Adolescence is the best of times and it can be the worst of times. The coming-of-age drama The Summer I Turned Pretty (one of the best shows on Amazon Prime Video) explores all the complications of teen love.
The series is based on the book trilogy by Jenny Han (the author behind To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before). The story follows Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung), who spends every summer at the beach with childhood pals Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). Their own moms Susannah (Rachel) and Laurel (Jackie Chung) are longtime best friends.
The summer Belly turns 16, the boys realize she has grown up into an attractive young woman. She gets caught up in a love triangle with two brothers. Who will she choose?
The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 returns to Prime Video soon, but in the meantime, you can get your teen romance fix elsewhere. Here are seven shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty to watch while you wait.
XO, Kitty
Love triangles bound in this spinoff of the To All the Boys films. Little sister Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart) is growing up and wants to reunite with her long-distance boyfriend Dae (Minyeong Choi). So, she jets off to Seoul, Korea to attend the same prestigious school.
But after arriving, Kitty finds out Dae has a girlfriend, the rich and popular Yuri (Gia Kim). While not all is as it seems, she discovers that reconnecting with her roots may be more important than romance. Plus, Dae isn’t the only cute guy in school; Min-ho (Sang Heon Lee) may be aloof at first, but has a softer side.
Watch on Netflix
One Tree Hill
Brothers also vie for the same girl in One Tree Hill, the long-running drama that initially follows a group of teens in a small town in North Carolina. Half-brothers Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty) don’t interact until Lucas is recruited to join the high school basketball team.
Things get more tense when Lucas develops a crush on Nathan’s girlfriend Peyton (Hilarie Burton). Even worse, she starts to like him back. The brothers’ rivalry grows heated as they try to show each other up on and off the court.
Never Have I Ever
Like Belly, 15-year-old Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is torn between a longtime crush and someone more her speed. While grappling with grief for her deceased father, Devi decides to raise her social status by dating hottie swimmer Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet). But she also discovers an affinity for her nerdy academic rival Ben (Jaren Lewison).
Never Have I Ever also focuses on the interplay between generations, as Devi has an often-contentious relationship with her mom. Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan) is stricter than Devi would like, which leads them to clash over her newfound desire to get a boyfriend.
Watch on Netflix
The Carrie Diaries
Like The Summer I Turned Pretty, the Sex and the City prequel series centers on a 16-year-old girl experiencing the ups and downs of near adulthood. High school junior Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) lands an internship in New York City, which allows her to be near fashion and fabulous parties. Belly’s gorgeous debutante moment? That’s what Carrie wants out of life every day.
It’s not as easy as it looks, though. Carrie has a troubled on-again, off-again boyfriend named Sebastian (Austin Butler), which makes her can’t help but wonder: Can a girl have it all?
Watch on TheCWTV.com
Gilmore Girls
Advanced geometry is required to navigate all the love triangles, square and hexagons in Gilmore Girls. Like The Summer I Turned Pretty, it balances the teen soapy melodrama with adult soapy melodrama.
Both mom Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) have their fair share of boyfriends throughout the series. They are often juggling guys, like when Rory fights her attraction to Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) while dating Dean (Jared Padalecki). But even when things get very complicated, at least the Gilmore girls have each other to throw around pop culture references, eat candy and drink all the coffee.
Watch on Netflix
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Add singing and dancing to The Summer I Turned Pretty, and you’ve got this effervescent series inspired by the High School Musical movies. Like Belly, Nini (Olivia Rodrigo) emerges from a chrysalis to become the center of attention. Instead of a debutante ball, Nini has her school production of High School Musical.
Though she’s excited to land the lead role of Gabriella, she’s dismayed when her ex-boyfriend Ricky (Joshua Bassett) is cast as her love interest Troy. Awkward, considering she’s dating someone else. But Ricky is determined to use this opportunity (and the power of song) to win Nini back.
Watch on Disney Plus
Love Alarm (Netflix)
Cross the teen romance of The Summer I Turned Pretty with futuristic technology from Black Mirror, and you’ve got this inventive Korean drama. The eponymous app notifies users when someone within 10 meters is in love with them.
Jojo (Kim So-hyun) is a sweet, smart girl with a troubled family history. Her classmate Hye-Yeong (Jung Ga-ram) has a huge crush on her. When his model best friend Sun-oh (Song Kang) returns from abroad, his Love Alarm is constantly ringing — except by Jojo. Intrigued, Sun-oh decides to kiss her to determine where her feelings really lie, which entangles all three in a mess of a love triangle.
Watch on Netflix
