City Love by Susane Colasanti
Published Katherine Tegen Books April 21 2015
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Format: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher and The Flying Fantastic Book Club in exchange for review consideration and a spot on the blog tour. This does not affect my review or the content of the review in any way.
Links: Goodreads – Amazon Paperback – Barnes and Noble – Book Depository – iTunes – Kobo
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.
I love New York City as much as the next person…so the idea of an entire book set around the magic of the city was really exciting to me! I loved each of the different perspectives and stories the girls brought to NYC with them and where the city was able to take them. Having a good setting for a story is always really important for me, and this used NYC just like Anna and the French Kiss used Paris to its total advantage.
We have three different perspectives in this book – which I sometimes liked. Rosanna’s perspective was very strong and clear, but Darcy and Sadie could get a little confusing. We also have three really swoon-worthy guys, as each girl starts up a summer romance! Rosanna was the shyer one of the group, and she was really accurately portrayed. Sometimes, ‘shy’ characters don’t come off that way, but she really was written well. I loved her storyline about her passion for social work and her financial struggles.
Darcy is out for a summer of fun without any kind of boyfriend attachments. For me, her character was a little bit confusing. She has conflicting feelings for one boy that were never really totally clear. Plus, her background in California was a little murky. I think she was rich – but I’m not completely sure. It also takes a while to warm up to her character.
Sadie was probably my favorite of the three, maybe because she was so relatable. She was interesting and had a great perspective on NYC because she grew up there. She’s clearly in love with the city already, so she adds a great additional perspective to everything that is happening. I also liked her relationship the most!
The writing was sometimes a little bit awkward and included a few social references. I’m never really a huge fan of cultural references or writing that sounds a little bit too much like what real people speak like (or don’t). I felt like sometimes it could come off as fake and distract from the story. However, the middle is where everything really gets good.
Overall, I can’t wait for the next book! The way that NYC was included made the whole story sparkle and all of the characters popped off the page. I think anyone who likes summer-y romance contemporaries, or a strong setting would really enjoy this book.
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. The first book of Susane’s City Love trilogy will be released on April 21, 2015.
Website – Goodreads – Blog – Twitter – Facebook – Tumblr – Instagram – YouTube – Google+
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I also thought this video was really fun, so I figured I should share it!
Neon Yeti Reads 
I really like when a character is passionate, like you described Rosanna with her social work. When that’s done really genuinely, it’s so fantastic. It makes *me* passionate, too, and that’s one of my favourite things a book can do to me.
I’m not a huge fan of references to things in society, either- like shoe brands, music videos, singers ect. If it’s one or two throughout a whole novel it doesn’t tend to bother me, though I certainly note it, but when it’s more than that it can get frustrating, like it’s far too obviously trying to push it’s way into what is popular currently, and that can really feel too much, for me.
Lovely review. And I love your Yeti image- so sweet! Xx
I can’t wait to read this book! I love a good story set in New York!
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