I've never read anything by Candace Bushnell before. I've watched Sex and The City and enjoyed it but never really felt the need to pick up on one of her books. This book is (I can only assume) a combination; back story for Carrie and a young adult friendly version of the Sex and the City books. As a back-story is suppose it works, you see the starry eyed teenager wanting to move to the city and become a writer. As a young adult novel I don't think I would buy into it. Before I go on I would just like to say that I am not a 17 year old girl and therefore have no basis for my opinions but something about this book just didn't ring true. Maybe its because its set in the 1980s or maybe it was just the tone. All the universal teenage girl themes were there boys, sex friendship, family, and future but there was something lacking- maybe it was the exuberance of youth?