Summer and the City

July 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-This novel picks up where the first Sex and the City prequel, The Carrie Diaries (HarperCollins, 2010), leaves off. Carrie Bradshaw has left her hometown behind, prepared to spend the summer before her freshman year at Brown taking a writing class at The New School. Upon arriving in Manhattan, she meets Samantha Jones, a true New York woman who essentially adopts this little sparrow of a person and inducts her into the high life, including a relationship with a much older man, famous writer Bernard. While Carrie's dalliances with Bernard are not always believable, her newfound friendship with the opinionated feminist Miranda Hobbes is. Their conversations about the opposite sex, while more frank than those in most YA literature, are in turn honest, probing, and comical. In addition to introducing readers to well-known characters from the book and TV series, this title offers up compelling secondary plotlines. Carrie's writing peers accurately capture the breadth of a collegiate writing class, from students with raw talent to those whose work is purely derivative. While this book clearly has a built-in audience of adult readers and older teens who are fans of the show and Bushnell's adult books, there's also something here for anyone who has ever wished to build a fabulous new life and, especially, for aspiring writers.-Jennifer Barnes, Malden Public Library, MA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2011
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)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 Will she or won't she go to college, become a famous writer, lose her virginity? Even though she has been accepted to Brown in the fall, has a reading of her play, and dates a hot guy, the only sure things in this follow-up to The Carrie Diaries (2010) are that Bushnell's familiar character will consume vodka and cigarettes ceaselessly and fall in love with New York City passionately. The 1980s Manhattan setting is vividly realized, while Carrie's friendships, doubts, joys, and truisms are relatable and revealing for teens and recognizable for adults. Both audiences will flock to this installment, like Carrie to Chanel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2011
In this sequel to The Carrie Diaries, young Carrie Bradshaw navigates--and falls head-over-heels for--New York City and all its glamorous offerings. Through exciting friends (like young Miranda and Samantha), parties, lust, and her blossoming writer's voice, the pieces of this modern iconic character fall into place; a satisfying romp for adult Bushnell fans and a younger generation alike.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)