The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Released: April 27th 2010
Source: Library
Tags: YA, Chick-Lit, Romance, Girly
Review: The Carrie Diaries is aimed at two types of people - those who loved the hit TV show and want to find out about Carrie's past and those who are major fans of YA. I happen to be the latter and luckily Candace Bushnell caters to both quite well.
Carrie Bradshaw is faced with her senior year of high school, a time when she really starts to take dating and her writing seriously. She worries about college admissions, writes under an assumed name on the school paper, dates two guys at once and even graffiti's a school wall with her graduating year.
While I did enjoy this novel, what bothered me most was Carrie's weakness to guys. She continually fell at their feet even though she demonstrated capability at standing up for herself at crucial points and I understand this is because the book is set in a different time period but I'd much rather read about a modern girl any day.
From the bits and bobs I have seen of the television show, I found it really interesting learning how Carrie turned out the way she is. It is all explained in this book, from the death of her mother to the love of writing and even New York. It's also really nice how the author drops in a few characters from the program ever so delicately and leaves it up to us to figure out who they actually are.
Overall, The Carrie Diaries is pure pop indulgence and delves into Carrie's life before she hit the big-time. A fun and easy read that any fan of the television show will instantly love, this book is hard to avoid when looking for something to lighten your day. Even though I sledged this book a tiny bit, it's worth mentioning I did enjoy it and will be picking up the sequel which is currently untitled and to be released August 2011.
THREE OUT OF FIVE STARS
