Summer and the City Summer and the City Summer and the City is a young-adult novel written by Candace Bushnell. The sequel to "The Carrie Diaries" and the prequel to "Sex and the City", it was first released as a hardcover on April 26, 2011. Picking up where "The Carrie Diaries" left off, seventeen-year-old Carrie Bradshaw has left her hometown and treks to New York City. Set during the summer before her freshman year at Brown, Carrie learns to navigate her way through the Big Apple, takes a writing class at The New School, and even pursues a relationship with an older man. Joining
The Carrie Diaries high-school starting her junior year, continuing through the summer, and ending at senior year graduation. Carrie, her friends, and family are shown going through many different trials during this time. Carrie handles these well, including having a few boyfriends along the way. She and her dad have disagreements but do not come to blows until the end of the book. Carrie's final decision to not attend Brown University contributes to her living with her eventual lifelong friend Samantha Jones. This sets up Carrie as the precedent of a main character in "Sex and the City". "The Carrie Diaries" received generally