New York Debut by Melody Carlson (Book Review)

Title: New York Debut

Author: Melody Carlson

Publisher: Zondervan

Available: May 1, 2009

Genre: YA Fiction/Christian

ISBN-10: 0310714931
ISBN-13: 978-0310714934

I read this for the First Wild Card Tour April 30, 2009.

First sentence: "Where is our Taylor?" asked Grandmother pleasantly.

Book 6 in the Carter House Girls series picks up as DJ is being picked up from the airport on her return from Las Vegas (see my review of book 5, Lost in Las Vegas). Taylor is noticeably absent and DJ has to share with her grandmother that she is at a rehab facility in California for alcohol abuse. Grandmother is upset and disappointed because she is afraid that Taylor won't make it back in time for Fashion Week in NYC.

As school starts up again after New Years, DJ, Rhiannon and Casey begin to notice that Kriti seems to be eating less and working out more. They do an intervention and Kriti confesses that Eliza has been influencing her to lose weight. They convince her she doesn't need to and move her in with DJ - away from Eliza.

Grandmother begins having classes on Saturday mornings to teach the girls about etiquette, manners and how to "own" the cat walk. She opens these up to the community and the Carter House girls find themselves spending time with Daisy, a new friend, and Madison and Tina, two old enemies.

I had only read book 5 prior to this book (other books in the series include Mixed Bags, Stealing Bradford, Homecoming Queen, and Viva Vermont). Again, it was hard to differentiate all the girls at first, and I would not have had a clue had I not read Lost in Las Vegas. I don't think it reads well as a stand alone. That being said, it does have good lessons and values for a teenage Christian girl to follow and illustrates how one can turn to God in all sorts of situations. I hope to eventually be able to go back and read the first 4 books in this series. Bikini Breakdown is book 7 of this series and it is due out in October 2009.