Nothing gets me more excited than the thought of free books, so when I heard about Transworld's Summer Reading Challenge, I signed up straight away! You choose four books from Transworld's list, they send you one to read, you review it and they send you the next on your list (no, I did not choose Dan Brown!).My choices were:
- Matters of the Heart by Danielle Steel
- If I Stay by Gayle Forman
- Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
- Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde
It's been ages since I've read any Danielle Steel, and I was anxious to see if it was the same as I remembered. I spent one summer living in Texas with no telly, no radio and no furniture. But I did live close to a second-hand bookshop and Danielle Steel novels became my escape.
You know what you're getting when you read one: woman (usually living in Boston or New York) has a tragedy; woman moves to California; woman meets wrong man; woman meets right man (of course I'm generalising, but you get the idea). With fast-paced narrative and some very hunky heroes, it's a definite recipe for success.
Matter of the Heart differs slightly in that there's nothing about California. The same general formula is there, though, like a security blanket to latch onto. You just know that no matter what the heroine's been through, it will come out all right in the end. And it did! It was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Have you read any Danielle Steel? Thoughts, opinions?
