The Carrie Diaries

Book Review

Well, fans of Sex and the City had two options this summer. They could see the theatrical release of Sex and the City 2 or read the YA novel by Candace Bushnell, The Carrie Diaries.

I was pretty pumped to see the new movie because I was more than impressed with the first outing. However, some major scheduling conflicts kept me from opening weekend. Then the reviews and low ticket sales started flowing in. Suddenly, a movie I had been anticipating for months dropped to my “wait for DVD list.”

I heard some months earlier that a Young Adult novel was coming out based on Carrie Bradshaw’s High School years. My interest was piqued, but my book buying budget low. I was surprised at how quickly I got the book from my local library “hold” list.

As a side note, I never grew out of reading Young Adult fiction. There are some phenomenal books out there in this genre. The Twilight and Harry Potter books have managed to cross over, but I’ve always been more of fan of girls making big decisions while on the cusp of womanhood. So, this was basically right up my alley!

I would get to find out about Carrie’s family and how she decided to become a writer. These were juicy secrets we were never told over all 6 seasons of Sex and the City. Carrie never really mentioned her family except for once when I think she said her Dad left them. Hmm, that would certainly conflict, but I’d have to watch every episode to verify that. Does anyone out there remember that? I think it was the one where she went to work for Vogue. I guess if you called Ms. Bushnell out on that, she would simply say she can’t be responsible for whatever storylines were used in the TV show since she wasn’t writing it.

Anyway, I’m getting off track. This book was the perfect summer read. High teen drama, secrets, betrayal, boyfriend-stealing…you name it! I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen to Carrie next. The ending was so much fun I threw up the book, (don’t worry, I was in bed so I didn’t damage a library book) and exclaimed, “That was awesome!”

This book definitely provided some summer reading fun and it wasn’t too saucy if you have an older teen who wants to read it. Be warned though, some of the teen characters are having sex, though nothing is described in detail. There’s also drinking and sneaking out of the house. If your cool with your teen reading that type of subject matter, then pass it along AFTER you read it.