Review: City Love by Susane Colasanti

Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna are living together in New York City the summer before their freshman year of college begins. With no parents, no rules, and an entire city to explore, these three girls are on the verge of the best summer of their lives.

Sadie is a native New Yorker. She is hopeful, romantic, and an eternal optimist who is ready to find her soul mate. Then she meets her dream boy: cute, funny, and quirky in all the right ways. The chemistry between them is unreal. Could he be the one?

Darcy is a free spirit from SoCal with rebellious tendencies and unlimited financial resources. Moving to New York City is just another adventure for her. Darcy wants this summer to be all about boy adventures—nothing serious. But how much fun is too much?

Rosanna leaves Chicago for NYC so she can put her past behind her and reinvent herself. The only thing standing in her way is the grand total of seventy-three cents she has saved. Then she meets a guy who wants to show her the glamorous side of New York—a side that she would never get to experience on her own. If Rosanna doesn't resist, she may find herself in city love.

Told from alternating points of view, City Love captures the moments in each girl's life when everything is thrilling, amazing, and terrifying all at once . . . in a way it will never be again.

Kindle Edition, 336 pages

Expected publication: April 21st 2015 by Katherine Tegen Books

Terri's Thoughts

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.  The expected publication date is April 21st 2015.

Right from the start of the story you can tell that it is written by someone who has either a lot of love for New York City or a lot of knowledge about it.  Since Colasanti lives in New Youk I would say that it is a bit of both.

This story is definitely written for the YA audience as the main characters are all 18 or 19.  I would go a step further and say that it is written for a younger YA audience (think tween) for a couple of reasons.

1.  The book is very clean.  There is minimal cursing and/or sexual content. 
2.  The characters are very "rainbows & unicorns" in their outlook on life.
3.  Minimal conflict (for now)

I am going to spend some time focusing on my second point.  I remember being an 18 year old girl and moving out to my first apartment for school.  Most eighteen year old girls are not as naïve as the characters in this story.  They are a little more jaded and less idealistic.  Be it life experience or just access to information I found the girls to be emotionally "immature" for their age,  Sadie and Rosanna in particular.  While it is great to be idealistic or a romantic I truly think that the maturity level of the average eighteen year old is a little more than these characters displayed and kind of sold them short.

Addressing my third point there was very little conflict in this story.  I did not realise that it was going to be a series until the conflict did materialize and the story was over!  I feel that with the second story we are going to see the true personalities appear and some true conflict.

That aside it is evident that the true romance in this story is New York.  Having been there on a couple of occasions I could identify with some of what was written about the city.  I laughed when it described how you could tell the difference between a local and a tourist by the way they walked.  I made the exact same statement the last time I was there, of course I was easily identified as the tourist.

I am curious to see where the next instalment of this story goes.  While I felt that this story glossed over the actual plot in exchange for highlighting the great city of New York I think the rest of the series will balance better the plot with the city.  I think this story is a nice introduction to New York for a younger audience.

About the Author

Susane Colasanti is the bestselling author of When It Happens, Take Me There, Waiting for You, Something Like Fate, So Much Closer, Keep Holding On, All I Need, and Now and Forever. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from New York University. Before becoming a full-time author in 2007, Susane was a high school science teacher for ten years. She lives in New York City.

Website:  http://www.susanecolasanti.com
Twitter:  susanecolasanti
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