Well bummer. I've always loved this one because it's so true to life. But this time around it wasn't really as fun. I'm not sure if it was because I was tired of Betsy (who was her same flighty self) or if I thought that there should have been more maturity exhibited during the course of the party. There was a light foreshadowing of WWI that I had missed before and perhaps that tainted it. In any case, if I were to rate it now, it would be a three. ( )

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Takes place between “Betsy and Joe” and “Betsy and the Great World.” It’s the summer after Carney’s sophomore year at Vassar. Back home in Deep Valley she hosts a month-long house party with Betsy, Bonnie and Carney’s Vassar roommate Isobel. Besides the parties and picnics, Sam Hutchinson becomes part of the crowd and there’s much excitement over Carney’s Lloyd coming out from California. Everyone expects he will propose to Carney...but how does Carney feel about it?

Maud Hart Lovelace, whose ten-book Betsy~Tacy series offers a delightful record of three young girls growing up in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Minnesota, also wrote three tangentially related titles, set in the same fictionalized town of Deep Valley. Carney's House Party is one of these (along with Emily of Deep Valley and Winona's Pony Cart), and although the HarperCollins reprint I read lists it as the second in the series, it was published first, in 1949. As it is my understanding that all three of the Deep Valley books are independent stories, and stand outside the main Betsy~Tacy storyline, I thought it made just as much sense to read by publication date, as by series chronology.

Set during the summer of 1911, when Carney (Caroline) Sibley returns to Deep Valley, after her sophomore year at Vassar College, this book fills in some of the time between Betsy and Joe, which chronicles the Crowd's senior year in high school, and Betsy and the Great World, in which Betsy Ray tours Europe. It is an absolute joy to read! From the fascinating glimpses it offered, into the world of an early twentieth-century college girl, or the tensions between eastern and mid-western social mores (some things haven't changed!), to the many heartwarming reunions - best friends Carney and Bonnie, long-time correspondents Carney and Larry Humphries, and Betsy Ray and the old Deep Valley "Crowd" - depicted, Carney's House Party was great fun, particularly for the fan of the Betsy~Tacy books!

I appreciated the opportunity to view Deep Valley and its people, including Betsy herself, from a different perspective, and although I knew (having already read Betsy's Wedding) the inevitable outcome of Carney's romantic entanglements, it was still entertaining to watch the story unfold. I liked the "baby hippo" immensely! Although I think my knowledge of Deep Valley made this a richer experience for me, Carney's House Party stands very well on its own, and would be enjoyed by readers who like tales of early twentieth-century women's lives. As for me, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Emily of Deep Valley! ( )

I love this book more each time I read it. I like seeing Betsy through Carney's eyes, and I think Lovelace was very successful at showing us what the whole world looked like through Carney's eyes. Sam is one of my favorite characters in the whole Betsy-Tacy series. I like seeing how the childhood love of Carney and Larry plays out here. All the characters are whole and round and real, the situations believable, and the elopement of Bobbie a classic. Beautifully done. ( )