[.ca] Bittersweet (ISBN 055350214X)

From Amazon.com:
Like the rest of her novels, Steel's 46th testifies to the insatiable appetite for unrequited love and the success of TV's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Meet India Taylor, the coulda-woulda-shoulda been a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist if it wasn't for her meddling husband. Although they met in the Peace Corps 20 years prior, Doug insisted she put down the camera, pick up a broom, and raise four kids in the comfy Connecticut burbs. However, after 17 years of carpooling, Little League, and Doug's revelation that he's happy with a platonic marriage, India moves on to greener pastures. She finds her cash cow in the form of Paul Ward, a.k.a. "Lion of Wall Street," who has a yacht called the Sea Star and likes to coo such things as "I think I'm a little crazy, but I love you." Although he may be senile and she is still married, the duo seem destined for each other as Paul slowly helps India reclaim her past and follow her passion. What's not to love about Danielle Steel? She starts so many sentences with the word and that you start to do it yourself. And there's a run-on quality to the narrator's consciousness. But she drips glamour, drops famous names better than Robin Leach, and makes those pages fly so fast they cool your face on the hottest beach.

an incredible romance:
i found this book incredibly wonderful, i never had an interest in romance before this and now i love Danielle Steele's books. i hope that everyone else loves this book as much as i do. This is definately a 5 star book, it kept me wanting more.

What a life!:
Whenever I finish with a DS book, I feel like my life is so ordinary! However, sometimes it's better than all of the tragedy. This is a good summer read.

C'mon...where are the real people here?:
...I can't help but think this book isn't typical of her fare; how else could she have become so popular? I was astounded that India's husband, Doug, is painted with such a wicked brush. There is no way he could have been so insensitive all those years and she's only just starting to realize it? For a charcter who's supposed to have such insight with her camera, she's certainly blind without the lens in front of her face. I found myself getting annoyed the poor guy got this type of treatment from his creator and waited for the moment when the guy would display any sort of humanity. Having said that, I'll confess I did appreciate Steel's imagery. The sailboat is a bit over the top...but hey, it's a fantasy, right? In conclusion, I guess you could say one thing about this book: black and white (characters) and read all over (by her legions of fans)...

BEST BOOK I'VE READ IN A LONG TIME:
"Bittersweet" is about a woman named India Taylor, who was a wonderful mother, who juggled Little League, car pools, piano lessons, and Cape Code summer vacations. Getting bored with her life, India decides that she would like to go back to work as a photojournalist. One summer day, India meets a man named Paul Ward, who changes her life forever. Paul, whose wife recently passed away in a plane crash, begins chatting with India everyday. Both talk about their hopes and dreams and he tells her not to give up her dreams of going back to her work. Finally convinced, India decides to tell her husband of her plan, hoping he would understand. Doug tells her that he thinks of her only as a person to take car of the house, children and someone to cook him dinner when he comes home from work. Furious, India and Doug finally get a divorce because she is in love with Paul. A romance begins to bloom, but too soon for Paul. In the end, the two finally decide they need to be together. I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the ending was by far the best part because it was so happy and sad all at once. I was happy to see them both finally find romance and happiness for once in their life. The book shows that in life bad things will happen but fate won't let anything else bad happen to you. I liked how throughout the entire novel Paul gave her advice and made her feel worthy and important. She really needed someone to understand her. I can see exactly where she is coming from. Driving car pools and cooking dinner does not look like the life any woman would want everyday. People need more to their life than that. People need to feel that they are good at something and everyone needs a hobby. Nobody needs anyone to tell him or her that they cannot do anything. I think India was strong when she told her husband that she was going back to work. It took a lot of guts. I thought this book was well written, and I would recommend it to anyone.

And People Call This Author One of the Best?:
If you like repetition...read this book. If you like repetition...read this book. If you like repetition...read this book. Did you get the point? IF Steel is one of the best, THIS is one of her worst! Starting out, I truly felt she was identifying with a struggle many women experience as children grow up and memories of early career goals start to resurface. After a couple chapters we had rehashed the issue so many times, we became bored with our own memories! The book could have been written in three chapters. The only thing that keeps you reading is the fact that you want it to be over! (I literally took almost two months to read the book because there was no point to hurry through. The ending is contrived, the characters are either too 'good' or too 'bad'. In order to finish I had to put space between redings so I wasn't bored beyond belief!) Can we please bring LaVyrle Spencer out of retirement? Note to Amazon...don't invest in many copies of this one. There will be too many copies people will want to unload so they don't have to dust another tome!