Coming Out

I found Coming Out by Danielle Steel at a local store that typically does not sell books. It was on sale, probably cheaper than it should have been yet it was in excellent shape! I always wanted to read something by Danielle Steel but never seemed to remember to pick up a book by her whenever I was out looking, so I decided to purchase this book.

This book was made in 2006, but it felt more along the lines of the 80s or 90s due to some of the comments within the book. There never seems to be a strict date of when this book is set, but some of the opinions don't seem to be that of 2006 (or maybe my hometown was just way more open at that time). The comments about how bad tattoos are seem to date this book more than intended too, seeing as show more it is 2018 and tattoos seem to be everywhere and widely accepted. If anything, that would be my biggest con for this book! It dates itself with the opinions within!

I did really enjoy this book - it was a light, dramatic read that I could easily put down and pick it back up. The story follows a rich, upper class family as they intend to go to an exclusive ball in New York. The twin daughters are on opposing sides (one wants to go, the other doesn't and decides to rebel), the Mother wants to go, the step Father doesn't, and so on and so forth. There is some romantic drama, some family drama, some "rich" drama, and it all seems to work well within the story.

That being said, this book is hit and miss - if you don't mind reading about privileged rich people with silly problems, it's a good read! I didn't mind that they complained about simple yet silly things, in fact I found it to be fluffy and funny at times. It felt like a soap opera I would watch on T.V. back in high school. The soap opera side is what kept me hooked, to be brutally honest. The drama was over the top, the reactions were big, and it felt like the perfect, stormy day read.

The book is relatively short and moves at a good pace to keep you interested. That is what also kept me interested in this book. I didn't think that the book felt too long or too short. To me, the book was the perfect length. I also really liked that the title of the book has multiple meanings in the book! Tied in with that title, the ending took me by surprise! The ending did seem to suddenly stop, but Danielle tied in one of the small plot points to finish this book up.

Overall, I think this book was cute and is a nice, soft read. It is in it's own little niche, so reader beware!!

Three out of five stars! show less

I didn't care for Coming Out by Danielle Steel, about twin girls who get invited to an old-fashioned high society debutante ball. This creates conflict between the girls and their family members: one girl is excited about it, one rebels and refuses to have any part of it, the Jewish stepfather boycotts it due to it being mainly "WASP' society, the mother insists they do it because she herself did it at their age, the holocaust survivor grandmother just wants to have one glam night out, the son finally decides to "come out" (but nobody really cares one way or another). So the plot is very weak and predictable, the characters are shallow and one dimensional, the writing is boring...I just didn't care about any of the characters at all and show more if this book wasn't so short (less than 200 pages) I never would have finished it. I don't even know why I picked it up - the cover maybe? I haven't read her books in the last five years or so, but I read most of her earlier books as a teenager. Those I found smart and engrossing...what the hell happened? It's almost as if a completely different writer wrote this blah book. show less

A short, but sweet book that tries to pack a lot into a few chapters. It has to do with passing on traditions and whether or not they should be passed on, how children can surprise their parents, and how important family should be, no matter what it looks like.

I couldn't get past the info dump on the first five pages. I took to opening up random passages, and found she was writign summaries of scenes instead of telling a story. This is the first Danielle Steele book I have read and it quickly determined this would be the last. The son's big secret was no secret at all, but it was the reason I picked up the book at all. I was interested to see what a romance writer would have to say. Unfortunately, I couldn't even get to that part.

This is much too short a book to handle all the issues Danielle Steel tries to pull in. (Spoiler) But they all live happily ever after.

'Coming Out' is about adolescence through the eyes of a mother. All she wants is whats best for her children, but sometimes want YOU want isn't always best. Typical teenage dilemmas are dealt with in this story. Steel's writing is good, however for me I've heard it all before so it was a little ordinary. Ordinary in the sense of comparing it to the show "The OC" which teen agnst is non-stop.

A quick, boring, and predictable read from Steel. The characters were very under-developed, the storyline shallow and just nothing to really get entertained about. This is just one of others from Steel I was not at all impressed with.