After the scandalous and juicy The Carrie Diaries, I was eager to re-enter Carrie's life as she made her way in New York. Therefore, when Summer and the City appeared in my mailbox, I was excited beyond words. Thankfully, Summer and the City was even better than The Carrie Diaries.

Summer and the City begins just a day after The Carrie Diaries ended. Even though Carrie's welcome into the city was everything but warm, she's excited to start her summer there in style, and as it begins, everything is simply fantastic. She's meeting real, live writers she can't help but admire and love; she's making the friends she always wished she had; and she's accomplshing great progress in her writing class. Better yet, this summer has also turned out to be one full of possible romance. Carrie is quite possibly having the time of her life. However, after a visit from a past friend and reunion with her family, she's beginning to wonder if she can ever go back to being plain old, prior- New York City Carrie. Faced with plenty of questions, Carrie wonders if she will ever figure them all out. More importantly, when given the chance to stay in New York, will she leave or go? Only more time and pages can tell!

In this addition, Carrie truly steps up her game, becoming not only an empowering and headstrong young woman, but someone I also could not help but relate to and root for as she makes her dreams come true. What I love most about her character, though, is that she is real. She has the same worries and questions about life and love and friendship just like any person has, and more importantly, she accumulates her own fair share of problems as this novel continues