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SUMMER AND THE CITY by Candace Bushnell

SUMMER AND THE CITY

From the Carrie Diaries series, volume 2

by Candace Bushnell

Pub Date: April 26th, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-172893-8
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

The sequel to The Carrie Diaries (2010) continues the mid-80s adventures of Carrie Bradshaw, before her appearance in Bushnell’s adult novels that led to the Sex and the City TV series and films. Seventeen-year-old Carrie has moved to New York City in the summer before she’s slated to start at Brown University. She’s signed up to take a writing course. When her rooming-house plans fall through, she instead moves in with the friend of a friend, fashionista Samantha—determinedly on the fast track to fame and fortune—and also meets Miranda, a fiery feminist. She falls headlong in love (or something that might resemble love) with jaded playwright Bernard, who implausibly convinces himself that Carrie’s a trifle older than her true age. Since he’s apparently not less than 30, even a few characters in this sexually lively bit of fluff find the relationship a little sketchy. In the semi-fantasy world of Bushnell’s New York, alcohol flows freely, no one ever gets carded and everyone is sexually active in short-lived relationships they love to discuss later. Fans of the franchise will want to learn more of Carrie’s coming-of-age experiences and will appreciate the sly wit that sometimes shines through—repartee at parties is occasionally priceless; others might enjoy imagining themselves in Carrie’s freewheeling demi-adult world. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)