Critical response Season 1 For the first season, the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes reported a 88% approval rating with an average rating of 7.1/10, based on 24 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "
The Summer I Turned Pretty doesn't need more time to become a swan, coming out of the gate a solidly charming and sweet rom-com with appeal across generations."
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Angie Han of
The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "As a coming-of-age story, Amazon's
The Summer I Turned Pretty is a cut above. Tenderly written and endearingly acted, it's sensitive to the subtle but irreversible shifts in self-perception that come with late adolescence—and at the same time clear-eyed enough to understand that teenagers, up to and including its own blushing heroine, sure can act like clueless jerks while they're figuring out how to wield their newfound powers." Delia Cai of
Vanity Fair also gave a positive review, commenting that "the specificity of Laurel's fantasy summer is ultimately what rescues
The Summer I Turned Pretty from being too sticky sweet." Writing for
The Playlist, Marya E. Gates wrote, "Although the voiceover in which [Belly] shares [her] feelings is unevenly deployed, it's refreshing to see a story that puts the girl in the driver's seat and gives her the room to work through the contradictions of adolescence and sexual coming-of-age on her own terms." Joyce Slaton of
Common Sense Media said the series is "as sweet, light, and refreshing as a soda on ice by the swimming pool...[and] tackles the confusion and loveliness of an awkward coming-of-age." Abby Cavenaugh of
Collider noted "though at some points, the love triangle—or quadrangle, with Cam included—can feel a bit forced, overall this story works on many levels. You grow to really care about these characters and want to see them happy," adding "Belly is the star of the show, and Tung sells every moment of it with her luminous performance."
Season 2 The second season holds an approval rating of 62% on
Rotten Tomatoes, based on 13 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. On
Metacritic, the second season received a score of 71 based on reviews from 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Some critics welcomed the series' tackling of the heavier themes of grief and loss. Lauren Chval of
The A.V. Club said that season 2 raises the stakes of the central love triangle and makes a strong case for a Jeremiah relationship with Belly. Tung's performance received continued praise, with Kayleigh Donaldson of
TheWrap writing that "the season is at its best when it focuses on Belly, giving space to her emotional strife and the oft-derided difficulties of being a teenage girl in a world where you're positioned as something between a sex object and a punching bag." Though critics noted the narrative stays faithful to the book, some said the integration of flashback scenes was at times confusing and that important storylines were being skipped.
Impact After the series' debut, all three
The Summer I Turned Pretty books entered the top three spots on the Amazon Best Sellers list, with the second book, ''It's Not Summer Without You'', reaching number one. 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 songs—"
Cruel Summer", "
Lover" and "
False God"—were featured in the series.
Beyoncé's 2014 single "
XO" tripled in sales units following its use in the finale. The series also had a significant social media reach, with the hashtag #TheSummerITurnedPretty accumulating over 13.8 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.
Audience viewership In September 2023, Vernon Sanders, an
Amazon Prime executive, revealed that season 2 of Jenny Han's
YA adaptation was the streamer's No. 2 most-viewed series to date among women 18–34, behind only
Rings of Power, according to Prime Video. It was also the most-completed series to-date among that demographic. The series had also driven subscription growth that summer, Amazon reported.
The Summer I Turned Pretty was among Prime Video's Top 3 series in terms of global acquisition (and, again, No. 1 with women 18-34). On July 28, 2025, it reported that the third and final season drew 25 million viewers globally within its first seven days of the season premiere. It reached 70 million viewers 70 days after the season premiered, 7 days after the finale, which marked a 65% increase from the 70-day total achieved by Season 2. Throughout its run, the final season was Amazon’s most-watched title globally and became the No. 1 title in more than 140 countries. According to Media Play News, citing U.S. streaming data from research firm PlumResearch,
The Summer I Turned Pretty was the most-viewed title across major streaming platforms in August 2023, attracting around 16 million unique viewers and nearly 70 million total episode views on Prime Video during the month.
Awards and nominations == References ==