School Library Journal (Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Gr 9 Up-This series follows the final summer together of Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna, three teens sharing an apartment in New York City before beginning their freshman year of college. Sadie, the romantic of the group, always sees the best side of things and is searching for her soul mate. Darcy is the rich-girl rebel looking for a summer full of adventures with boys. Rosanna is trying to reinvent herself and quickly is introduced by a boy to the wealthy side of New York, but she barely has a dollar to her name. The latest volume finds Sadie wondering if she ever really knew Austin, the boy she thought was her soul mate but who revealed a relationship-changing secret. Darcy has been having fun with no-strings-attached romantic hookups until Logan, an ex-boyfriend, shows up, determined to win her heart. Meanwhile, things are heating up between Rosanna and D, but she fears opening up to him about her past. Colasanti is a reigning romance champion in the YA world, so this new series is a no-brainer purchase where her books are hard to keep on the shelf.

ALA Booklist (Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2016)

In this sequel to City Love (2015), introspective Sadie, glamorous Darcy, and altruistic Rosanna continue their summer of love, heartbreak, and personal discovery in New York City, before starting college. The bombshells dropped in the earlier volume are further explored. Sadie must decide whether to trust Austin after the revelation that he's married, and she is haunted by memories of a violent act that altered her family. Darcy discovers a career path and imperils her relationship with good-hearted Jude as she tries to rekindle a relationship with free spirit Logan. Rosanna holds D at arm's length, fearful of revealing the poverty and abuse in her past, and worries about one of her young campers. This breezy city-summer story digs deeper into the girls' internal lives and backstories, but the main drama remains focused on romance, trust, and friendship. Teens who are drawn to new-adult titles and dream of romantic, parent-free summer escapades will be well rewarded.

Kirkus Reviews

The second novel in Colasanti's series about the continuing adventures of three girls spending the summer before college in the Big Apple is aptly named, since there is a clear difference in tone from the first book. Readers follow the stories of poor, thrifty Rosanna; upbeat, native New Yorker Sadie; and wealthy, spoiled Darcy through experiences, mostly boy-related, that challenge their emotional well-being and cause them to behave in ways that contradict their stereotypes. Rosanna continues to be treated to all the perks of an affluent lifestyle by rich boy D, but her past life intrudes in the form of a blackmail attempt from someone in the children's day camp where she is working. Through her concern for an at-risk child in the camp, Rosanna discovers how to exorcise her own sad history. Rich girl Darcy's past also intrudes when ex-boyfriend Logan shows up and tests her resilience in many ways. Sadie's happy-go-lucky disposition is tested when her soul mate Austin turns out to have deceived her. The good cheer that she lovingly distributes isn't enough to placate her grown-up dilemma. Sadie's love for the city of her birth holds the girls (all presumably white) together through multiple dramas. While the girls' back stories are complicated enough to lend texture, the relentless breeziness of the alternating first-person present-tense narrations (even Sadie's) keeps the book from feeling anything other than superficial. Readers who enjoyed City Love (2015) will appreciate the contemporary urban vibe and the promise of more teen adventures to come. (Fiction. 14-18)

Voice of Youth Advocates

In this second book of the City Love trilogy, three very different girls share a Manhattan apartment and pursue their career and educational aspirations. They regularly get involved in each others' love lives, bringing a different mindset and skill set to each situation. Each chapter is told in rotation from each of the three girls' points of view, an interesting but sometimes confusing technique. It is difficult to keep the girls' pasts and presents correctly linked to the appropriate girl. Although one is poor, one rich, and one not ready to be serious, all appear stricken with the magic of living in New York City. They continuously clash and come together over boyfriends, secrets, and the typical hazards of apartment sharing.At first impression, the girls seem a bit shallow, often immaturely reacting to what their boyfriends just said or did; however, toward the end of the book, it becomes apparent that one of the boyfriends is a con artist, and a story line about a possibly abused youth is also well developed. Teens, probably female, will live vicariously through their adventurous, urban experiences and will enjoy their alternative loves and heartbreaks. It is not necessary to read the first installment of City Love to enjoy this sequel, although it would probably fill in a few gaps in the trio's past.Kevin Beach.