Showing posts with label Danielle Steel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Danielle Steel. Show all posts

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Review- Until the End of Time by Danielle Steel

Summary-

Bill, a dedicated young lawyer working at his family’s prestigious New York firm, leaves everything he trained for to follow his dream and become a minister in rural Wyoming. Jenny, his wife, is a stylist whose heart and soul are invested in fashion. She leaves the milieu and life she loves to join him. The certainty they share is that their destinies are linked forever. 

Fast forward thirty-eight years. Robert is a hardworking independent book publisher in Manhattan who has given up all personal life to build his struggling business. He is looking for one big hit novel to publish. Lillibet is a young Amish woman, living as though in the seventeenth century, caring for her widowed father and three young brothers on their family farm. In secret at night, by candlelight, she has written the novel that burns within her, and gets it into Robert’s hands, wrapped in her hand-stitched apron. He falls in love first with the book, and then with the woman he has never met, living in the sequestered world of the Amish—a world without telephones, computers, electricity, modern conveniences, or cars. Although Lillibet faces banishment from her family and community, she embraces the opportunity to publish her novel, and is irresistibly drawn to the man who has heard her voice. Destiny is at work here. Fate draws her from her horse-and-buggy life toward his, and the publication of her novel.

Review-

Okay, this is my second Danielle Steel book and I am still not getting the hype behind them. Maybe I'm missing something here or maybe her older books were much better but the only way I can describe Until the End of Time is average. Her books are wholly unrealistic for me.

The book starts off in 1975, where Bill is a young lawyer who works in his family's law firm. When he meets Jenny he instantly falls in love with her. What follows is Bill and Jenny getting married despite his family's objections. Here Bill discovers how unsatisfied he is and leaves his job to become a pastor.

I liked Bill and Jenny. They were true opposites and their love for each other was also true. They have to go through their share of difficulties and Jenny sacrifices her flourishing career to move with Bill to become a pastor's wife. What I found highly unrealistic though is how easily Bill and Jenny start fixing things in the small town. Its like they are super perfect just waving their magic wand around.

Then we move to several years later where Lillibet is a young Amish woman who works hard for her father and younger brothers. She has a passion for reading and writing and she writes a book to be sent to a publisher. The publisher being none other that Robert who stumbles upon her manuscript and instantly falls in love with it and then her. I hope you guys can see the pattern here.

I am not opposed to the idea of fate but anything and everything has a limit. There were just too many variables which didn't fit. I found the Amish thing fascinating but in the end after shunning Lillibet the way her father easily forgives her was unrealistic. It was TOO perfect with TOO perfect characters. Not my cup of tea. This was an okay read.

*Note: A copy of this book was provided by Random House India in exchange for an honest review. We thank them.



Sunday, November 03, 2013

Review- Winners by Danielle Steel

Summary-

Acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel delivers her most moving, emotionally charged novel yet, in which lives are transformed after a series of heartbreaking accidents, and healing is achieved through the redemptive power of hope and love.

When a horrific chairlift accident leaves 17-year-old competitive skier Lily Thomas paralyzed, she must come to grips with the fact that she'll not only be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life, but will never fulfill her lifelong dream of winning Olympic gold. Meanwhile, her wealthy father, who has doted on Lily since her mother died when she was three, is devastated as he watches his only child lose all she once cherished and suffer through the arduous road to recovery. But just as all hope seems lost, Lily meets Teddy, a young man even more badly injured than she, but as doggedly determined to live an enriching life. Danielle Steel is at her best in this powerful story of a father and daughter triumphing together over unthinkable tragedy, creating new lives for themselves and providing hope for others along the way.

Review-

Winners by Danielle Steel is my first Danielle Steel book. I had seen a lot of Danielle Steel books in book stores and libraries since I was a kid and I so wanted to know what a Danielle Steel book would be like. I got my chance with Winners. It was a good read but it didn't blow me away.

Lily Thomas is a competitive skier. One day she meets with a horrific chairlift accident which leaves her paralyzed from the waist down. Overnight, Lily's life changes and she has to accept the fact that she's going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. I liked Lily. She was a sensible girl and accepting of her situation. She was determined to become the best she could even with her circumstances.

Through this all we get to see the side of Lily's father. Bill has raised Lily on his own since she was three. He is extremely protective of his daughter, like any father would be, especially after her accident. Bill has the power and money to get Lily the best of treatments and he leaves no stone unturned. When there seems to be no other solution, he admits Lily to Craig, a place where she can cope with the wheelchair.

Where Lily and Bill's lives have changed forever so has Jessie's and her children's. Jessie is the surgeon who operates on Lily the night of her accident. But the same night Jessie's life is completely changed through tragic events. Jessie and Lily form a bond which leads to so many new things. New friendships are formed.

I don't want to spoil more of the story, but basically what Winners tries to convey is that how horrible situations can be turned around. How unexpected incidents can bring people together and change lives forever. There are threads binding each one of us together. You just have to be determined and work with what you have and hope for the best.

*Note: A copy of this book was provided by Random House India in exchange for an honest review. We thank them.