Daddy

by Danielle Steel

Oliver Watson's world suddenly dissolves around him when Sarah his wife of eighteen years, returns to Harvard to get her master's degree. Oliver is left on his own, with three children and a freedom he never wanted and doesn't completely understand. His family's needs and demands suddenly consume his life.

When Oliver's mother is diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease and dies soon thereafter, Oliver's father's life is changed as well. Braver than his son with less of a future before him, George Watson, at seventy-two, quickly embraces new relationships and, eventually, a new life. The sudden changes come as a shock to both father and son.

Ben, Oliver's oldest son, rejects his father and reaches outward, under the illusion that he is grown-up and can make it on his own. Melissa, the middle child, blames Oliver for her mother's desertion. And Sam, the "baby," is too shaken to deal with it at all. Now the only parent, Daddy must somehow cope this, his troubled family and explore a world of new responsibilities, new women, and new experiences. Each of the three men must start a new life: Oliver in New York and then in Los Angeles with his children, once he faces the biggest change in his life; his widowed father with the woman next door; and seventeen-year-old Ben with his girlfriend and baby. Nothing is as it was before... nothing is as they once thought it would be. But in the end, different is better... different is more... for each of them--and especially for Daddy.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Drama, Contemporary Romance, Novels

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's bestselling authors, with almost a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include All That Glitters, Royal, Daddy's Girls, The Wedding Dress, The Numbers Game, Moral Compass, Spy, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Expect a Miracle, a book of her favorite quotations for inspiration and comfort; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children's books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.

Facebook.com/DanielleSteelOfficial
Instagram: @officialdaniellesteel

Reviews

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK so when I was in high school my girlfriend was very into Danielle Steel, to the same extent that I was into Stephen King. And my girlfriend also read a few Stephen King books, so somehow she convinced me that it was "only fair" that I read a Danielle Steel novel. She recommended "Daddy" because it had a male protagonist.

What I learned from this book was that one Danielle Steel novel is enough.

[Rae · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst book I've ever read in my entire life. I had to finish it to see how it would end and MAN, it did not disappoint. Just the worst.

[Dominika · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this book from hotel book shelf to kill time during holidays. It was easy read, but so ANNOYING.

From the begining I could not attach to main characters -
Why is there so much sympathy for Ollie? Why is everybody accusing Sarah of being selfish? This initial plot twist made me angry. What is so wrong about the woman who wants to go back to school (that is like 2-3h away??) after being a good mother for so many years? Why is nobody asking what she plans to study? What are her dreams after she will be finished? I understand the worry about 7year old kid, but teenagers? All those statements that come from them are so one sided: "you are leaving us", "you hate us". I do not understand why her supposingly loving husband even do not try to support her. He has a career and pushed her to limits to give up her live.

And btw. - after few weeks later when she is gone he starts to "notice other woman".... The rest of the story is more twisted, but this initial sequence made me not like this book at all.


I wonder if it has anything to do with times when it was written? Would this be such a success in todays world?

[Noella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik moet zeggen dat in het begin het boek me niet zo aanstond. Ik ergerde me aan het gedrag van Oliver Watson, de vader, die zijn vrouw drie keer zwanger maakte, en hoewel zij er niet klaar voor was, er telkens op aandrong dat ze het kind zouden houden, (en dat Sarah zich ermee zou bezig houden). Hij vindt het doodnormaal dat ze al haar dromen en ambities opgeeft om hem zijn zin te geven en full-time huismoeder te worden.
En als Sarah hem en de kinderen dan uiteindelijk verlaat om alsnog terug te gaan studeren en iets voor zichzelf op te bouwen, duikt hij in de slachtofferrol...

Nadien begon het me toch meer te interesseren om te zien hoe Oliver zich er doorheen sloeg, en alleen zijn twee jongste kinderen opvoedde (met behulp van een huishoudster), en er probeerde te zijn voor zijn zeventienjarige zoon die zich serieus in de nesten gewerkt had.

En natuurlijk, eind goed, al goed, en Oliver lijkt zijn lesje geleerd te hebben helemaal op het eind.

Dit is misschien niet hoe de meeste lezers tegen het verhaal aankijken, maar het is mijn eerlijke mening.

[Omaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Aceptable como pasatiempo, pero cuestionable por su forma de tratar determinados temas. Hay machismo, aunque veo importante tener en cuenta cuándo fue publicado el libro (1989). Además, doy por hecho que la mayoría de lectores sabrá detectar lo incorrecto de determinados pensamientos. La historia se centra en los cambios a los que el protagonista debe de hacer frente tras una decisión de su esposa. El título le viene bien a la obra porque lo que mejor tratado está son los vínculos que él tiene con sus hijos. La lectura es amena y se van dando diversos acontecimientos, pero no tiene nada de especial".

Reseña completa: https://entrelalecturayelcine.blogspo...

La puntuación real sería un 2,5/5. Redondeo al alza porque nunca me aburrí leyendo y, aunque para otros no sea tan importante, para mí el simple hecho de que una novela mantenga mi interés ya hace que le dé un aprobado.

[Carol Waters · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should not read this stuff, just should throw it away when I find it in my bookshelf. That was a waste of an afternoon.

This is the painfully long story of a man who talked his wife out of three abortions and then got stuck with the kids. He tries to talk his teen son into an abortion for the ugly and stupid girlfriend that this child supposedly trips over at his upscale high school. Daddy then falls in love with a series of women who seem to want him for his body and then meets The One. This is not a spoiler, you had to see it coming.

An indictment both of daddies, who work until 9:00 p.m. and have live-in maids and have big paychecks but no knowledge of their kids having sex lives or hopes and dreams or bedwetting issues, and of mommies, who, gasp, sometimes put themselves first, although those who do have to go to funerals. Just saying. The mom, trapped in a rich and sexy but male-dominated marriage, seemed to try to get a life but blamed Dad for her not ever pursuing her dreams. Steel did let her spend her inheritance on Harvard (yep, sure, she got admitted there 20 years after finishing her BA without even having to take an SAT.) And Alzhemier's went from confused to dead in six months. That could be a mercy as compared to real life.

If the plot wasn't bad enough, the editing missed a slew of grammatical lemons. I do like when their eyes grab, though.

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this. I didn't bring another DS with me, so I'll read another short Rosamunde Pilcher. My new holiday fave <3

But how will I get through my 100+ pile of DS novels if I don't read them in summer?!

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Daddy' turned out to be a better experience that I anticipated. Not a big fan of lifetime movies or that sort, I was pleased to find this wasn't a melodramatic story that induced eye-rolling. Instead it was a very real drama with grief, trauma, and ultimate triumph over life's obstacles. The characters helped keep things afloat; the protagonist, "Daddy", "Oliver" was a man easy to understand. Even the woman who caused everyone conflict, Sarah, was written to be sympathetic in the beginning (sometimes.) Either way she was realistic at least, as were the kiddies and everyone else.

The pace for this sort of story - one that relies mainly on emotional change - was surprisingly quick. We start right at the beginning with the thoughts of abandonment brewing in Sarah's unhappy head, and by the third chapter everyone's life has been effectively turned upside down and gone topsy turvy.

The back cover blurb mentions three lives hanging in the wind here, but they doesn't grow confusing, as it mainly still leaned on Oliver's handling of their situations. I admit to crying when the mother died of an Alzheimer's related accident - something I hope to never grow through with a loved one. This family clearly had a rough patch but they were written in such a way that the reader genuinely cheered for them when things grew better. Staying through the ride of frustration and unhappiness was not easy, though, and during the book you may feel as drained as they are (which is what the author hopes to accomplish.)

On the negative side, Steel really needs - and hopefully has by now - to learn how to effectively head-hop. In one large paragraph she incorrectly switched from three people's points of view. Never is this allowed, as it's always confusing and just bad writing form. In this book, this even happens in the same sentence, one person's thoughts separated by another's by a mere comma mark!

And, although this may seem silly and wrong of me, Oliver is just too damn weepy. He's a great guy I enjoyed and rooted for, and I'm all for a man that sheds a tear when the situation warrants it, but I can't count on one hand how many times he switched on the waterworks. It's a small side issue, though, and of course didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book or affect it's rating. Still it was an unrealistic flaw that never helped the character. His sweet personality was endearing but sometimes I just wanted to grab him and yell, "Shake her, call her a rotten bitch, scream, something!"

Basically this book was good, so I see why Steel has made a name for herself. I remember wanting to read this when I was a pre-teen but for some reason or other my mother denied it. Oh well, parents can't make sense all the time right? Just like ones in this book. Give it a try if you want to weep a bit or are in the mood for some inspiring drama.

[مروة الجزائري · Rating 3 out of 5]

انتهيت للتو من رحلتي الاولى مع دانيال ستيل وكتاب (( أبي ))

هل يحق للأم ان تتصرف بأنانية وحب نفسها اكثر من اي شيء اخر كما يفعل اغلب الآباء؟ وما تأثير هذا القرار على الاطفال وعلى العائلة ككل؟؟

تروي لنا الكاتبة في هذا الكتاب قصة شابة طموحة تتزوج وتهمل طموحاتها واهدافها بسبب انجاب الاطفال وتربيتهم. تقرر بعد ان تصبح في الخامسة والأربعين من عمرها ان تترك كل شيء وراء ظهرها وتهجر زوجها ( الذي كانت تحبه وكان بمثابة الزوج المثالي ) واطفالها الثلاثة وتلتحق بالجامعة في ولاية بعيدة عنهم. وكيف سيتأقلم الاب والاولاد مع هذا التغيير الكبير في حياتهم.

في بداية فصول الكتاب شعرت بتعاطف كبير جدا" مع الأم واحسست بما كانت تفكر لأنه تفكير أغلب الموظفات خصوصا" من كان يحب عمله واضطر لتركه بسبب انجاب الاطفال لكن طريقة تركها للأطفال والتنصل من كل عاطفة بين ليلة وضحاها وكذلك اقامتها علاقات عاطفية فور تركها لهم جعلتني اشكك في هدفها للسعي وراء طموحها وبالتالي احتقارها.

شخصية الأب واخلاصه لزوجته مدة طويلة حتى بعد ان تركته وطريقة معاملته لأولادة اعجبتني واكاد اجزم انها افضل شخصية ابوية قرأت عنها في القصص لحد الان بالنسبة لي

صراحة لا اعرف كيف أصف شعوري تجاه هذا الكتاب , ففي اوقات احسست بأن الموضوع المطروح دسم والشخصيات مدروسة وفي اماكن لم تكن هناك حبكة على الاطلاق مجرد احداث عابرة لا اهمية لها.
لكن النهاية السعيدة كانت كفيلة بأسعادي والا لكان تقييمي اقل.

بالنهاية قد اعود لقراءة كتب دانيال ستيل لاحقا" ولكني لست على عجل لانها لم تبهرني كثيرا"
هذا الكتاب انصح به محبي الروايات الاجتماعية العائلية

[shweta bora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst novel I have read in a while. I picked it up as a quick read while on a trip. It was a quick read and a very boring one. Very uninteresting story that woke up the feminism in me, I did not even know exist. And make me so angry against the male protagonist which I do not think was the intention of the novel. “Daddy” is supposed to be the hero, but at no pt. in the novel I felt any empathy towards him.
Basically it’s a story of 3 “daddies” who at some pt. are in a difficult state in their respective lives, because you know things do not always go as planned.(Shocking !) and that’s pretty much it.

[Bronwyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second try at Danielle Steel and no, just no. I love me some trashy fiction, but this is not nearly as trashy as the foil-covered cover promised. No, it should be WAY trashier and be 100% less moralizing about good vs. bad women--good women stay home and take care of the kids, eschew their career dreams for a house and home, put their man first. Bad women are shot, die of cancer, have their new boyfriends die in horrific car crashes (clearly I'm drawing from Safe Harbor, the other book by her I read, too). There is like no sex and lots of children being scarred forever by women with a smidgen of self.

A WORLD OF NO.

[Tushar Mangl · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's the worse story ever. A Male Chauvenist Pig is the hero of the story who expects women to worship him and don't have a life.
When his wife wants something more, she becomes a villian and he the hero.
Pathetic storyline, frankly a toxic piece of work, glorifying narrow chauvinism. Book shouldn't even be touched.

[Amaya Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Don't really know how to explain it. Lets just say it starts off with Ollie's wife Sarah going back to school. They both start to drift apart. Recommended to anyone who likes a lot of drama.

[Ryma Reem · Rating 3 out of 5]

une histoire triste à en pleurer, ou du moins la première partie. parce qu'après c'était ennuyeux, Steel suit toujours la même trajectoire dans ses histoires.

Pour la partie qui m'a fait verser des larmes, je ne sais toujours pas qui plaindre le plus:

*la mère qui s'est fait piéger dans une vie qu'elle ne voulait pas et voir toutes ambitions mises au placard mais qui a tout de même tout plaquer afin de retrouver sa liberté

*le père tellement amoureux qu'il a tout fait pour la convaincre de réaliser sa vision de famille idéale, aveuglément, au détriment de l'épanouissement de la mère

*les enfants, sûrement, ils n'ont rien demandé, eux.

[Adri Adriana · Rating 1 out of 5]

`` Captivant...o poveste extraordinară, plină de compasiune, cu personaje care vă vor cuceri simpatia prin lupta pe care o dau când viața lor se schimbă peste noapte ...” Houston Chronicle
Oliver probabil este personajul pe care ar trebui să îl lovim prietenește pe spate , dar eu pot decât să îmi rescriu finalul în minte unde karma , universul chiar îl trăznește .
E funny cum am prea multe cuvinte de spus fix la cărțile care nu îmi plac .
Știți zicala ,, de la unii oameni nu înveți decât cum să nu fii ”, cam așa mă simt eu în privința acestei cărți.
Avem și ecranizare pe care doresc să o vizionez , puteți să faceți asta în loc să citiți 430 de pagini.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good but very predictable. I didn't like how the mom Sarah was a major character in the beginning and the first few chapters were from her point of view and then when she leaves the family, her character is basically gone form the book. It then picks up and has to rebuld characters again with the other family members. It was good, a great pool read but too predictable.

[Aղցela W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good read that I read as a teen. Oliver Watson's world suddenly turned upside down when his wife Sarah decides to go back to school. Oliver is left to deal with his 3 kids who blame him for there mother leaving. While dealing with this his mother gets sick and dies.

[Julie Hoffpauir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this story....it's not all the time you find the roles of teenage parenting reversed but I think this story was written to just perfection. I remember watching the movie on Lifetime and thinking that it was just outstanding.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that got me hooked on reading. I had never been a reader until a friend introduced me to this book. LOVED LOVED IT.

[Yoyovochka]

Membaca ini membuat saya gundah dan bingung menentukan siapa sebenarnya tokoh yang saya sukai atau dukung. Buku ini berkisah tentang kehidupan Oliver alias Ollie yang ditinggal oleh Sarah, sang istri yang sudah memberinya 3 buah hati, untuk melanjutkan kehidupan, berkuliah di kota lain. Sepintas lalu, mungkin kita pikir si Sarah ini kok ya egois banget, udah punya anak kok masih ngotot mau belajar. Tapi... di sinilah menariknya buku ini, membuat orang yang senang baca kilat terpantik karena menyimpulkan ala kadarnya. Dan, buku ini pasti diterima atau ditafsirkan berbeda oleh setiap orang tergantung pandangan hidup masing-masing. Saya sendiri mendukung Sarah yang menurut saya sejak menikah dengan Oliver ini terkekang habis. Bayangkan, Oliver ini menurut saya (selera saya), adalah pria red flag yang harus dihindari - dia mau punya anak banyak, memaksakan istrinya harus mampu punya 3-4 anak, menentang istrinya yang mau bekerja di luar dan membangun karier. Dan saat si istri kebosanan, merasa tak berguna, dia bilang kan kamu punya anak, itu sudah cukup. Astaga... saya tahu sih buku ini ditulis zaman-zaman dahulu di AS dan karenanya gerakan feminisme belum begitu semarak. Kalau sekarang pasti bakal diamuk masa lelaki begini. Entah ya, di Indonesia saya rasa masih banyak (maafkan ucapan saya) pria-pria yang mirip Oliver, bilang ingin menafkahi, biar saja istri di rumah mengurus anak dan dengan demikian mematikan kreativitas istri, biar lebih mudah mengontrol (pendapat saya aja ya, mungkin ada banyak yang suka dengan sistem seperti ini).

Balik lagi ke cerita, setelah Sarah memutuskan untuk pergi, entah kenapa semua perempuan di sekeliling dia menyalahkan keputusan Sarah yang ingin belajar lagi, mengembangkan diri lagi. Hebat.... perempuan bukannya saling mendukung, malah menjatuhkan. Relevan sekali dengan dunia saat ini. Lucunya, perempuan-perempuan yang menyalahkan dan memberi belas kasihan pada Ollie ini adalah wanita karier yang sama sekali nggak empati, mereka nggak pernah punya anak, tetapi bilang kalau punya anak harus tanggung jawab dan nggak boleh mengejar karier.

Memang, sih, setelah itu Sarah selingkuh. Ini patut disalahkan, meski saya kayaknya juga bakal begini soalnya Oliver memang red flag sekali. Dari sudut pandang perempuan, Oliver ini menurut saya agak raja karena ingin semua perempuan berkorban untuk dia, terutama masalah karier. Perempuan di mata dia harus mementingkan keluarga, harus mementingkan anak. Ya Alloh, saya mengurut dada saat membaca ini. Oliver intinya terus menyalahkan Sarah yang berselingkuh, tetapi dia sendiri pun dapat dengan mudah menemukan perempuan lain. Mudah jatuh cinta meski dia terus bilang kalau dia masih cinta Sarah, pernikahan mereka sudah 18 tahun, tetapi betapa mudahnya dia saat berkenalan dengan Megan atau Charlie. Buruknya lagi, Ollie senang membandingkan perempuan-perempuan ini.

Saya suka sama tokoh Benjamin, anak sulung Ollie dan Sarah. Meski melakukan tindakan yang salah pada bagian awal-awal, menurut saya anak ini justru lebih dewasa dari bapaknya, lebih bertanggung jawab sama perbuatannya sendiri, dan tahu konsekuensinya.

Saya bukan mengecilkan peran ayah, saya terharu juga sama apa yang dilakukan Oliver. Cuma aja kayaknya memang dia minim sekali empati dan mungkin pada tahun 70-an di Amerika Serikat praktik seperti ini umum ya, makanya sekarang gerakan feminisme ini gencar sekali karena perempuan akhirnya memberontak. Memberontak dalam artian bukan selingkuh, tetapi diberikan kesempatan untuk berkarier, mendapat kedudukan sama dengan pria. Saya setuju dengan hal macam ini, cuma memang harus berkomitmen, bertanggung jawab sama keluarga. Tindakan Sarah yang menghindari anak-anaknya juga tidak bisa saya benarkan di sini karena melanggar janji.

Intinya, buku ini judulnya singkat, temanya sederhana, tetapi isinya menurut saya membuat perasaan saya diaduk-aduk, membuat nilai-nilai yang saya anut diguncang-guncang nggak karuan. Menarik sekali sudut pandang dan pengetahuan yang saya dapatkan di sini: usia tidak setara dengan tingkat kematangan mental dan kedewasaan. Dalam pernikahan, komitmen itu penting sejak awal, diskusi dengan pasangan mau punya anak berapa, mau kerja lagi atau nggak setelah itu. Ollie di sini menurut saya agak licik karena memaksakan mau punya anak berapa padahal kontribusinya di rumah minim, walhasil Sarah yang harus pontang-panting sendiri. Kerja atau belajar pun masih ditentang sama Ollie. Sedih sekali memang. Dan... kalau memang cinta, kalau memang pasangan kamu baik, pasti mereka menghargai pilihan kamu dan mencari jalan tengah. Jika ada pengorbanan pun, semua dilakukan dengan rela bukan karena keterpaksaan.

Sekian dan terima kasih curhatan panjang saya.

[Isabelle Axelsson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is probably the worst book I’ve ever read. And I wasn’t expecting it to be good. I picked up knowing it would be trash, but I had no clue how trash.

Here’s the story: I’m Interrailing with some friends, in Utrecht at the train station they have a small stand of books people can take one of to read on their journey and I saw this book and we all laughed at the title and said if it was still there when we caught our train to the next stop I would take it and read it on the trains and give a review (I read it spread over two 2h trains).

I guess Daddy has completely different connotations in pop culture these days because I was expecting the book to be filthy (this was also based on us opening the book at a couple random places and Oliver being a horny fuck on both of them) and it took me like 227pages to get to anything remotely resembling a sex scene. smh. Instead of a badly written erotica that I could poke fun of throughout, I found myself getting angry at all the characters all the time. Don’t need to Google anything to know that ms. Steel most likely is a misogynistic pro-lifer with no skill for pacing or engaging writing. POV’s could change like three times on one page without any indicators. Proper paragraphs? What’s that? (Though that could be more to do with printing formatting, but it was still shit).

The main man was a piece of garbage and I feel so sorry for all the young teenage girls who have read this and thought this is what love and life is supposed to look like. It’s bull shit. Idc that it was written in 1989, that wasn’t so long ago, what are we pretending it is? It’s closer to today than the fucking 50s??
Anyway, I will pass this book on at some point after I’ve written my thoughts down in it so it isn’t accidentally picked up by some poor young girl.

[Mary Robichaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished it
Was so good
Loved it

[Beatriz Rosales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia que aborda las segundas oportunidades que a cualquier edad se merece cualquiera que desea vivir el romance que las historias románticas siguen vendiendo como el final feliz que todos deben tener en su vida, pero que Danielle condimenta con realidades catastróficas a las que esas vidas se enfrentan. Sin embargo no me agradó como borda el final al replantear que la única forma en que Oliver obtenga su final feliz es cuando encuentre a la mujer dispuesta a ser su pareja y que se entregue por completo a él y sus hijos, y que con agrado renuncie a sus sueños profesionales anteponiendo el deseo de la maternidad y el equilibrio del hogar. En fin , una historia de personaje masculino pero totalmente con visión femenina.

[Ioana Neamtu · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5, actually *warning, spoilers*





UHM
OK so the plot was interesting and it was well written, to SOME extent I mean. I appreciate the variety of life dillemas and struggles almost all male characters went through, as well as the character development of the female characters and the relationships that unfolded. HOWEVER what a fucking misogynistic, selfish and whiney man-child oliver was!!! Not to mention a bully! He bullied his wife into accepting to be a breeding machine who abandoned all her dreams and aspirations to support his married life fantasy AND THEN, after you'd think he had learned his lesson, when he shows some form of growth from overly conservative turd, he gave a woman HE JUST MET an ultimatum to chose between her life-long dream and staying with him, although she was perfectly contempt to comute and make marriage work from Broadway for two years. He chose to bully her into his wife fantasy and maternal figure for his grown ass kids who arent even hers.
Baaaargh i hate that man, even more than I hated Allegra from "The wedding"- another book that didn't age too well.
DS, I am sure now, has a fetish for New York writters, LA young stars, marriage and saying I love you 3 days after meeting someone. Not kink shaming! But its evident its more than a trope she's good at.
I must also add what a hypocrite Ol' is: he wouldn't accept Sarah aborting, not once out of the three pregnancies she had, but is ready to almost aggressively "encourage" his son tobpressure his baby momma to do so, when it fits his narrative and when it takes an attempt to disrupt the idyllic image of family he has.

[Ana Mengual · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro que cuenta una historia conmovedora acerca de cómo las personas viven la vida a pesar de las adversidades. Me ha encantado el personaje protagonista masculino. Ya que ha sabido sobrevivir a muchos obstáculos que le ha deparado la vida a lo largo de los años. Y que no se ha rendido nunca.

[Kristen Claiborn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this one to complete a prompt in one of the reading challenges I decided to do for 2024. I can’t remember which prompt, but this is the one I decided on, largely because Danielle Steel writes books that are easy to get through. It wasn’t very long, thank god, so it was a pretty quick read.
I do realize that this book was written and published in the 1970s when gender roles were viewed quite differently than I am used to. I need to keep reminding myself of that when I read books that are less contemporary, but it doesn’t help me be less angry at them when I do read them. The book revolves around Oliver, and how his life goes after his wife, Sarah, decides she want to finish college YEARS after quitting to start her family. Oliver if painted as the protagonist, the big hero that steps up to be a single dad when his wife abandons her family. Oliver acted like Sarah’s leaving was a complete shock, despite the fact that Sarah had been telling him for years that she didn’t want the first kid, that she didn’t want the subsequent kids, and that she wasn’t happy with her role and the situation she found herself to be in. Throughout this entire book, Sarah was very clear about her feelings, but it was expected that she suck it up and deal with it because she’s a woman and women are supposed to want to be wives and mothers. I was genuinely not surprised when she left, and I even cheered her on a little…she was pretty clear about what her wants and needs were.
It should be a shock to nobody that I genuinely hated everything about this book. Misogyny was alive and well in this book, and the fact that it was written by a career-woman pissed me off, even though it was written in the 1970s. It does, however, make me super happy that my world is not like that.

[jane Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never picked a book up in my life, until I was 16, when My friend were having fun I was in because I had a baby. So I was at My aunts and I just happened to pick it up, You can take that I just finished it. Not wanting to sound totally stupid I took this book home. A few weeks later I was so board I began to read. I never turned back, it took me months to read, but I enjoyed it. So I read another, no greater love was my second and another 4 months to read but again I enjoyed it. Her books are simple and easy to read and because I had never read a book before It didn't come naturally. To be totally honest with myself before this I could not actually read and the bits I could read I had not a clue what it was going on about.

So this author changed my life. By reading her yes simple but enjoyable and pleasant books for years, I learned myself not just to read but to understand what it was I was actually reading.

Even now if I see a book I have not read I get it, and always enjoyed it. The different is I have normally read the entire book in 6 hours instead of 6 months.

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straight-laced and conservative Oliver meets and marries free-spirited and flamboyant Sarah. Brad knew exactly what his wife and family should look like and proceeded to mold his and his family’s life to fit his image not considering or even caring what Sarah wanted.

Sarah, fed-up with the idyllic life Oliver has created for them, applies to Harvard’s masters program, never believing anything would ever come of it, and was accepted. She leaves Oliver and their three children to live out the dreams she’d given up for marriage and motherhood. Sarah was the perfect example of a woman who married before satisfying her goals and aspirations.

Brad meets television and movie star Charlotte Sampson. He asks her what was her ultimate goal and she told him to act in a Broadway show. After falling in love they make plans to marry then she gets the call that would make all her dreams come true.

Daddy would have been a five-star read had it not had the typical ending.

[Kathy Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't want to read this book. I had a pre-conceived notion that anyone who writes as many books as Ms. Steel must just grind them out in a formula -- or has a staff of 20 or so doing the writing in her name. In any case, I just wasn't interested. But this was our book club pick for this month, so I jumped in and started reading. And to my surprise, I couldn't put it down! I was hooked -- really, really hooked! There are real life issues in this story - real life sorrows and pain and drama. I wasn't too impressed with the ending, as I felt it lacked the reality that had been present up to then, but endings often disappoint me. But this was a gripping, moving story and I highly recommend it. [BTW -- those who read this book may fall into 1 of 2 camps: Team Oliver or Team Sarah. I'm definitely on Team Oliver. Hated Sarah. What a cold, selfish bee-atch.]

[Redfox5 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Steel's better books. The story is engaging, she doesn't keep repeating herself. Their are characters you love and hate. And by hate, I mean Sarah who was nothing but a selfish biatchhh. I loved Oliver as the main character, even if at times I didn't agree with how he handled some situations, like with his son and his baby. His kids were cute and likeable and the romances in the book were handled well, even if the last one happened super fast but I will let that slide as it is a chick-lit book. If you're looking for somewhere to start with Steel, you wouldn't go wrong picking this one.