The Carrie Diaries

Written by Candace Bushnell

Narrated by Sarah Drew

The Carrie Diaries is the coming-of-age story of one of the most iconic characters of our generation.

Before Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw was a small town girl who knew she wanted more. She's ready for real life to start, but first she must navigate her senior year of high school. Up until now, Carrie and her friends have been inseparable. Then Sebastian Kydd comes into the picture, and a friend's betrayal makes her question everything.

With an unforgettable cast of characters, The Carrie Diaries is the story of how a regular girl learns to think for herself, and evolves into a sharp, insightful writer. Readers will learn about her family background, how she found her writing voice, and the indelible impression her early friendships and relationships left on her. Through adventures both audacious and poignant, we'll see what brings Carrie to her beloved New York City, where her new life begins.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9780062295972

Candace Bushnell

Candace Bushnell is the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Carrie Diaries, Sex and the City, Is There Still Sex in the City?, Lipstick Jungle, One Fifth Avenue, 4 Blondes, Trading Up, and Summer and the City, which have sold millions of copies. Sex and the City was the basis for the HBO hit shows and films, and its prequel, The Carrie Diaries, was the basis for the CW television show of the same name. Lipstick Jungle became a popular television show on NBC. Is There Still Sex in the City? is in development with Paramount Television. Candace lives in New York City and Sag Harbor. Visit her at www.candacebushnell.com.

Reviews for The Carrie Diaries

[mtlkch-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Predictable, but good!

[mrsdanaalbasha · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

everything was cool then PAM a swear word every now and then, tossed around as if it means nothing!! like when Carrie's BBF's boyfriend ask which one of the B****** will go after his girlfriend?! I was like... hey! what's up?!

[rosetyper9 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to like this book because the tv show was cute, come to find out the book is WAY different the tv show...as it usually happens. I don't mind the book but it wasn't worth the effort to finish it and if I just don't care, I don't need to finish it.

I love the concept of the book but some of the characters were just over the top and annoying. I got bored and just stopped. Oh well, on to the next book.

[sunset_x_cocktail · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this in two settings whilst on holiday in November last year. A very enjoyable coming of age contemporary YA novel. Initially picked up at the bookshop because I'm a Sex and the City fan. Whilst I wasn't all that impressed with the original book, I still like the TV show, so was curious to know how all the girls met.

The Carrie in this book bares in my mind absolutely no resemblance to the woman she will become, even though, I think that's a good thing because anyone who loves fun YA contemporary reads can pick this story up and enjoy it without knowing anything about who Carrie Bradshaw is.

She was very likable, and a believable character as a teen in the 80s. The story was pretty good, trials and tribulations of seniors in high school ready to discover more beyond their small home town. Learning who your real friends are, mean girls, parties, classes, looking at prospective colleges and romance and a desire for New York City all make for a fun entertaining story.

[rjgonzales_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cocktails, First Love and Betrayal, Oh my! Fans of the show ‘Sex in the City’ as well as other books by Mrs. Bushnell will be in awe after reading this prequel to the life of Carrie Bradshaw we see in the show or read about in the books. It gives us a good explanation of how Carrie dealt with drama in her High School Years (and there is plenty of it!) Fans will finish reading this novel and have a satisfied feeling. Especially with the last few scenes of the book which stays true to the storyline! Overall this is a very good book, perfect for fans of the show, or even those who want to start reading about the unique and quirky personality that can only be described as simply: Carrie Bradshaw!

[jodes101 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Don't bother unless you are a 17yr old girl who likes to watch Sex in the City. I enjoy watching STC but reading about a young Carrie (who lets face it is the most boring character in STC) was tedious and extremely commercial. Formula written to make some bucks and attract a new generation of fans. There were a couple of redeeming factors, the Father and his relationship with his daughters was interesting but there was just not enough character development for me. Everything just seemed to skim the surface.

[laneliterati · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel is written as a prequel to Sex and the City. It follows the life of Carrie Bradshaw during her senior year in the 1980s. This novel was ok, but that could be I am not a huge follower of Sex and the City.

[literary_butterfly · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oh gosh. This really wasn't a very good book at all. I picked it up on my honeymoon for a little light relief after "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Hunger Games" had sent me into a spiral of depression, and it certainly worked from that point of view so I shouldn't really complain, but I realised very early on that it was going to slide from light relief into utter banality.To be fair, it's a really light, easy read for any teenage girl, or a SATC fan of any age who's interested in finding out where the Carrie of the TV series came from. It was also a far more classic honeymoon read than either of my previous two, but, for a guilty pleasure, it felt more like "guilty" than "pleasure" - poorly written and clumsily and predictably plotted. The only reason I can muster two stars for it is that I felt, unlike some prequels I have read, that Bushnell managed to stay true to her character. So much of the grown-up Carrie is foreshadowed in this book (although, admittedly, other parts don't ring quite true) and I can also credit the book for giving me a couple of hours relief from the utter desolation of my previous two honeymoon reads, so it wasn't all bad. Just mostly.

[etxgardener · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What was "Sex & the City" heroine Carrie Bradshaw like in high school? In the YA prequel to Candice Bushnell's novel we find that Carrie as a nerdy, motherless math whiz who lacks a boy fiend and is tormented by teh alpha females at her high school. The story of how she blossoms into a budding writer nd wins teh affections of not one, but two high school hunks is charming and endearing. And as an added bonus, we find out how Carrie meets Samantha Jones.

[brittdonohuewhite · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fun, light book for fans of the TV show. Carrie has typical teenage girl problems-she's in love with a cad, her best friend betrays her, she wants to be a writer but is rejected from the prestigious summer program to which she has applied. There is nothing special about this book-unless you are a fan of the show. Reading this and imagining Sarah Jessica Parker as a teen girl was the bulk of the fun of this book.

[lara335 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A quick, enjoyable read. Bushnell nails the 'dramas' and angsts of what it felt like to be a teenager.Younger readers seem to have been a bit down about this novel, and I can only think that they are more assured than some of us were, back in the day.

[idranksometea · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

None of the characters felt real to me. They were all paper kids in a book: flat and one dimensional. Carrie Bradshaw, the main character from Sex and the City, is finishing school and trying to get into a summer program in NYC. She's supposed to be this hardcore feminist, but all she does through out the book is whine about boys and allows them to step all over her. Although the book is shallow and lacks many things, it does show someone trying to make their dreams come true, and that is always encouraging. Nevertheless, I would only recommend this book to people who don't want to: think, relate, analyze, etc.

[duchess_mommy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sometime in the 1980’s, Carrie Bradshaw is in her senior year of High School. A year that begins to shape the emotional experiences that help to shape her into the woman she will become later in life. It is with the experiences of this year that she is able to open-up both in everyday interactions and on paper, taking her from a sub-par want-to-be writer to an author abler to leave her small town past behind her. Carrie starts a diary at the advice of her college friend, George who told her all the best writers take from their own experiences, and to get noticed by University’s she should too. We also find out how Carrie met Samantha.As I have never seen or read any of Sex and the City, I can only relate to this story from the author, Candace Bushnell who’s other works I’ve read. Where at first, Carrie seemed to be a ‘wishy-washy’ teen (her friendship with supposed BFF Laili) she grew as a person over her senior year and left High School and her town behind in a satisfying way. As with Bushnell’s other books, this was well-written and well-paced, keeping the reader interested in the outcome of Carrie’s different relationships. The book leaves off at a good spot for the sequel, ‘Summer and the City.’

[barabel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book brings you right back into high school! It is great see that Carrie wasn't always the city girl with the perfect style but just another girl in high school.

[julyso · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved it!!!

[katkealy · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I thought this would be interesting, since I still enjoy some young adult novels (like Twilight) and really like Sex and the City, but the book was so boring I couldn't even spend the hour or so it would have taken me to finish it. Perhaps if you're pre-teen or a teenager, it's worth reading. If you're not, don't bother.

[snowboadagirl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Before Sex & The City, Carrie Bradshaw was a small-town girl who knew she wanted more. She’s ready for real life to start, but first she must navigate her senior year of High School. Up until now, Carrie and her friends have been inseparable. Then Sebastian Kydd comes into the picture, and a friend’s betrayal makes her question everything. This is set in the 1980’s, in a High School setting, where you have your typical teenage dramas of what goes on in most High School’s. Friendships are tested to the edge, friends betray one another, and then of cause there are the boys who make sure they get in on drama with the girls or are they the main reason behind the dramas that happen. I would recommend this book for girls aged 16+ as there is sex, swearing and use of drugs and alcohol. I would give it 3 out of 5. I enjoyed it, but it is the same stuff that does on in High Schools all over the world. It was a good read though. If you like sex in the city then you should like this.

[birdsam0610 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is weird. It doesn’t seem like it was written by Candace Bushnell at all. I find her books to have characters with strange but wonderful names, odd but completely believable plots and incredible intricacies of social networks.The Carrie Diaries has a plot, a lot of speech but very little detail. Carrie, a true fashion horse, describes her outfit to us only rarely. The characters have normal names (like George and Peter) and there is no background. To read this book, you need to be familiar with Carrie Bradshaw because she’s not explained all that well.This is about Carrie in her final year of high school. She loves writing. She is also fantastically good at maths (from the woman who nearly bankrupted herself on shoes). She’s a bit shy, a bit nerdy and a swimmer. These don’t fit in with my version of what I know the older Carrie to be – she’s pretty confident, doesn’t have the body of a swimmer and is fiercely independent. I know we’ve all changed since high school, but surely the seeds could be planted in this book?There are a couple of good one liners that you can see Carrie typing and musing over (on a typewriter, this is the eighties y’know). I’m not sure who this is aimed at (it all becomes a little more Sex and the City in the last chapter, although you can see it coming) because while we have Carrie waiting for the right man to lose her virginity, she also smokes and drinks a lot for a 17/18 year old. I think you’d need to be a hardcore SATC fan to love this, whereas I am only an interested party (I haven’t even seen the second movie). I read this as an ebook, which I am glad of ‘cause no-one could tell what I was reading.A poor history of Carrie – I know it’s near impossible to please the fans, but this isn’t her!

[thelestonian · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is a horrible book. The best thing that ever happened to Candace Bushnell is that her book/articles were made into a tv series. I enjoyed the HBO series, but her writing is awful. This book is no different. I should have known better from trying her other books, but I was hoping that she would come through with the one character that has been pretty fleshed out for her by the HBO writers. Don't waste your time.

[fredamans · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I saw this book a while back and knew I had to get my hands on a copy one way or another, and lucky for me I won a contest where I go to chose the book. (Thanks Debbie!) I am a huge Sex and the City fan and was excited to read about Carrie before those New York minutes.This book didn't disappoint either. It gave me a real sense of Carrie and the character we know and love, right from the beginning.The best part is the ending, though I won't tell you why.A definite must read for anyone who likes a good book!

[sabrinacate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is also very good. Its about a high school girl that really, really likes this guy. Her Best friend does something REALLY bad, something a best friend would never do. She has a little sister who is very weird and awkward. Her mother left something for Carrie. If you like chick flicks, or realistic fiction this book is great!

[roseysweetpea · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was an okay read. It felt like just a typical teenage angst book and not the back story to our beloved main character from Sex and the City. While I love Bushnell's writing style, the story lacked any real hook.

[gmmoney · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm a huge fan of all things "Sex and the City" so when I heard that Candace Bushnell had written a young adult book based on Carrie's high school years, I couldn't resist. I was pleased with the voice of the book, so consistent with Bushnell's writing, but age-appropriate for her audience. I found myself thinking she had really captured the internal monologue of an adolescent girl, much in the vain of the short-lived but critically acclaimed television show, "My So-Called Life." Then I finished the book and realized it actually had the same plot too. Maybe high school is just that clichéd - best friends that sleep with your boyfriend, the gay guy friend with a homophobic father, our smart, social outcast, self-loathing heroine - but this is basically an eighties version of "My So-Called Life" starring Carrie Bradshaw as Angela Chase.

[bookstar_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Except for the last page, which was clever, the book is lacking. It's geared towards high school students, but the focus on sex, drinking and smoking is unnecessarily high. The story is weak and I don't see any Carrie in the character - yes she's young, but some traits from the other book/series would have been much more fun. Overall a total disappointment!

[missmea_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I will give the book credit for its ingenuity and creativity. Carrie and her friends and family are live, dynamic characters with real-life problems that sometimes bombard the book with an unnecessarily consistent melodrama. It does paint the portrait of Carrie as a strong-willed, confident girl who has "man issues" long before a Mr. Big existed in her mind. She is constantly at odds with her friends, but always makes sure to portray a "true blue" persona. The reader gets background of her desires and struggles to write and what makes her different from members of her family and her group of close friends. There were laughs and there were tears. But there were too many characters and too many subplots to keep up with that totally bombed the overall story for me--Walt and his homosexuality; Maggie and her sexual desires; The Mouse and her perfection; Peter and his unexpected rise up the totem pole; and Lali and her betrayal. Then we meet "dreamy" Sebastian. And in the background are the "two Jens" and Donna LaDonna and Tommy Brewster and the college guy at Brown and Gayle, the freshman writer. I'm certain I missed someone. The characters dive in and out of importance, as there was no set structure of who mattered the most to our central character, Carrie, and therefore to us, the reader. The book was intertwined with your typical teenage issues--sex, college, boys, cliques, popularity, sibling rivalry, high school, and all "here today, what to do tomorrow" phenomena. For the first book in a potential series, it failed to produce fireworks for me. The meat of the story--the characters and the overall plotline--were too convoluted for me to truly enjoy. As an avid fan of the "Sex and the City" series and movies, I must add that I did not appreciate the turn of events at the end. Donna, as Carrie's "sworn enemy" through the entire book until the last very few pages, has actually paved the way for Carrie to meet the infamous Samantha Jones?! I highly dislike that decision because it definitely came from left field and felt extremely forced, as a stick-in at the end for the next book. I believe the story should have ended once Carrie arrived in New York. I'm sure Candace will have some surprises in the second book, but the fact that the reader knows Samantha will pop up already leaves little space for the extraordinary.

[awesomeness1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've never seen Sex and the City, nor have I read the books or seen the movies. So I went into this with an open mind (well, not completely open). And I was pleasantly surprised. This book really wasn't half bad. It's nothing intellectual, but its fun enough. Actually, it reminded me a lot of my mom and all her high school stories. And that's not necessarily a bad thing since my mom is "cool". So it was interesting.

[running501 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Though a fan of Bushnell's novels and Sex in the City, I was disappointed in The Carrie Dairies. I think that women love the older, SITC version of Carrie because they can relate to her, and this cliche background takes a little away from that.Perhaps (mature) young adults who have never seen SITC and don't have a conception of the mature Carrie Bradshaw would like this book more.

[karenlisa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Carrie Diaries By Candace Bushnell This young adult book backtracks to Carrie Bradshaw's life in highschool. Growing up in a small town a few hours outside NYC, Carrie trudges through her senior year and all the trials and tribulations that say "All American Small Town USA." Friends, boyfriends, betrayl and her desire to become a writer. Interestingly, since we know little of Carrie's life prior to NYC from watching the show, this book perfectly characterizes the Carrie we have grown to love over the years. Personally, as a SATC fan, Carrie is SJP and the reader, just like the television viewer feels as if they know her intimately. For those that enjoy the show, there is no question you must read this book, only takes about a day.

[katelucey · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A dull, cliched first-person account of life as a high school senior. Carrie falls for a self-centered guy who likes to stir up dissension. For Sex and the City fans, there are a few points of interest about Carrie: her mother died; she has two sisters and an uber-scientist for a father; and she's good at math. There's surprisingly little talk about fashion though sex talk bubbles to the surface in topics such as first times and birth control.

[kclaire_8 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A long story to get Carrie where she's going, which is New York City. If you are a fan of Sex and the City, then you will probably want to read this book, however if you are looking for a contemporary coming of age story about a girl in high school, there are better ones out there to spend time with than this book.