Cousins Beach

Cousins Beach
Location	Massachusetts, USA
Type	Town, beach

Cousins Beach is a location, as well as the main setting, in The Summer I Turned Pretty series. It's where Susannah's summer house resides at and where her best friend Laurel and her children Belly and Steven regularly visit her at during their summer vacation. Belly always treasured her time there as it felt like "home" to her.

Throughout The Summer I Turned Pretty

Season 1

The Conklin-Park family arrives at Cousins Beach to spend their summer with the Fisher family in their beach house. Laurel's newest book is debuting at Whale of a Tale, the local book store, and Susannah is helping her organize the launch party. Meanwhile, Steven, Conrad, Jeremiah, and Belly attend a bonfire on the beach, where Conrad gets into a fight. The cops arrive and break up the party, though the kids are taken home by the police, but let off with a warning because of the Fisher family name.

Belly becomes a debutante with plans to make her debut in the elite society at Cousins. She joins the Country Club to practice with the other debs. Jeremiah and Steven work at the club over the summer. Laurel has a book launch at Whale of a Tale, but Belly gets permission to miss it so she can attend the drive-in with Cam.

The Fourth of July in Cousins is all about traditions. Susannah decks out the whole house, the dads come up for the weekend, and the boys steam clams and shoot off fireworks. All the other Fourth of Julys, Belly was just tagging along. But this year, she has friends and plans. She invites everyone over and makes a fool out of herself when she gets drunk, but ultimately, the day is success just like every other year.

Conrad starts his summer job as a sailing instructor for Cleveland Castillo, joining the man on his boat. Cam takes Belly to a place in Cousins she hadn't seen before, which he explains is where he saw his first whale. Meanwhile, Laurel and Susannah find the dive bar the Fat Pelican on the beach and have an evening of drinking and fun.

A charity volleyball tournament comes to Cousins and Belly plans to play with Taylor, while Steven signs up with Shayla. The tournament is a big deal in the community. Susannah opens the tournament with a speech about Play It Forward. She encourages the attendees to give money to those who are less fortunate, as Play It Forward will match pledges for the winner of the tournament. Belly ultimately wins with help from Conrad. Belly and Taylor go to a party on the shipyard courtesy of Nicole Richardson. They end up skinny dipping in the water, though Nicole and the debs leave them to walk home naked. They steal a tarp as cover. Meanwhile, Steven, Jeremiah, and Conrad attend a house party, but the Fisher brothers leave when they learn Belly is in trouble.

Season 2

A year later, Belly and Jeremiah return to Cousins while looking for an AWOL Conrad. They get a flat tire which forces them to confront their issues. As they enter Cousins, they pass Rosie's and stop in for some pie. By the time they get to Beck's house it's nightfall, and Conrad is surprised to see them. He reveals the house is up for sale.

In flashbacks to the events of the past year, Conrad and Belly escape to Cousins to watch the snow on the beach and share intimate moments in an empty beach house. Conrad clarifies that their aunt Julia owns the house after Susannah's death. Jeremiah and Belly head out to the local motel to convince Julia not to sell, but fail.

Meanwhile, Steven and Taylor decide to drive up to Cousins to help Belly find Conrad, unaware of the situation with the beach house. They arrive just as Conrad and Jeremiah fail to convince their father to help.

Julia moves ahead with preparing the house to sell by showing it to a realtor. Steven uses his engineering skills to kill the air conditioner, forcing the showing to be delayed. They decide to spend the rest of the day at the boardwalk. Belly invites Skye, Julia's child, to join them, hoping that immersing them in the nostalgic fun will make them understand the charm of Cousins and the beach house, thus convincing their mother to change her mind about selling.

The teens at the boardwalk

As the games progress, a friendly competition ensues between the two teams. Belly, Taylor, and Skye face off against Steven, Jeremiah, and Conrad. They play back to back games, like laser tag, Dance revolution, and Shoot Your Shot. Belly has some flashbacks of being on the boardwalk with Conrad when she was younger. The group runs into Cam who is working there and recruit him in their fun. After Belly's team loses the competition, she has to ride the Tower of Terror. She is visibly terrified but Jeremiah kindly offers his support by riding it with her.

After an entire day of fun and games, the kids return home, only to be met with a shocking discovery. The beach house has been stripped of everything -furniture, art, and everything that reminded them of Susannah.

Locations

Beach Houses

• Beck's Beach House
• Burke House

Businesses

• Country Club (Private business)
• Cousins Botanical
• Cousins Beach Tent and Table
• Cousins Boardwalk and Arcade
• Maureen’s Millinery
• Pelican Pub
• Rosie's
• The Sandpiper
• Scoops
• Whale of a Tale

Trivia

• Many fans have wondered if it is a real place. However, Jenny Han confirmed on her website that it is not a real beach, but it is instead a combination based on several different places. The locations that it is inspired by are Cape Cod, the Hamptons and "just a splash of the Outer Banks".