‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Writer, 44, Knew Taylor Swift Would Be “Timeless” When She Penned the Book 16 Years Ago

No matter when you were born or how old you are, summer is kind of the one thing that never gets old. We can all relate to associating the warmer months with transformation, magic, and timelessness. It’s one of the things that makes The Summer I Turned Pretty so popular, whether you’re a teenager like Belly (Lola Tung) now or vividly remember what it was like. At a recent “Escape With Prime Video” luncheon event in New York City, The Summer I Turned Pretty novelist and creator Jenny Han talked about how she created a coming-of-age story that anyone can relate to, regardless of the year or age they’re turning when reading this story.

Han Curated ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Pop Culture References

David Iacono (Cam), Gavin Casalegno (Jeremiah), Sean Kaufman (Steven), Elsie Fisher (Skye), Rain Spencer (Taylor) at the boardwalk in 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Season 2. — Image via Prime Video

You may have noted that The Summer I Turned Pretty, the book and the show, make interesting pop culture choices. It’s not as reference-heavy as Gilmore Girls or as jargon-filled as Juno or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer, of course. But the teenage characters do talk like teenagers and occasionally reference the movies and music they like. Because of Susannah Fisher (Rachel Blanchard) and Laurel Park (Jackie Chung)’s shared love of screwball comedies, the teens watch films like It Happened One Night, Sabrina, and The Apartment enthusiastically. But there’s also Belly’s Midsommar-themed birthday party, her French translation of The Hunger Games, and, of course, so much Taylor Swift. The show and Swift are intrinsically linked at this point.

The combination of old and new is realistic! Not all teens are only paying for, watching, and listening to the latest thing. It helps that most of the stories take place during the summer, a time when we’re prone to be outside at the beach and amusement parks and not as chronically online. Plus, as Han said, it helps The Summer I Turned Pretty stay relevant. The book was published in 2009, for goodness’ sake! Imagine if she’d had Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah obsessing over a meme that became old and forgotten a week later.

Lola Tung as Belly in Season 2 of 'The Summer I Turned Pretty.'

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“You can’t make everyone happy.”

“I wanted it to have a timeless feel to it,” Han said, recalling when she started writing the book well over a decade ago. “The thought that you often have when you write stories for young people [is] how much do you want it to feel, like, of the moment? How much do you want to use the current lexicon or pop-cultural references? For me, any references I made in the books, I wanted to feel like people would know who they were 30 years later. So, like, I did mention Taylor Swift in the book, and I felt like I knew she was going to be a classic, you know, great.” (“A big star,” Tung interjected with a smile.)

Belly’s Story “Hits” at All Ages on ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’

Han went on to talk about how her goal was to reach people of all ages, not just at all times, with a “timeless” approach to this story. Many adults turn to YA fiction for a variety of reasons, to be fair!

“Because it’s a story about one young woman’s growing up and her coming-of-age,” Han said, “I wanted it to feel like if you were reading the book as an adult, that you were able to think back to your own coming of age, and have that nostalgia. And then, if you’re ‘in it’ as you’re reading it, and you were that same age, then it would feel that you felt seen. That’s what I wanted for the show as well, for people to have these touchpoints into it, no matter what age you were.” Given the popularity of The Summer I Turned Pretty across the ages, it would seem like her mission has been accomplished!

The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 streams on July 16, 2025, on Prime Video.