Customer Reviews

The House on Hope Street

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Like many of the other reviewers, I have and love all of Danielle Steel's earlier books. In the last few years, starting with The Klone and I, I became turned off by Ms.Steel's writing. In fact, I waited to read House on Hope Street and The Wedding until my name came up on the list at the library. Now, these two books will definitely be added to my collection. The House on Hope Street is a fast, easy, exciting read. I was in tears by page 61 and had to stop and put myself together. You actually feel the pain Liz has to deal with. You get wrapped up in her life, and by the end of the book, you can feel every emotion, good and bad. This book is a must for all of the early Danielle Steel book lovers.

Liz and Jack Sutherland had a very fulfilling and happy marriage a fulfilling and prosperous family law practice and five children one learning delayed the other teen agers, all that changes in a blink of an eye on a christmas day while out on a errand to the office jack and liz's perfect life comes to a shattering close.With jack's death liz is left to be both mother and father to her distraught kids who are forced to grow beyond their years, and to continue the practice just as jack would have done,but in some ways working harder.She has support in friends,and as the holidays tick off one by one she is filled with a onslaught of heartache she has not felt before.Before Labor Day another tragedy takes place that takes liz in a whole new direction. in it's direct effect Liz begins to learn that she can get over her grief and even have the capacity to love again..Some of her kids approve while others still find it hard to swallow which in itself purposes the question how long should one person grieve for a deceased love one and can the heart learn to love as completely but differently as before...It was a very good read although sometimes i felt like liz was made a saint but it just shows how to deal with her lonliness she tries but it is a neverending quest to fill it.And she evetually learns until your body and mind deal with everything and is ready to move on you are at a loss.

I found the book very touching and close to the heart. You felt you were right there in the story. I felt the characters were well written. You understood how deeply Liz & Jack loved each other. When Jack was killed, you felt the pain that Liz felt. Once again Liz feels the pain when her son is in the hospital fighting for his life. She meets Dr. Bill Webster who saves her son and a relationship between Liz and Bill starts to blossom. I found the book very moving, fast reading and totally enjoyed it.

The House on Hope Street is typical of Danielle Steel's most recent work--unoriginal, rambling, shallow, practically dialog-free, sophomoric, grammatically incorrect, and seemingly unedited. I miss the earlier Danielle Steel whose quality novels were written well, when she had to prove herself in order to be published! Now, she just blasts them out without any thought to character development, creative dialog, or research. After yet another disappointing book, she's made me resort to re-reading her well-written classics rather than waste my time and money on her new releases. For those readers who are impressed by her recent novels, check out her earlier works and you may be really impressed!

Ever wonder what would happen if you lost the person you love? Of course you do. We all do. The moment any of us are in a relationship and we realize that our lives are intertwined with another's, you start to notice that they have a responsibility to you... to your life. If they risk their lives, they risk yours as well... for if something happens to them, it happens to you.

Well, in "The House On Hope Street", Danielle Steel touches upon these feelings, worries, and thoughts that anyone who has ever loved another has had.

This is a simple story about a woman [Liz] who has the "Norman Rockwell" life. She has a loving husband, a blissful marriage of 18 years, five wonderful children, and a happy (almost a little too perfect) family. Her and her husband ran a successful family law practice and Liz had everything she ever wanted from life and felt her life would end just the way she envisioned. Then, one fateful Christmas day her perfectly painted life would be shredded when her husband [Jack] meets an early death as he left for, what was supposed to be, a ten minute trip back to the office.

Now, Liz finds herself barely keeping her head above water while simultaneously being both parents, raising five children (one with special needs), maintaining a two-person law practice, and trying to make it from one day to the next picking up the pieces of her shredded "Norman Rockwell" picture-perfect life.

Liz battles from one holiday to the next, trying to make it through life without Jack. Then, a new figure is painted into Liz's life when an accident with her oldest son, Peter, brings Dr. Bill Webster. As Bill mends her broken son, he also begins to inadvertently mend her broken heart... and ironically... Liz begins to unconsciously mend his as well.

Can Liz write a new chapter in her life... turning the pages with Jack and moving on from the past to begin a new chapter with unwritten pages involving Bill?

Can Bill find a way to overcome his past and find the courage to fight his fears and hesitations in order to find a new sense of peace and happiness with Liz and her children?

I gave the book 4 stars (3 for being a average book [and 3 is in-between 5] and an additional star for great characters).

"The House On Hope Street" is somewhat predicable. Ok, let's face it! If you read the synopsis on the book, you pretty much know how the book is going to turn out... at least... you think you do until you hit a couple of twists that may cause you to question (just for a moment) your precognition skills. If you own movies, then think about this: why buy a movie since you know how it's going to end because you most likely have seen it before? Even though we may know or have an idea of how something is going to end... sometimes experiencing the journey is still worth it. "The House On Hope Street" may be predictable... but it has GREAT characters (especially the children) and as predictable as the book may have been... it was still worth the journey.

I'm not sure why I continue to read Danielle Steel's books. Perhaps because I am still waiting for one of them which will entrance me the way her earlier ones did long ago. But if I'm waiting for another book like Season of Passion or The Promise, then her latest The House on Hope Street, while not an altogether bad read, didn't have enough of the old Daneille Steel for a five star review.

Danielle Steel often tells the same tale merely by using new names, locations and different professions for her characters. For sure her heroines or heros always suffer some loss and then must carry on. And The House on Hope Street is no exception to her well worn formula books.

In her new book, Steel begins by introducing us to Liz and Jack, two divorce attorneys and parents of five children, one with special needs. They are a warm and wonderful family who appear to be bullet proof. But a crazed husbad of a client puts an end to all of that when he kills Jack on Christmas Day before turning the gun on himself. Now as Liz struggles with her own emotions and loss, she must also take care of her children and the law practice she shared with her husband. Now perhaps in the hands of another author the reader would see this woman make it on her own as she rememerges as a single mother and lawyer. But Steel isn't content to let her character move on alone so after suffering what could have been another disaster, Liz meets a kindly doctor and the rest is history. And while there is some conflict between the two, Steel readers pretty much know the ending from page 1.

This wasn't an altogether bad read. And while Steel has never been known to write beautifully, I think her readers enjoy her characters especially when they overcome their personal challenges. In any case, this might be just the book for a day at the beach. One can polish it off in a matter of hours and think about it as an overgrown magazine article on how to continue on after a loss provided you meet a man which isn't necessarily the way it is in the year 2000.

I found The house on Hope Street to be very inspiring, that after the loss of Liz's husband Jack she continued on with her life, facing more trauma as her son was seriously injured only to find someone who eventually became her lover. It shows us how in life that there are tragedies, and that history can not be reversed, but life does go on. I would recommend this book to everyone, and look forward to her next book!

Danielle Steele has done it again! In The House on Hope Street, she has managed to develop characters we truly care about, and situations many have faced or will have to face sometime in the future. Liz, Bill, Jaimie, and Peter are all well developed characters. My only criticism is that the girls and Jack don't come across as people about whom we can really care. All in all though, the book was an enjoyable summer read and I strongly recommend it to Danielle Steele fans everywhere.

"The House on Hope Street" is the best book Ms. Steel has written in a long time. She showed signs of her former self with "The Wedding" and with "Hope Street" she returns to the style that suits her best, telling a tale of love, love lost, and love found. This book is not without its faults, but it's obvious that it was written with more care than some of her recent works. It's a small book and therefore a quick read, but it avoids some of the pitfalls Ms. Steel has become prone to such as repetitiveness just to fill up pages.

If you are a DS fan, you should enjoy this novel.

This book was a quick read, but I was disappointed in the book. I have read every book that DS has written, but I have bought her recent books knowing before I buy them that they will not measure up to her earlier works. I love her historical novels, but even "Granny Dan" fell short of my favorites, "Zoya", "The Ring" and "Thurston House". I know her personal life has suffered greatly in the last few years and I suppose it's only expected that it would take a toll on her writing, as well. I will continue to buy her books with the hope that the "old" DS will re-emerge.

This book has a good story, just not the plot and character developments I was hoping for. Even at her worst, DS is still worth the read.