The Summer Before Sex

There was a time when me and my friends used to think that "Sex And the City" mirrored our lives. So needless to say, I was a fan of the television show. Candace Bushnell, of course, capitalizing on the show's successes, wrote prequels on the characters starting with "The Carrie Diaries," which dealt with Carrie Bradshaw's Senior Year in High School. That book ended with her first day summering in New York City. "Summer And The City" picks up a day after that book ended. I thought the first book was fine enough, if a little on the YA side, so I had not a lot of high expectations on this one. True enough, it started kind of slow, and I wasn't sure where it wanted to go. As the story picked up, though, I was happy to find out that this is quite a mature story. Carrie Bradshaw may have started out as a High School graduate in this book, but by the last page, she emerges as a young woman. I especially loved how Bushnell ties up the story of how she ended up friends with Samantha and Miranda, and you can even see how the chemistry started. I thought it was fascinating to see how these characters started out as friends, and how their personalities evolved to the character we grew to know and love. And just like the series, I love the "realness" of the Carrie character - flawed and sometimes infuriatingly stubborn. This is still a summer read so it's thin and shallow, but it's a perfect beach read, all so much the better, since it helps me pretend I am right by the water.