The Supergirl Mixtapes, by Meagan Brothers

Maria, desperate to leave the small Southern town she lives in, persuades her father and grandmother to let her go stay with her mother in NYC, who abandoned Maria as a child.
Getting to NYC, Maria finds her mother is still a wildly irresponsible person, with a boyfriend Traviss who is only 6 years older than Maria, and with questionable jobs and habits.
I did like Maria, and her relationships felt believable, but I felt like there was just too much CBGBs/Patti Smith/ etc shoved in as background, and too little character development, there was really no resolution, as the end felt very rushed and sudden.

Dark Eyes, by William Richter

A fast-paced, engrossing thriller with some flaws.
Wally/Valentina is an interesting protagonist - adopted from a Russian orphanage at 5, she is now 16, and a runaway in NYC.
Her crew of fellow runaways follow her leadership, and when she finds a hint to her past, they help her try to discover what it means, although danger soon follows.
Well done, and very cinematic.

Really solid dead-friend book.
When Rain's ex-bestie Wendy is found dead in Central Park, the media is quick to paint Wendy as a party girl who was headed for disaster, but as Rain tries to find out more about the last hours of Wendy's life, she discovers layers of lies and betrayal.
Rain and Wendy were both very believable characters, and their relationship to each other and to others felt very realistic. The NYC private school thing was nicely done, showing the strata of society these girls were around, without making it over the top Gossip Girl style, and the supporting characters were fleshed out as well.
I felt that it took Rain a little too long to figure out what happened, but, that said, I really liked this well-written mystery.

Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters, by Meredith Zeitlin

A charming, fun, well-done bit of New Yorky fluff. A group of girls are determined to stand out in their freshman year, and each find a way to do so, through soccer, theater, boys and so on. A good bit of underage drinking, taken very casually by the 14 year old protagonist, Kelsey, but essentially a very sweet, cute novel.

These Days Are Ours, by Michelle Haimhoff

Repellent post 9/11 novel about underachieving spoiled rich kids in NYC. From the vain and narcissistic protagonist who wants another terrorist attack to happen so she wont be under pressure to get a job to the trust fund kid who walks around with holes in his sweaters, every character was unpleasant except Adrian, a 'poor kid' who went to Brown on scholarship, and doesn't need to hang out with this pack of losers.

Wolves in Chic Clothing, by Jill Kargman

Fun fluffy bitchy New York socialites Pygmalion thing. Julia Pearce is working in an exclusive jewelly shop, when she is noticed by the heiress for the company, Lell. Lell decides to make Julia the new It girl around town, but Julia's social successes cause trouble between them, especially when Lell's new husband gets into Julia. Bath book- I wouldn't recommend it, but it was a great bubble bath book.
Actually, I really think I've read something else by these two. Going to look that up now.

Elliot Allagash, by Simon Rich

Pretty bizarre yet fun (if inexplicably over-hyped) YA book about the unhealthy relationship between two high school boys- the ludicrously wealthy and jaded Elliot Allagash (think Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass crossed with the absurd Genius of Unspeakable Evil ) and the hapless Seymour Herson, who Elliot picks from obscurity to make into the most popular and successful of his classmates.

Flowers Chic and Cheap, by Carlos Mota

As visually lovely as this book is, it is misleading about the cheapness and the longevity of many of the arrangements he creates in the book. Peonies are both pricey and short-lived, and many dozens of roses will cost many many dozens of dollars. I do realize that he's addressing NYC readers, but please, people, you are not the world.

Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, by David Goodwillie

Fantastic struggling-years nonfiction from the trancendentally talented David Goodwillie. I've said it before and I'll say it again, his American Subversive was (and remains) the best book I've read this year, and I was so excited to read this.
It was wonderful, and I loved it, but I have to say it did kind of leave me in a terrible funk- not about the book but about the courage and the talent it took to live and write it. Made me feel ten million miles from NYC, rather than the usual 300, and reminded me very much that I spend my days ordering, reading, pushing, and thinking about books other people write.
But if that's how it is, how glad I am that some of them are this good.

Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney

One of my all time favorites. Re-read, for a book club, snd all I can say is that I respect it more now than ever. Tour de force second person narration, fantastic voice- astonishing every time.

The Daughters, by Joanna Philbin

The cover art hasn't been finalized yet, and I don't have the time to scan in the ARC, so no pic!
This breezy, quick YA book (the first in a series, of course- no one bothers to write a stand-alone title anymore, apparently) by Joanna Philbin (yes, Regis' daughter) is about 3 teen friends, all daughters of celebrities. As trite as that may sound, the book was actually fun. Philbin obviously knows the lay of the land in this scenario, and while the girls' situations (dealing with a supermodel mother, a pop star mother, and a tycoon dad) are extreme, the characters were well written and was a neat peek into that world. Blurbed by Jen Calonita, the author of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series, I think this would appeal to teens who miss Gossip Girl.

Totally Killer, by Greg Olear

Sharp, dark, twisted and funny- a black humor homage to 1991. Just because it's that delicious, I'm going to indulge in a big fat block quote here.

"As my friend Walter Maddox once remarked, 1991 was my generation's 1969. In those twelve fleeting months, everything fell into place: culturally, politically, socially- the whole ball of wax.

You had Operation Desert Storm, the banner headline...

You had Jack Kevorkian. You had Rodney King.
Jeffrey Dahmer was apprehended, Clarence Thomas confiremed, Terry Anderson released.
...

Oh, and the Soviet Union - the Big Bear, our Orwellian enemy for half a century - broke up. Just broke up, went its separate ways, like it was a fucking rock band. Like it was Motley Crue or Journey. And on Christmas, no less, capitalism's holiest of holy days.

In 1991, my generation - the MTV generation, the slackers, shin jin rui, Generation X - reached a creative zenith, You had the Richard Linkletter film Slacker and the Douglas Coupland novel Generation X, both landmark works, released in July and March, respectively. Bret Easton Ellis published American Psycho. Seinfeld hit its stride. In September, the grunge movement arrived with Nirvana's Nevermind. (Here we are now! Entertain us!)"

Sorry for the lengthy excerpt, but omg, so funny.
A twisted, complicated conspiracy theory, assassins, Jaguars, Dick Cheney (!), Osama Bin Laden, McJobs, a murder and a love story. I loved it.

I'm So Happy For You, by Lucinda Rosenfeld

Pretty funny, well written book about female frienemies. Wendy and Daphne have been friends since college, when they established their roles, with Wendy being together, happy, moderately successful but content, and Daphne being that beautiful trainwreck who experiences it all, but cries on Wendy's shoulder when that newest married TV anchor breaks up with her, when she loses her latest glamourous job for blowing it off to stay in Capri. When Daphne's life suddenly comes together, complete with the baby and real estate that Wendy's wanted for so long, their friendship enters an uncomfortably well-drawn unsustainable stage. This was interesting, good solid chick lit that was more about the chicks than the dicks. Nice job.

Prospect Park West, by Amy Sohn

Yet another New York lives-of-people-in-search-of-in-love-with-looking-for-real-estate book. While this one didn't focus solely on a group of people living in the same building, even the cover is ridiculously reminiscent of Paula Froelich's Mercury in Retrograde- must all New York books look the same?

But here, of course, the difference (and main character) is Brooklyn. Brooklyn, and how special it is. Brooklyn, and how superior the parents are. Lots of pokes at things like Park Slope parent blogs, and Gawker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, etc are namechecked on every page. The main characters are well written, and aside from psycho Karen, pretty believable- it is exactly what it looks like- a smug and competent novel looking in the windows of the chosen, the hardworking, and the lucky.

Crossing Washington Square, bu Joanne Rendell

Fun, interesting kind of chick-lit book. Rachel, the newest tenure track professor in "Manhattan University"s English department, specializes in recent popular women's fiction, and on pop-culture analysis, and is met with great resentment by Diana, a serious Plath scholar who feels that Harlequin romances don't deserve a place in academic discussion. Of course, there is learning and growth all around, but this book did raise some interesting discussion points on that hoary question, and side stories involving priviliged undergraduates, sleazy male professors, and a trip to London filled it all in nicely. I am experiencing a certain amount of distress about Helen Fielding and Bridget Jones (shall explain in later post) and it's kind of funny that Bridget Jones/Pride and Prejudice was such an arguing point for Rachel and Diana- neither of them mentioned what I suddenly see as a much bigger problem regarding Helen Fielding.
Also, I wonder if Joanne Rendell is related to Ruth Rendell? Must find out.

The Priviliges, by Jonathan Dee

Wonderfully written kind of American Icarus story. Adam and Cynthia meet, marry, and have children. Along the way, Adam thinks he sees how much Cynthia wants Things, and becomes morally compromised, while Cynthia falls into being a non-person. Their children, April and Jonas, for all the priviliges that Adam and Cynthia have been able to offer them, drift.

This got really great reviews, and it was good, but I feel like I've read the same story over and over.

Overnight Socialite, by Bridie Clark

Fun, frothy and fast retelling of Pygmalion, set in modern day Manhattan. Lucy Jo, fresh out of Minnesota, wants to sell flowers, oh, no, it's clothes. Wealthy anthropologist Wyatt has just broken up with yet another celebutante, when he makes a bet with his friend Tripp that he can turn just about anyone into NYC's latest it girl. You can see where it went from there.

It was fun, though, and I have an odd (and personally sappy and embarrassing) fondness for Bridie Clark, and as Pygmalion-retellings go, this was quite good! (Better than that awful movie She's All That, anyway!) One actually funny bit - instead of the rain in Spain thing and the extremely unlikely hurricanes in Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, she says "The snow in Aspen puts Gstaad's to shame" and "Didn't we meet in Capri last July?"

Too Much Money, by Dominick Dunne

Dominick Dunne's last book, and it was as enjoyable as all his others. I love trying to sort out who is supposed to be who in his books- this one seemed to be about Gary Condit, and the Safra murder/fire whatever the heck happened there. His books always leave me wishing I had 17 coats of persimmon colored paint on at least one wall in my house. And flowers, lots of flowers.

Nanny Returns, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Well done sequel to The Nanny Diaries- Nan returns to New York, and troubled Greyer X, who she nannied immediately after college is 16 now, reaches out to her when his family faces a crisis. Good but surprisingly depressing book!

How It Ended: New and Collected Stories, by Jay McInerney

Superb collection of short stories from one of my favorite writers. Revisiting much of the same ground (NYC, Tennessee) as his novels, and in some cases revisiting familiar characters like Russell and Corrinne from Brightness Falls, and of course, inevitably, Alison Poole from Story of My Life (who was also used as a character in Ellis's American Psycho), McInerney brings his stories and characters to life, thwarted as some of them may be. Some find some wisdom, 9/11 has happened, there are wars and protests and middle age and past middle age- new territory for a writer who wrote so incandescently about being young in New York, before some buildings blew up and everything got different. Favorite stories: My Public Service, How It Ended, Getting In Touch With Lonnie, I Love You, Honey, Penelope on the Pond (the Allison Poole/Rielle Hunter/John Edward's mistress character), and The Last Bachelor.