Secret New York – Color Your Way to Calm by Zoe de Las Cases

Having never actually been to New York, this coloring book fascinated me from the time I saw the cover.  It really always did strike me as odd that I’ve never been to New York, considering I live only a few hours away, but I guess when I have the chance to actually go somewhere big, I usually head for the beach.  But still, I have always been drawn to the whole New York experience and maybe someday I will visit, but until then, I have discovered this awesome coloring book that brings New York right to you!

I was completely delighted when I opened it up and saw all of the hand drawn illustrations inside.  Some of them are complex, some of them not so much, but everything in this book is something you would see in New York (I’m guessing…like I said, I have never actually gotten to go there, but still!)

We have hot dog carts, fashions, buildings, and the Statue of Liberty even makes an appearance in this book.  It was honestly difficult to even decide which page to start on, there are so many cute designs here.  Some of the illustrations are a simple design, such as a girl holding her cat, for example, which I found adorable (I’m a big cat person!)

The pages are double sided, and the paper isn’t incredibly thick, so I didn’t want to try out markers or gel pens and risk ruining the picture on the other side.  I used colored pencils though, and they worked out really well.  Since the paper is plain white, colors show up nice and bright, and it looks nice if you add a single color or layers of color.  A few of the designs span over two pages, but it seems like most of them are only one page designs, which I really enjoy because in most books, illustrations spanning over two pages can run into the spine of the book, making it difficult to color the picture in that area.  Even so, this didn’t seem like much of a problem with this book, as it seems to lay pretty flat when opened all the way.

The variety of designs in this book really is incredible, and it makes the experience a fun and unique one.  Whether you’re interested in an incredibly detailed picture to color, or if you’re in a bit of a crunch for time and want to color something quickly, there is definitely something here for you.

The whimsical designs have easily made this one of my favorite coloring books, and I know for a fact that this is one of those books that I’ll be turning to over and over again when I want to do some stress-relief coloring.  Whether you live in New York, enjoy visiting, or have never been there and want to see the sights in coloring book form, this is a great book to pick up!

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.