Changes

Changes is about two single parents falling in love and trying to achieve the near-impossible task of meshing their children and careers together. I found the story clique and repetitive. There was a bit of drama to liven things up, which kept me reading, but the characters fell flat, and the plot was unrealistic.

It took me a long time to get through because it wasn't really interesting enough for me to really want to keep turning the pages. I do like the way DS writes, and she did develop her characters well. I can imagine in my mind how they would act, talk, etc, but they started to get annoying at a certain point. Especially one of the twins, a teenager named Val. I thought the way her relationship was with Mark and the fact that they were supposed to be "so close" was real and that they would stay together after something like a pregnancy and abortion, but they easily went their separate ways and the relationship quickly ended, and they didn't shed a tear or feel weird around each other after. Many unlikely things happened, unrealistic show more things that AMAZINGLY happened "by chance", which was annoying. I was shaking my head. And of course the two main characters are very wealthy, beautiful, successful people.
Okay, on to what I DID like: like I said, the writing style. And, at times (but definitely not close to always) I could understand how the characters felt, especially one of the main characters, Mel,(mother of the twins Val and Jess) because of her problem with living far from Peter and having to deal with it. (I have the same situation with my boyfriend and I know how it can suck) And I shared her anger when she was in Peter's house and he wouldn't take his dead wife's portraits off the wall. I like that the story wasn't always predictable. Actually, I really liked the ending even though it WAS very predictable. But a good portion of the story isn't.
Overall, the book is mediocre in my opinion. show less

Changes by Danielle steel
She seems to have it all but she wants so much more. Twin daughters who are teens,
Melanie Adams, successful career but she doesn't have a man of her dreams, yet love is outside her reach. One of her reports will be on a heart surgeon who she hopes she can talk into doing a transplant for a little girl, so her company can tape it for their TV show.
The book also follows heart surgeon Peter with kids of his own has just lost his wife. He puts himself out there with so much time for every transplant and talks the patient into accepting things. Once there are negative thoughts the body rejects the organ.
After the surgeon he invites her back to his house to meet his kids and spend time with them. They open up to one show more another, their deepest thoughts and fears. She has to leave soon to return to NY, and he lives in CA and she likes the location and the warmth.
She has met his kids and they are starving for a woman in his life, well not the teen girl. She's jealous of the time she doesn't have with her father. Work keeps her away from her kids and she's back on the west coast to follow up on the shooting of the president. She does get to spend time with Peter.
They are able to spend some time together for themselves and feel guilty! When they make the next big step they are faced with teens problems and career choices and other life events... show less

I'm not a fiction fan but am thinking seriously about completing a romance I'm going to set in Norway and my lover has told me Steele is THE de rigour romance writer so I'm reading her to get the lay of the land.

@ NY. Newswoman - Mel + CA. Dr. - Peter 5 kids between them.

Top TV anchorwoman Melanie Adams had given up on love after a failed marriage and an unhappy affair. With her two twin teenage children and her television news career, she had no room in her life for a man. Then she met famous heart surgeon Peter Hallam; a widower with three children of his own.

Suddenly Melanie was experiencing feelings she thought were forever gone. But two families (one in New York and one in Los Angeles), two exciting careers, and two strong-willed people were challenges that were not easily resolved or handled. And Melanie faced a painful choice between her glamorous life in the public eye, her private life, and the new family they would form. Changes lead show more each of them to new places, new problems, new people, and the new life they begin. show less

First Danielle Steel book I read, loved it.

Melanie parece tenerlo todo: exito profesional, dos hijas gemelas y un estilo de vida rutilante, pero su corazon esta dolorosamente vacio. Por su parte, Peter es una eminencia mundial en su especialidad, pero acaba de enviudar y sus hijos sufren inconsoladamente la perdida de su madre... Ambos afrontan un terrible reto: ser capaces de amarse sin eclipsar sus respectivas personalidades y sin enturbiar las dificiles relaciones afectivas con sus hijos.