Breakfast at Bloomingdale's

by Kristen Kemp

Summary: Cat lives with her grandma because her mother is, quite frankly, not up to the job of parenting. She learns the art of sewing from her grandma, and loves fashion with a passion. When she's 17, her grandma passes away, leaving Cat grieving and angry. She decides to get on a bus, by herself, and enter a fashion design contest (a la Project Runway) in New York City. Cat knows no one in NYC except for a guy she stole candy from on the bus on the way there, and obviously, he doesn't like her much. As Cat deals with the drama of the fashion contest, she also learns to deal with the drama in her own life.

My thoughts: I hard a difficult time with this book. My first problem with it is the obvious Breakfast at Tiffany's rip-off. I'm a huge fan of the Truman Capote novel and the Audrey Hepburn movie, and don't think either can or should be imitated! I also found it hard to believe that a 17 year old could survive in New York City they way this girl did, and some of the situations made me very nervous for her safety! Some of the fashion contest scenes were interesting, though, so if you're a fan of shows like Project Runway, you might like Breakfast at Bloomingdale's.