Reading List for a Carrie Bradshaw Summer
My list of Reading List for a Carrie Bradshaw Summer channels the iconic style and spirit of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. Here’s what to read to inspire your Carrie Bradshaw summer!
What is a Carrie Bradshaw Summer?
Carrie’s approach to life means taking chances, living for the moment, and embracing your own unique self and style!
Some typical elements of a Carrie Bradshaw summer might include:
- Experimenting with your fashion style
- Exploring relationships with a sense of curiosity and independence
- Practicing effortless confidence and embracing your individuality
Reading List for a Carrie Bradshaw Summer
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Relationships I Might Regret Later. Or not.
Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (2025)
A twenty-three year old goes after her brother’s thirty-eight year old friend at a wedding in Sicily.
Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams (2025)
A twenty-three year old book publicist has an intense affair with her fifty six year old literary idol.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (2013)
A teen gets involved in a love triangle with two brothers.
Writers and Lovers by Lily King (2021)
A thirty-something woman battling grief and trying to finish a novel falls for two men.
The Last Book Party by Karen Dukes (2019)
In the 1980s, a young literary assistant learns uncomfortable truths about some of her colleagues.
Just One Day by Gayle Forman (2013)
A high school student ditches her school trip in Europe to go off with a guy she just met.
carrie might actually have read these back in the day
Girls Poker Night by Jill A. Davis (2003)
A young woman pursues a literary career while getting advice from the women in her poker group.
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin (2004)
A woman ends up in bed with her best friend’s fiancé.
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
A new assistant at a legendary fashion magazine struggles to fit in and please her dragon lady boss.
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Um, I Do NOT Have Too Many Shoes
A young woman struggles with a shopping addiction.
Little Black Dresses Little White Lies by Laura Stampler
One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan
In Paris, a woman in a newly broken marriage befriends a young woman who has experienced heartbreak.
Excuse Me While I Have a Breakdown, circa 2000
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides (2000)
The five beautiful, eccentric, and obsessively watched Lisbon sisters each take their own lives one by one over the course of a single year.
Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel (1995)
Called The Bell Jar of its era, this memoir looks at mental health in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Friends and Frenemies
Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk
An impassioned stand-alone tale of queer love, grief, and the complexity of female friendship.
I’m Not Through With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Two rival writers spar, compete and try to outdo each other.
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume (2003)
Two best friends with a rocky relationship reunite for one of their weddings.
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (2008)
First in a series of beloved books that follow a Y2K young woman, from high school to adulthood.
Saying Yes to Summer, Carrie Style
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (2021)
A single mom and erotica writer has an intense summer fling with an award-winning novelist. Whom she loved as a teenager…
Say Yes Summer by Lindsay Roth Culli (2021)
A type A high school student decides to have a “say yes” summer.
Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell (2011)
Carrie in high school in the 1980s!
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson (2016)
A teenager has a completely unexpected summer filled with surprises.
Summer Days and Summer Nights (2016)
This anthology by all your favorite 2010s YA writers will give you all the summer romance feels!
Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland
A girl headed to college in the fall spends a summer working in a Nantucket hotel.
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord (2018)
