The Book:
Source for ‘The Book’ section : From Goodreads
In this beguiling new novel, Danielle Steel tells the story of three very different people, each of whom, on the same day, reaches a crucial turning point in life—a rite both bittersweet and full of hope, a time to blow out the candles, say goodbye to the past, and make a wish for the future.
Valerie Wyatt is the queen of gracious living and the arbiter of taste. Since her long-ago divorce, she’s worked hard to reach the pinnacle of her profession and to create a camera-ready life in her Fifth Avenue penthouse. So why is she so depressed? All the hours with her personal trainer, the careful work of New York’s best hairdressers, cosmetic surgeons, and her own God-given bone structure and great looks can’t fudge the truth or her lies about it: Valerie is turning sixty.
Valerie’s daughter, April, has no love life, no rest, and no prospect of that changing in the foreseeable future. Her popular one-of-a-kind restaurant in downtown New York, where she is chef and owner, consumes every ounce of her attention and energy. Ready or not, though, April’s life is about to change, in a tumultuous transformation that begins the morning it hits her: She’s thirty. And what does she have to show for it? A restaurant, no man, no kids.
Jack Adams once threw a football like a guided missile. Twelve years after retiring from the NFL, he is the most charismatic sports analyst on TV, a man who has his pick of the most desirable twenty something women. But after a particularly memorable Halloween party, Jack wakes up on his fiftieth birthday, his back thrown out of whack, feeling every year his age.
A terrifying act of violence, an out-of-the-blue blessing, and two extremely unlikely love affairs soon turn lives inside out and upside down. In a novel brimming with warmth and insight, beginning on one birthday and ending on another, Valerie, April, and Jack discover that life itself can be a celebration—and that its greatest gifts are always a surprise.
The View:
I have read a few Danielle Steel books but they were not my favorite. I decided to give “Happy Birthday” a chance as I was looking for books to kick-start my Romance Reading Challenge. This is a contemporary romance and I have definitely read worse stories.
The plot moves fast and has love, anger and pain at an equal ratio. The story is normal and there are no major twists or turns. Every thing moves as expected though some of the characters tended to annoy the reader at certain circumstances. As anticipated this is one with a happy ending and obviously has marriage on the cards. The relationship between Valerie and Jack started too quickly for my liking as the situation with the terrorists was not convincing enough. April’s relationship with Mike and the build up of their story leading to their marriage was definitely more real.
I liked April and she brought a lot of excitement to the story. I kept looking forward to how the future would hold for her – will Mike be the father to her child or will she be a single mom? How will she survive the accident to her restaurant? Valerie’s and Jack’s story in comparison was pale and it was just an add-on in my opinion. The book would have done well even if it did not have their romance element. Mike was irritating at the start, but you will eventually tend to like him.
Rated a 3.5 on 5. This is not the best romance novel out there but you will enjoy it as a good summer read.
Filed under: 100+ Reading Challenge, Challenges 2011, Fiction, Reviews 2011, Romance, Romance Reading Challenge 2011 | Tagged: Danielle Steel, Happy Birthday | 1 Comment »
Reading between Pages.. 