Today is the Romantic Genre Book Review day and so I chose The Apartment by Danielle Steel. So here is my book review about the book.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This vibrant, tender, and moving tale pulses with the excitement of New York City, as Danielle Steel explores twists of fate, and the way that sometimes, in special places, friends can be the family we need most.
They come together by chance in the heart of New York City, four young women at turning points in their lives. Claire Kelly finds the walk-up apartment—a spacious loft in Hell’s Kitchen. But the aspiring shoe designer needs at least one roommate to manage it. She meets Abby Williams, a writer trying to make it on her own, far away from her successful family in L.A. Four years later, Morgan Shelby joins them. She’s ambitious, with a serious finance job on Wall Street. Then Sasha Hartman, a medical student whose identical twin sister is a headline-grabbing supermodel. And so the sprawling space, with its exposed brick and rich natural light, becomes a home to friends about to embark on new, exhilarating adventures.
Frustrated by her ultra-conservative boss, Claire soon faces a career crisis as a designer. Abby is under the spell of an older man, an off-off-Broadway producer who exploits her and detours her from her true talent as a novelist, while destroying her self-confidence. Morgan is happily in love with a successful restaurateur who supplies her roommates with fine food. At her office, she begins to suspect something is off about her boss, a legendary investment manager whom she’s always admired. But does she even know him? And Sasha begins an all-work-no-play residency as an OB/GYN, as her glamorous jet-set sister makes increasingly risky decisions.
Their shared life in the apartment grounds them as they bring one another comfort and become a family of beloved friends. Unexpected opportunities alter the course of each of their lives, and as they meet the challenges, they face the bittersweet reality that in time, they will inevitably move away from the place where their dreams began.
No of Pages :- 432 pages
Publisher :- Dell (Published on January 17th 2017)
Language :- English
Categories :- General Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Family Saga, Contemporary Women
Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 650 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Property of a Noblewoman, Blue, Precious Gifts, Undercover, Country, Prodigal Son, Pegasus, A Perfect Life, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children’s books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.
OK, to put it this way, I hardly read contemporary fiction or even women fiction or romantic fiction but I have read Zoya, a book written by Danielle Steel and I truly enjoyed reading the book. So I decided to give it another go plus the book cover looks interesting and so I decided to buy this book. However, even though I manage to read the book, I have mixed feelings about this book.
So I will divide into positive and negative comments.
POSITIVE
Overall, this book paints a picture of what friendship really looks like, the bond that these girls/roommates shared with each other and how they are able to help each other out while one is in trouble. My favorite moment was when Claire Kelly, one of the main characters in the book is having issues with her old fashioned boss and aim to work in a leading shoe designing company as well as when her wealthy boyfriend dumps her unexpectedly that all her roommates started being there for her. Truthfully, this actually teaches us girls to be with each other and help each other out when one is in trouble.
The other positive thing about this book is the sheer determination, women power that highlights in the book without depending on the men. Morgan Shelby, another character in the book is a good example of this as she clearly is a professional working woman and even Claire Kelly also shares the same determination that she manages to open her own shoe line thanks to her mother and her help. Danielle Steele has done a good job, outlining these characters into bold, professional and strong willed and able minded women that clearly sets a good example to us women.
NEGATIVE
OK, here are the negative points that I had to outline
- Writing–overall, I didn’t really like the style of writing. Some parts of the book, I felt like a fifth grader had written the book or something. There were too many unnecessary parts, not relevant to the story line
- Unnecessary characters–OK so I felt Danielle has written so much cliche stuff about the character, Sasha’s identical twin sister Valentina. Valentina is portrayed as a glamorous supermodel unlike her nerdy gynecologist twin doctor and had lived in a life of luxury dating wealthy and dangerous men. Sasha is one of the important characters and in some parts, I felt Valentina was given more attention and that story line sounded cliche
- There were repetitive parts in the book that I thought it was odd.
Overall, I liked the book as it kind of teaches us women to never give up our dreams and hope. If Danielle Steele could improve her writing style more and that if there were no cliche stuff, I would have truly given this book a four star!
All right so that’s all the review, so what do you guys think? Do you disagree with me or agree? Feel free to give a comment below!
Rating:- Three stars!
Tropical Girl Reads 