Sundays at Tiffany's is the first book I have read by James Patterson and AND THE LAST! What promised to be a delightful and charming book--admittedly judged by the premise, what if your imaginary friend from childhood was real?--was an abysmal disappointment.

Was my disappointment due to the book's lackluster prose of a ninth grader? No, I have often found myself moving beyond vanilla prose when gripped by a good narrative. However, see what I mean by lackluster, for example, "Michael was running as fast as he could, racing down thickly congested streets toward New York Hospital--Jane was dying there--when suddenly a scene from the past came back to him, a dizzing rush of overpowering memories that nearly knocked him out of his sneakers." (Compare this, by the way, with one of my favorite quotes from Brideshead Revisited, featured prominently on my profile. My guess is you'll agree that Mr. Waugh's description of a flood of memories elicits more emotion than Mr. Patterson's.)

Was it the book's sickly sweet storytelling? Perhaps. For example, "Call it a message, maybe. Or a wake-up call. An instinct? I felt the need to come to one of our 'places': the front steps of the Met, my favorite view in New York since I'd been a little girl and had come here with Michael." Or what about, "A teenage couple sat a few steps away from me. They kissed longingly, and I enjoyed watching them, because for this moment, at least, they were hopelessly in love. Was I in love too, was it hopeless?"

Could it have been the brand name-dropping? Partly. "Fancy loafers from Paul Stuart and ties from Bergdorf Goodman's" and "I recognized her perfume: Chanel No. 5" and "...he whispered against her hair, which always smelled of Johnson and Johnson's Baby Shampoo" and "His navy blue Ralph Lauren suit said 'successful attorney'" and "Oh, but Hugh was a good kisser, with those beautiful brown eyes up close and personal, Hermes Something Sexy misted on his neck and collarbone" and I could go on AD NAUSEAUM.

The story is about a little girl who has an imaginary friend who comes back into her life when she's an adult, and lo and behold, they are true loves. Sounded a little schmaltzy, but I was game for something light, tender-sweet and melt in your mouth like a good piece of dark chocolate.

Instead this book was one of the biggest wastes of time in my life. Why did I keep reading? Why? I was compelled to finish the beast, to put it to rest just so I could rant about what a piece of tripe it is. I was astounded, really, that a piece of fiction could have so little merit in my life. I'm generally easy-to-please, enjoy a good beach read every now and then, heck have read some pretty embarrassing stuff in my time (like Lando Calrissian and the Mind-Harp of Sharu or low-grade chick lit) Hell, even [b:Water for Elephants|43641|Water for Elephants|Sara Gruen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170161179s/43641.jpg|3441236] wasn't this hopelessly banal.

So in summation, let me say, "do not tread near these waters for they are murky indeed." With mediocre prose, confectionery storytelling and brand-mania in every chapter if not every page, Sundays at Tiffany's is less charming and more tormenting than the jacket and beautiful color-tinted front cover suggest.

It's a sort of interesting little story. In this reality, imaginary friends are real. They are more like guardian angels/case workers for children that need help. But imaginary friends have to leave on the child's 9th birthday and then the child forgets them. Until Jane doesn't forget hers. Now Jane is all grown and manages to find her imaginary friend again. And fall in love with him.

This was a quick read. I went through it in one evening. I found the story to be cute, but felt that some things were badly explained and some other things were badly executed towards the end. But all and all, I enjoyed reading it, but don't have any need to make it a part of my permanent book collection

I’ve never read anything by James Patterson other than a thriller/mystery. So I’m shocked by how good this was. This was a simple old-fashioned romance with a little otherworldly plot twist thrown in.

It was so good, I read it in a day.

Nice easy read.

The story was intriguing, but the writing was just... trying too hard. It was a little wooden and more 'telling' us things, rather than showing us. It was fine to read, but it wasn't great.

This was the same type of book as The Time Traveler's Wife only it was happy. Not all the inner turmoil and a definitely happy ending. An easy, quick read.

It was a very easy and quick read. The overall plot line was kind of an interesting concept. The book didn't draw me in or get me excited. It was kind of cute. Overall it was just another book to read and it was only ok.

I finished reading Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet. The story is about Jane Margeaux and her imaginary friend Michael. She is supposed to forget him when he leaves on her ninth birthday, but she never does. He finds her again as an adult and they fall in love. He begins to think he's there because she's dying, but it turns out her mother is dying. And, then he officially becomes human and they live happily ever after. I'm not sure how Gabrielle Charbonnet collaborated on this book with James Patterson. I'm assuming she helped him make current cultural references that women would understand. She may have also recommended that he use the phrase, 'let my freak flag fly.' I will admit to enjoying chic lit and other light reading, but I have to say this book was a little too cheesy for me.