Search This Blog

The Summer Invitation by Charlotte Silver

Monday, May 12, 2014


Two sisters are summoned to their aunt's Greenwich Village flat, where they must start dressing like young ladies, cultivate their artistic sensibilities, and open themselves up to Life with a capital L.

When Franny and her older sister Valentine are summoned by their Aunt Theodora from foggy San Francisco to sunny New York City for one summer, they are taken to old-world locales like Bemelmans Bar, the Plaza, and the Sherry Netherland by their chaperone, Clover, Aunt Theodora’s protégé. As they discover New York City going lingerie shopping and learning about the simple elegance of a cucumber sandwich, they also begin to unearth secrets and answers about Aunt Theo's glamorous and romantic past, and they have a few romantic adventures of their own.


Goodreads Summary

This book is loaded with New York nostalgia from good descriptions of the key locations to very on point passages about the overall attitude of the gigantic city. While following the sisters around, we discover many things about them and about their chapreone's past. The teens are largely unsupervised and are thus released to explore shopping, adventures, and romance in New York.

I found it interesting that a parent would let their teen daughters go for a summer with a lack of supervision to run around in New York. That being said, most of their exploits in this story are more on the innocent side of big city exploration. This book claims to be aimed at the middle grade audience, however I found that the lengthiness of descriptions may not appeal to girls of this age as it may be hard for them to make a connection. There are definitely charming parts of the book though, and I found it to be overall enjoyable to read.

3 Stars

*Reviewed by Chris*

This product or book may have been distributed for review, this in no way affects my opinions or reviews. COPYRIGHT © 2014 LIVE TO READ

2 comments:

  1. Heather said...:

    Sounds like a perfect choice for vacation reading regardless of where you travel. Thanks.

  1. bn100 said...:

    Intriguing info about the New York nostalgia