Danielle Steele - Family Ties

[HEPZIBAH]

I have just contributed this to a Facebook reading group so please excuse me for copying and pasting to here.

I recently read Danielle Steel's Family Ties. What a badly written book! She has the makings of a good story with her main characters and (thin) plotline, but it was totally wasted. I don't think I've ever seen so many sentences begin with 'And', which is rarely necessary and should really only be used for emphasis. She also over did repetition. A situation would be described, and within the same paragraph or the next one, the same or virtually the same words would be used to describe the same situation. I never felt any of the situtions warrented the reminder, never mind badly done, and it became insulting to the reader. There were times when you could be forgiven for thinking that three or four different people had written the book!

I do recall a time when I could devour Danielle Steel books - admittedly some were better than others - but either she has lost her touch (success making her churn them out to meet the demands of the lowest common denominator/ quality really doesn't matter) or else I have become a more discerning and demanding reader.

[BENNU]

... or else I have become a more discerning and demanding reader.

[HEPZIBAH]

... or else I have become a more discerning and demanding reader.

Thanks.

In truth, it's probably both - badly written and I'm (hopefully) more discerning!

One of the biggest advantages in joining a non-genre specific reading group is that you tend to read books that you would never have imagined noticing on the bookshop shelf, never mind picking up and reading the first paragraph. Even if you don't belong to such a group it can be so rewarding to step out of your reading comfort zone and look at authors or genre you would not normally have thought about. Your comfort zone reading will always be there to fall back on when you need it.