June : Danielle Steel

Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the best selling author alive with over 800 million copies sold. She has written 165 books, including 141 novels. She has produced several books a year, often juggling up to five projects at once.

Steel has also published children's fiction and poetry, as well as raising funds for the treatment of mental disorders. Her books have been translated into 43 languages, with 22 adapted for television, including two that have received Golden Globe nominations.

She has been married 5 times and has 9 children including her adopted son, Nicholas Traina.

Bev:

 Season of Passion (1979)

A beautiful and talented young girl falls in love with a football star. Because of his background, her family disowns her. Many disasters happen, but there is a happy ending.

Bev said that it could have been an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful!

Diann:

Jewels  (1992)

In this historical romance novel, Sarah, the Duchess of Whitfield looks back on her long and eventful life. The story covers the period between 1916 until 1975 and includes love, war, an abusive husband, death of a child and the rise of a jewellery business patronized by royalty.

A good story that Diann enjoyed.

Judy 3: The Good Woman (2008)

Annabelle Worthington was living a very privileged life in New York, which changed remarkably after the Titanic sank. She became very involved in charity work, continuing this with the outbreak of WW1.

Hotel Vendome (2011)

The story of the owners, celebrities and other guests who frequent the hotel, once run down, but now turned into one of the world most luxurious hotels!

Legacy (2010)

Brigitte Nicholson is living an ordinary life, working, writing her book, and living with the man she loves. But all this changes when she helps her mother on a family genealogy project and makes an stunning discovery concerning the French aristocracy and a proud Sioux Indian man.

Judy enjoyed this book much more than the previous two.

Claurene:

Winners (2013)

Claurene’s brief comments were: The book was about skiing, and rehab for juveniles. It was a very light read but quite interesting.

 

Jo:

Vanished (1993)

When their son is abducted, the lives of a young couple living in Manhattan are thrown into turmoil. As the crime is investigated many secrets about their lives are revealed as suspicions and accusations move from one to the other and an old friend who has suddenly reappeared.

Jo enjoyed it.

Val:

The Cottage (2002)

Val quite enjoyed reading this pure fantasy about 3 men who live in a magnificent estate known as “The Cottage”. One is an actor, still handsome, past his prime and heavily in debt. Two younger men come to live with him to help pay his debts. The book tells the story of their friendship, love and lives set against this glamorous background.

With the author’s undoubted success, there is obviously a place for this type of book.

The women are smart, beautiful and successful. The men “know what women want”.

Dianne:

 The Ghost (1997)

An architect who lives in London, seems to have the perfect life….great job, beautiful wife etc. But when his wife suddenly leaves him for an older man he takes time off and heads to New England. Here he rents a cottage and finds a diary of a woman who lived in the house in the 1780s.

Predictable story where not much happens.

Natalie:

The Gift of Hope (2012)

The author wrote this book after her adopted son Nick Traina committed suicide. In her grief she turned to God who spoke to her, telling her to help the homeless.

She started in a small way by giving out clothes but later set up a charity to help the homeless in San Francisco. All this was done anonymously.

 

Wendy J:

 First Sight  (2013)

A young girl who grew up in an orphanage goes on to become a successful designer. She meets and falls in love with a handsome doctor who wont leave his wife because she has cancer.

The author waffles on around this love triangle, and the story becomes very repetitive without much happening.

Connie:

 Property of the Noble Woman (2016)

The story begins when the court allows a long abandoned deposit box in a New York bank to be opened. The beautiful bank clerk finds among other things, amazing jewellery and private letters. These are to be sold, but before this happens, the clerk determines to find out to whom they really belonged.

Connie thought the story was very predictable and the characters and events weren’t explained deeply enough.

Judy A:

Country  (2015)

Stephanie Adams has endured a loveless marriage for many years. When her husband dies she makes a spur of the moment decision to visit the Grand Canyon. Here she meets a Country and Western singer and a whole different life opens up for her despite the resentment of her children.

Judy enjoyed it as a light escape and contrast to other books she has recently read.

Ed:

 Family Ties (2010)

Following the tragic death of her sister in a car accident, a young Manhattan architect devotes her life to raising her 3 children.

Each of them has challenges in their lives. Her niece becomes a successful Vogue photographer but finds it difficult to commit to any relationship. Her nephew who is a law student has a trashy affair with an older married professor. Her younger niece becomes involved in an interfaith relationship, visiting Iran and becoming trapped there!

Ed’s opinion was that it was ‘OK’.

 

Wendy:

Rushing Water  (2016)

When a hurricane hits New York many people are affected but the story revolves around a beautiful, successful few.

Wendy described the story as being wordy, over repetitive and the characters so shallow you don’t really care what happens to them!

Joan:

Palamino  (1982)

Following the breakdown of her marriage, Samantha goes to a friend’s ranch to help her recover. Here she meets Tate Jordan, the ranch foreman. This leads to different challenges that she must face.

Prue:

 Daddy  (1989)

Sarah and Oliver Watson seem to have the perfect life… he has a successful advertising business and she is the devoted mother to their children. When the children are older, she moves to Harvard to study, and doesn’t return. The father and the children don’t cope, but it all gets sorted out in the end.

Prue described it as an easy read with little bits of interest but nothing to get your teeth into.

Charis:

 Past Perfect  (2017)

Again we begin with the successful and privileged life lead by a family in Manhattan.

When they buy an old mansion in San Francisco the ghosts of the original owners appear.

The story documents 2 families on 2 different time lines.

Charis described it as a simplistic, quick read. It lacked emotion, feeling and had few adjectives. She feels the author was distant from the story and was just documenting family history research.

Judy J:

Accidental Heroes (2017)

The story has a current theme with 2 planes flying from New York to San Francisco. There is reason to believe there may be a terrorist threat on one of these planes. As the authorities learn more about some of the passengers on board, they must make a decision as to how to contain this situation.

An easy, and forgettable read.

Kris:

The Family Album  (1985)

Kris could only read a small amount of this story, skipping many pages as well. It seems to cover 40 years of this woman’s life who began as an actress and was able to become a successful director. The book also weaves her the story of her children through all of this. Kris found it too predictable and cliched.

Pamela:

Safe Harbor (2003)

Pamela was disconcerted by the number of pages of prayers in the beginning and so couldn’t read much more!

Tam:

 The Apartment  (2016)

In this book, 4 girls, aged 28-32 and all from different backgrounds live together in an apartment in New York. They are ambitious, they encourage each other when they are down, and they are not interested in marriage.

It is light and easy to read. Tam thought that maybe they are the characters that people secretly aspire to.

Julia: 

The Gift  (1994)

The story is set in the 1950s when life was simpler and people believed in dreams. It takes place in a small town in the heartland of America.  A number of extraordinary events happen, some are tragic, and individuals and families find it difficult to cope.

But there is a happy ending and Julia described it as a beautiful book. 

JULY: Alex Miller ~  Love Song,  Journey to the Stone Country, The Passage of Love, Autumn Laing

AUGUST:  Segregration ~ copies of Colour Purple available from the library or you can select your own title.