Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell

Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell
Release Date – April 26, 2011
Publisher – HarperTeen
Pages - 409
My Rating- 7.5/10

Here is the synopsis from Good Reads

Summer is a magical time in New York City and Carrie is in love with all of it—the crazy characters in her neighborhood, the vintage-clothing boutiques, the wild parties, and the glamorous man who has swept her off her feet. Best of all, she's finally in a real writing class, taking her first steps toward fulfilling her dream.

This sequel to The Carrie Diaries brings surprising revelations as Carrie learns to navigate her way around the Big Apple, going from being a country "sparrow"—as Samantha Jones dubs her—to the person she always wanted to be. But as it becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile her past with her future, Carrie realizes that making it in New York is much more complicated than she ever imagined.

With her signature wit and sparkling humor, Candace Bushnell reveals the irresistible story of how Carrie met Samantha and Miranda, and what turned a small-town girl into one of New York City's most unforgettable icons, Carrie Bradshaw.

I reviewed the first book - The Carrie Diaries - you can read that here. There will be spoilers (minor) from the first book in this review.

I was psyched when I read the name Samantha Jones at the end of the last book. I am a huge Sex and the City fan so I was excited to see the other girls and not just Carrie.

Samantha and Miranda are in this book. I am happy to say that they felt like the Samantha and Miranda I remember from the show, just younger and less experienced.

As a fan of the show it’s hard not to pick out the discrepancies between the show and the book. There are things that happen in this books that would contradict things that happened in the show. It’s best if you try to read it without thinking about the show at all. I can’t compare it to the Sex and the City book as I haven’t read it, but maybe it’s more in line with that.

The writing style in this book is exactly like the first one. I think it’s straight forward and there are few surprises. It’s one of those books that would be nice to read on the beach in the summer.

I was happy to finally see Carrie meet Charlotte at the end of the book and wish we would have had more of her in the book.

I LOVE New York. One of my favourite things about this book was getting to hear about the shops, restaurants, and attractions that Carrie visits. It felt like such a huge part of the story. New York was almost a character in the TV show and that carries over to the novels.

If you liked the first book, or are a fan of the TV show I think you’ll enjoy this one. It’s fun to see the girls we love from Sex and the City as teenagers and I hope there is a third so we can actually “meet” Charlotte.