Book Review - Day 6

Hello, Steemheads. Welcome to book review day 6. Every week, I will be talking about one or two books I enjoyed reading. I call myself ‘irregular bookworm.’ I love books like that, I can’t help it. Bibliophile and nerd sound too serious. LOL. The books I’ll be talking about may be your best or worst books, so read with an open mind.

The previous weeks' reviews have been good so far. I’m kind of combining both African literature and books from all parts of the world. They are mostly literary fiction. I’ve done a genre fiction once. I’ll do another one next week, hopefully.

This week, however, I’ll be talking about two books written by one of the most sublime authors, Danielle Steel. She has this unique way of writing. You can identify her work if you follow closely. Her books are mostly sad. Some people find them too painful. I understand that. I actually got very upset while reading one, but I think she just captures that which most writers ignore. Most books have a happy ending it’s kind of cliché. Danielle Steel just brings forth that which is lost and she does that in a unique way. I have two books here. I’ll give an overview and my thoughts on them.

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The first on the list is Lone Eagle.

The story follows Kate Jamison, a seventeen year old girl who meets and falls in love with Joe Allbright. Joe is a pilot and he loves nothing but his airplanes. They start seeing each other but Joe still loves his planes more. Kate’s parents never approved but they want their daughter’s happiness. Years into the relationship, Joe doesn’t want to settle down. Kate finishes school, gets tired of waiting and decides to marry Andy who’s been there for a log time. But it isn’t a happy marriage. In the end, after their divorce, she marries Joe. Before she did, she accepted and knew what she was signing up for. Joe continues to fly his planes and later dies in a plane crash at sixty-three.

Here’s an excerpt:

_{THE CALL CAME when she least expected it, on a snowy December afternoon, almost exactly thirty-four years after they met. Thirty-four years. Extraordinary years. She had spent exactly two-thirds of her lifetime with him. Kate was fifty-one years old, and Joe was sixty-three. And in spite of everything he had accomplished, Joe still seemed and looked young to her. There was a vibrancy to him, an energy, a driving force. He was like a shooting star, trapped in the body and soul of one man, always pushing forward, skyrocketing toward unseen goals. He had vision and brilliance and excitement like no one else. She had seen it from the moment they met. Had always known it. She hadn't always understood it, but from the first, without even knowing who he was, she had known he was different and important and special, and very, very rare.}

This book is bittersweet. I don’t understand Kate’s choices but one thing is clear, she did it for love. The book brings to light the tough decisions real people make in life, as crazy as it may be. It also shows how strong family bond can be.

The second is Leap of Faith.

This one is about Marie-Ange Hawkins whom her parents died in a car accident with her brother, Robert after she turned seven. She is then sent to live with Carol Collins in a farm. She’s an aunt and the only surviving relative from her father’s side. Marie-Ange lives in fear of her. She’s in a wheel chair and never treats her well. She meets Billy and they grow to love each other. Marie-Ange, however, leaves and goes back to Paris after her twenty first birthday, and after she discovers her father left a fortune for her when he died. Back in Paris, she goes back to their original house which has been occupied by Bernard de Beauchamp, a count. He is a disguised arsonist who killed his first family and made away with his wife’s money. Marie-Ange falls for his charm and marries him. Years later and with two children, he plans the same thing and almost murdered them. She survives by tossing her children into the fire rescue net and taking the leap of faith herself.

An excerpt:

_{Marie-Ange Hawkins lay in the tall grass, beneath a huge, old tree, listening to the birds, and watching the puffy white clouds travel across the sky on a sunny August morning. She loved lying there, listening to the bees, smelling the flowers, and helping herself to an apple from the orchards. She lived in a safe, protected world, surrounded by people who loved her. And she particularly loved running free in the summer. She had lived at the Château de Marmouton for all of her eleven years, and roamed its woods and hills like a young doe, wading ankle deep in the little stream that ran through it. There were horses and cows, and a proper barnyard on the lower property at the old farmhouse. The men who worked the farm always smiled and waved when they saw her. She was a laughing, happy child, and a free spirit. And most of the time, as she wandered through the tall grass, or picked apples and peaches in the orchard, she was barefoot. “You look like a little gypsy!” her mother scolded her, but she always smiled when she said it. Françoise Hawkins adored both her children.}

One thing I love about this book is the polished prose. It sheds light on what can happen a child after the death of her parents. Marie-Ange survived the cruelty of the one person left in her life, the one person who should love her, but she came out stronger.

What are you reading currently?

Images are from my e-books gallery.

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Thanks for stopping by!
What are your thoughts?