose Jeremiah.

Then Belly, she’s honestly her biggest hater in the whole series. Partially, it’s the insecurities she was still dealing with. Still, she also needs everything to be perfect, like some cute 40s romantic drama. Conrad loved Belly, and he always looked past her imperfections. This is implied throughout the first two books when he tries not to play into Belly’s newfound “prettiness” or chases her after she catches him with Aubrey at the funeral. He’s always trying to help her insecurities, but it pisses her off or worsens them.

I think the biggest misconception of Conrad and Belly’s relationship is seen as toxic, in both the show and the books, is that we forget they’re both just as much to blame for their downfall at the start of Book 2 - or even the walking circles around each other in Book 1. I get that people who are Team Jeremiah (or even Team Cam) are anti-Conrad because he could’ve just been honest with his feelings. But, I think we forget, as an audience or reader, that Belly was the one who silenced Conrad so many times he tried. Conrad has always let Belly’s thoughts be obsolete; this is seen in flashbacks.

My favourite part of both realistic love tropes is that it’s real because both people grew during the series but still loved each iteration of each other. Lara Jean and Peter grew up together and continued to love each other until the end of the series - and we see this in XO Kitty when she’s complaining about her sister being so in love. But Conrad and Belly grew up away from each other. I know we give Conrad a lot of shit for constantly telling everyone to grow up - but let’s be honest, as the eldest, he was the only one expected to be grown up even before he was 18, so it’s not that surprising. Belly did need to grow up - I know she was a hopeless romantic. She seemed more mature than her actual age, but she was still childish, especially regarding love. I know they dropped the virgin act in the show, but Belly is still just as naive in the front as she was in the books. This is why I think in Book 3, things shift drastically for her - not just with Conrad, but with Jeremiah.

Thank you for reading my thoughts (and a bit of a review). If you follow me on Twitter (err, X), or even if you saw my TikTok likes, you'd know that TSITP is all that's been on my mind lately. If you want to discuss it, please follow me on Twitter (X) or Instagram. Anyway, onto the conclusion of this post!

In short, I love the way Jenny portrays love stories. I know we automatically go with the love triangle, with the teams, and which team you’re on is a part of the story’s immersion. But the stories aren’t written; fans typically perceive it that way. Because Lara Jean and Peter were always the end goal. Josh trying to interfere and John Ambrose coming back into the picture for a bit barely made either of them a love triangle. Belly tried things with Cam, then tried things with Conrad, and then ended up with Jeremiah until it was evident that Conrad was in the last relationship.

Also, stay tuned because I think I will make a part two, but it’s specifically Team Conrad vs. Team Jeremiah. And I promise to be neutral - even though I’m Team Conrad. I wanted to start with this because we can see the tropes played out differently in two different series written by the same author. But let me know your Teams:

For Belly?

• 0%Team Cam
• 0%Team Jeremiah
• 0%Team Conrad

For Lara Jean?

• 0%Team Josh
• 0%Team John Ambrose
• 0%Team Peter