Customer Reviews

The Kiss

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I started reading this book the minute I got it. I so look forward to reading her novels. This one keep me so intrigued it was hard to put it down and tend to my families' needs. I felt like I was right there with the characters with all the happenings. The first kiss was so magical and holds them on after the tragedy. I still cannot beleive that Isabelle's husband could be so cold and heartless. Isabelle was so good to her family and her wifely duties that sometimes, I got so frustrated with her husband being a real "jerk" and having no heart when it came to his own son. The Love affair was written very true to reality, yet was not "smutty" at all, true to a Danielle Steel novel. Bill and Isabelle were in love and Bill's reactions to his body afterwards is so very true to reality. I see it all the time as I am a RN. I loved it having a happy ending and that all the characters got what they deserved. I recommend this novel to all Danielle Steel fans and romance readers.

Isabelle Forrester and Bill Robinson live in different continents but carry on a friendship via the telephone and a few visits here and there for four years. Isabelle stays at home with her sick child Teddy and her hateful husband. Bill is in a loveless marriage and doesn't want to get divorced because he's afraid it will hurt his career. Isabelle and Bill decide to meet in London for a few days to spend some time together. While in London they share a passionate kiss while at practically the same moment their limousine is hit by a double-decker bus. Their lives are forever changed.

The Kiss is an OK read. The characters are well developed and the storyline for the most part is good. However, there are some parts that are a little far-fetched, such as Bill's hospital bed being wheeled into Isabelle's room everyday. The story seems to get stuck at times and the same details are repeated, which seems is becoming a habit for Ms. Steel. But, once you get past the repetitive parts the story picks up and is interesting and easy to read. The reader is anxious to get to the end to see how the story ends. This is not one of Ms. Steel's best books but is OK to pass the time reading. A nice change of pace and escape in today's world.

I have been a fan of Danielle Steel for many years...I have read all her books, and I wait patiently for each new book to come out so I can run out to buy it. The past few books I have been disappointed, feeling like it is not her normal quality great story. In fact, after I would read her book, I would tell myself that the next book I would get at the library or wait until it went to paperback (but of course, I always end up running to the bookstore to buy it when it is released). So I wasn't sure what to expect from The Kiss. I was very pleased. While showing how horrible both Isabelle and Bill's marriage are, making us hate their spouses, you feel the love and the bond that Isabelle and Bill have for each other. You fall in love with their love, and stand behind them while they fight for their lives, and for their love. I finished this book even more excited for her next book to be released. Thank you Danielle, for showing us why we fell in love with your writing!

This is the last Danielle Steel book that I'll ever waste my money on. She's gotten lazy and doesn't bother developing her characters. She tells entirely too much and never shows. I am sick of her heroines being beautiful, perfect angels with absolutely no flaws while everyone else around them are the bad guys. The ending was rushed and way too predictable. Why bother reading the book when you know--JUST KNOW--that this insipid, cooing couple is going to end up in others arms. They deserve each other, anyway, they are so boring in their so-called perfection. Nothing from this book evoked any iota of emotion from me. For example, I understand that the child, Teddy, had a heart condition, but why did he act eight instead of fourteen? Did the condition spread to his brain? How were we to believe that Isabelle and Bill were in love when this fact was shoved down our throats instead of being told to us, as any good writer would do? We are constantly TOLD that they are great friends, but Steel insults our intelligence by never showing us and letting us decide that fact for ourselves. Then the rest of the novel gets saturated with melodramatics fit for soap operas, not fiction. This book was entirely without substance. Waste of time.
Lady, the next time you write a book, try having your female lead character be an ordinary looking, middle class woman WITH FLAWS, LIKE EVERY OTHER HUMAN BEING. Maybe I won't feel like throwing up every time the poor insipid little waif, with a wealthy but tyrannical husband she's too wimpy to stand up to, opens her mouth. But if you do create such a character, I won't be wasting my money to witness such a miracle.

Like many others, I found the constant repetition VERY tiresome. I skimmed a lot in this book, and read it much more quickly than I normally would a book of this length. I figure she probably could have cut about 150 pages with all the repetition!

And to make Bill such a jerk after they're out of the hospital is just dumb. He seemed *much* more intelligent than that. I realize people react after such a horrible thing happens to them, but it seemed out of character.

Danielle Steel still tells a good story, but her stories are getting bogged down in her words. We don't need to be told over and over and over that Isabelle's son is sick and that's why she would never leave the idiot of a husband she has. We don't need to be told over and over and over again how they feel about each other, or any of the other things she repeats ad nauseum througout the book.

I hope Danielle Steel reads reviews on sites such as these. The repetition has been an ongoing problem in her last several books.

I used to read DS all the time, but have slowly weaned myself off when it occured to me that her books all followed the same basic plotline, and as a result are painfully predictable. The female character goes through pure hell before emerging victorious with the man of her dreams. Nothing wrong with books addressing women overcoming adversity, but with her the woman is always perfect, nice, loving, she does no wrong to anyone--it's just that life has handed her a bad hand. And usually it's an awful (sometimes unbelievable) hand.

Hence this pattern continues with "The Kiss" except, this was worst than most. Many people in these reviews point to Steele's repetitiveness, and I can't not agree more. Does she think we didn't catch it the first 30 times she mentioned that Timmy was sick, her husband [is horrible], and she loves Bill? I skimmed through some parts that just repeated things... I have a feeling Ms. Steele made use of the "Copy and Paste" feature on her word file (ha!)

The predictable (and boring) ending was such a disappointment... all of a sudden after being so stubborn he turns around and decides he wants her. Not a lot of fluidity.

Hope Steele sees this...

I have been reading Danielle Steel's books for over 15 years now. Sometimes they do get a bit "all the same" with most of the characters being important, successful, beautiful people who live in "stately homes" and wear "important jewels and furs". Sometimes I think the characters are more about what they have then who they are. Despite this, I always enjoy her books - they are easy to read, romantic and make you forget about everyday life for a couple of hours while engrossed in the book. Personally I think her earlier books are more enjoyable and get more involved in the characters than some of the later books she If you love Danielle Steel you'll like this one too. This is one of her later books and one that I enjoyed as the characters were more developed than some of her others. The story does seem to repeat the same things over and over which gets a little tiresome but all in all, not a bad book.

Other than one of her earlier novels, I believe, "To Love Again", did I feel so much for the principals in this novel. My heart went out more to Isabelle more so because that husband of hers was just plain heartless. but to just be kissing and to crash like that, that was a bit much. But I got to give this couple one thing, they didn't carry on no affair, they took their time, and to be real, didn't nothing disrespectful happen in this book. Bill was so hard to feel that he couldn't love that he almost lost out on love until it was almost too late. I really love these kinds of romance. Ms. Steel made a good one this time. I usually read her novels just as they come out now for over twenty three years now,when I first read "The Promise". this one young girl had it, and I went out and bought a copy, and I've been hooked by Steel ever since. and I am not always a disappointed customer. Now when they make them movies is when I really get mad because they mess up the story line. Other than that, her books are alright by me.

I have never read a Danielle Steele novel before, but the promised story line and the Gustav Klimt cover drew me in. It sounded like a good, romantic read and I knew Ms. Steele was a very famous and popular author, she must be good, right? Was I ever in for a surprise! This book spews forth the most redundant character analyses I have ever heard in my life! Over and over we hear about how Isabelle has to care for her invalid son Teddy, how her husband is extremely selfish and neglectful, how Bill, her true love, has a very selfish wife. The descriptions are flushed around and around, over and over, like something foul that just can't be gotten rid of. Please, do yourself a tremendous favor, Ms. Steele, and take some time off before attempting to write anything as completely empty and intolerable as this total waste of paper! Highly do not recommend this book! :(

This book was pretty boring. I only finished it because it was the only book I had with me while on a flight. It is repeatitive and the dialogue is not believable. I would not recommend it.