Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

NiHers write book reviews, both about on topic (things about creativity) and offtopic (ones they just enjoy or read) books. I thought that I'd share one that was recently posted by LadyAbby. Her blog can be found here, but the review was also posted on http://www.notebookinhand.com

Let me start by saying I really truly enjoy a good happily ever after. I love it. And I was pleased with the happily ever after for the characters, though there was a lot that I -didn't- like.

The book is about a girl named Jane who has an imaginary 'friend' named Michael, who is about 30ish and has been her friend for an undetermined amount of time, at least since she was four. She's eight years old now and approaching her ninth birthday. She's the somewhat neglected daughter of a famous producer and Michael is in her life to help her have an easier time of things. He must leave though, once she turns nine.

Flash forward 23 years and Jane is now working for her producer mother and though she loves her job, she's still letting people walk all over her and run her life for her. She's got no self-confidence and a controlling actor-boyfriend. Then one day she suddenly sees Michael again. She was supposed to have forgotten him when he left but she never did, and as a grown up, she's able to appreciate Michael in a whole new way.

Michael and Jane are very cute together but there's one -big- problem for me. Michael is seriously underdeveloped. He's basically the 'perfect' man. He's a great listener, knows what you need in a friend, good looking, charming, athletic, great 'daddy' material, basically it's all there in Michael. He's got no flaws, no failings as a character and no backstory. All we know about Michael is that he's been around a while, working as an 'imaginary friend' to children all over though he only remembers his most recent assignments. And though he's had this job for a long time, there's no explanation of what he is, be it guardian angel or just imaginary being.

Another flaw of this book is how short it is. Jane and Michael's romance consists of remeeting, hanging out twice and all the sudden they're going off together to Nantucket for the weekend, having 'perfect' sex and a brilliant time. This left their romance very underdeveloped, we as the audience are supposed to believe that these two people are so perfect for each other that there's absolutely no problems in their relationship.

I think, though it had flaws, one part that stood out that made it a very enjoyable read for me was how -real- Jane was. She is in her early 30s but feels stifled by her mother. She's close to her mother (or as close as her mother will let her get) but she's still being bossed around by her. She struggles with feeling good about herself, with her weight and even though she loves her job, it's far from a perfect experience for her. The one pitfall here is how quickly having Michael back in her life seems to 'fix' Jane of her problems. They were all more or less wrapped up by the end, including her weight problem, which simply disappeared as a problem when Michael was around again. She just 'wasn't hungry' anymore.

Overall I think I'd have to give this book three out of five stars. It's a great little book but there are some things that keep it from being something absolutely amazing. I'd recommend reading it once but borrow it from the library.