I’ve always been a book worm. 🙂 For as long as I can remember I’ve enjoyed curling up with a good book. I have pretty eclectic tastes too, as I’ll read across a wide range of genres, from Harlequin series romances to Science Thrillers, Mysteries, Historicals, Suspense, Women’s Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, even the occasional YA. I enjoy them all, but there are some authors that are high on my auto-buy list, whose books I pre-order or snap up in the bookstore as soon as they are available. Danielle Steel is one of those authors.
I’ve been reading her books for years. My sister and I pass them back and forth, she loves them as much as I do. Do I love every book? No, and she doesn’t either, but it doesn’t stop us from eagerly looking forward to her next one. Fortunately, she puts out on average three a year. Why do we love her books so much? I was thinking about this today as I was craving chicken pot pie. It’s cold out, there’s a blizzard supposedly on the way this Friday and the grocery store was mobbed with people stocking up. I was one of them, tossing french bread pizzas, and chicken pot pies into my cart. As I was waiting in line to check out I thought of Danielle Steel as I just finished her book last night and was wondering what I’d read this weekend during the big storm. It occurred to me that Danielle Steel is like Chicken Pot Pie…they’re both pure comfort food. The pie for the body, and her books for the soul.
The reason we stick with Danielle Steel book after book is because we know exactly what we’re going to get. The experience will always be the same, it’s just the characters and storyline that will be slightly different. In a Danielle Steel book, we’ll always be swept away by a great story and nice people that we can root for. The heroine is always incredibly beautiful inside and out and if she isn’t born to wealth, usually finds her way to it and we experience all the glitz and glamour that she does. We cry when she cries and we sigh with happiness when she gets her happily ever after. We know we’ll enjoy the journey. Her books all have a warm tone and a compelling story that pulls us in.
Her most recent book, UNTIL THE END OF TIME, was a little different in that it 
incorporated the concept of reincarnation and felt like two separate stories. The first story follows Jenny and Bill who quickly fall in love and marry against the wishes of his upper crust snobbish family. Bill rebels against his family not only by marrying Jenny but by abandoning the family business–his father and brothers are all attorneys. Bill is as well when the story starts, but his true work passion lies elsewhere and the only person that supports his choice is Jenny. At the heart of this book’s premise is the idea that soulmates find each other, in this life and again in the next….So, if Jenny and Bill pass on, they will somehow find each other again in future lives. This happens about halfway through the book.
At first I didn’t love the shift when it happened, as it felt a bit too abrupt and I wanted the first story to go on longer, but once the second story got underway, I was immediately pulled in. I was also really interested by the world she showed us, of how the Amish live. It’s something I knew very little about and it was fascinating to see a peek into that world.
There are many books that I start and find easy to put down. This never happens with Danielle Steel’s books. I usually race through them in a day or two, eager to know what will happen next and enjoying the ride. They’re a wonderful, comforting escape. Just like comfort food. 🙂