One Day at a Time [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Danielle Steel (Author), Dan John Miller (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

Coco Barrington was born into a legendary Hollywood family: her mother Florence is a mega-bestselling author, and her sister Jane is one of Hollywood’s top producers. Jane has lived with her partner, Liz, for ten years, in a solid relationship. Florence, widowed but still radiant, has just begun a secret romance with a man twenty-four years her junior. And Coco, a law school dropout and the family black sheep, works as a dog walker, having fled life in the spotlight for the artsy northern California beach town of Bolinas. When Coco reluctantly agrees to house-sit in Jane’s luxurious home, it turns out Jane’s house comes complete with an unexpected houseguest: Leslie Baxter, a dashing but down-to-earth British actor who’s fleeing a psycho ex-girlfriend. Their worlds couldn’t be more different. The attraction couldn’t be more immediate. Suddenly Coco is seeing things differently: Leslie is not just a celebrity, he’s a single dad to an adorable six-year-old girl. Her mother is a woman in love, with vulnerability and new insight. And Jane and Liz are about to take the bravest plunge of all – into parenthood. As Coco contemplates a future with one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, as her mother and sister settle into their lives, old wounds are healed and new families are formed – all bonded by love. With wit and intelligence, Danielle Steel explores love in all its guises, taking us into the lives of three unusual but wonderfully real couples. One Day at a Time is at once moving, thought provoking, and utterly impossible to put down.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Steel does not depart from her typical formula in this latest offering, which centers on the life of Coco Barrington, a young and beautiful daughter of privilege. Much to her domineering mother’s shock, Coco not only drops out of law school but also rejects her family’s wealthy L.A. lifestyle. She chooses, instead, to pursue a semi-hippie existence in an artsy Northern California beach town. After her equally footloose boyfriend dies in a hang-gliding accident, she finds herself bereft but still choosing to live apart from her family, existing on her trust fund and the little she makes from her dog-walking business. One weekend, while house-sitting for her movie-producer sister, Jane, she strikes up a friendship with Jane’s houseguest, Leslie Baxter, an impossibly handsome and witty British actor, who is currently in hiding from a psycho ex-girlfriend. Not surprisingly, Leslie and Coco begin to fall in love, and after overcoming a series of difficulties, they appear to be headed for “happily ever after.” In addition, by the end, Coco has also begun to resolve her other familial difficulties, becoming closer to both her mother and sister. Fairly brief and lighthearted; nonetheless, Steel’s fans will enjoy. --Kathleen Hughes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 590 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Happy Birthday, 44 Charles Street, Legacy, Family Ties, Big Girl, Southern Lights, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423320786
• ISBN-13: 978-1423320784
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,164,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( S ) > Steel, Danielle

More About the Author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with over 590 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include 44 Charles Street, Legacy, Family Ties, Big Girl, Southern Lights, Matters of the Heart, One Day at a Time, 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Day at a Time... Danielle Steel Reader's Anon, March 6, 2009

By 

Amy Y. "Tell me, what is it you plan to do wi... (FREMONT, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: One Day at a Time: A Novel (Kindle Edition)

So, true enough that maybe there is nothing special here, nothing particularly tragic or earth-shatteringly life-changing, yada yada. I enjoyed that it was female-centric, introspective and had modern elements(lesbian sister, mother of the protagonist dating a younger man).

I read the occasional Danielle Steel book to be entertained. And entertaiined I was. She is, at least, consistent. I loved the development of the character of Coco in the beginning portion of the book. Maybe I relate too closely to the exasperation and disappointment of particular family members, who knows, but I really enjoyed the character development. I do think Ms. Steel does take a poke at the chi-chi Hollywood set who chooses names like "Coco" for their children and carries about their itty-bitty poochie-woochies.

I dowloaded this book to my kindle and felt it was a decent deal- I likely would not have paid full hardcover price for it.

I think Ms. Steel does an excellent job of capturing those depressing and at times debilitating moments when we realize that we are not all that our parents/family/ourselves wish we were. I love that Coco is a dogwalker and is happy with that, loves her dogs and their individual personalities, shares chinese food with them and somehow makes them seem just all that much more appealing than the human beings by whom she is surrounded.

How much more cliche can you get than the distraught, discombobulated, unkempt dog-walker suddenly confronted with the world-famous, accent-bearing, heart-throb who is staying at her movie producer sister's home where she just so happens to be housesitting? Yes, the accidental and unavoidable meeting of two totally different people, thrown together by fate(or, uh, Ms. Steel- who does happen to be a bit of a romance novelist, heh). They, of course, bond over a dearth of groceries and a bed-nabbing dog.

Like numerous other Steel books, Coco goes on to experience a romance that takes her around the world. Leslie, her movie-star heartthrob, turns out to have a daughter that Coco fall in love with as much as Leslie himself, setting up the picture of what could be a perfect little, ready-made family.

Then, in Italy, an incident brings things to a screeching halt. Coco is reminded of an unpleasant childhood incident that appears to be a dealbreaker for her and Leslie. Coco decides it's just not going to work out- Leslie represents too much of everything that she has always resisted in her Hollywood family- the fame, ambition, lack of privacy...

I don't want to give away more but Coco returns to find that maybe her family isn't quite as judemental as she thought and she is able to find some solace for her broken heart there. Leslie's daughter Chloe ends up being the bridge that brings the destined couple back together again. After all, who can resist the wiles of one of Steel's adorable, never ill-behaved younglings?

Sadly enough, when Coco returns to what her family calls her "shack" in Bolinas, which had been her hideaway where she had kept alive her former lost love, everything has faded and lost it's warmth for her. Steel has her moments of showing us that love transforms both people and places and while Coco's memory of her lost love had been kept a burning ember on the hearth there, the house was still a home and haven. Now, having left behind Leslie, a very real and living love, holding on to the past has lost its lustre.

Sure, maybe it's only worth checking out from the library but I found this read sufficiently entertaining. Hello! It IS a romance novel, not Jane Austen- though, honestly, I think I'd rather read this than some of Austen's stuff. Ha!

Will Coco end up with Leslie? Will she have the family she has so long denied herself through her own beliefs of dispossession. Steel hits the nail on the head that so often what we perceive to be walls between 'us' and 'them' are simply those barriers we have created ourselves. And the thing I enjoy most about Ms. Steel's writing is that she has nothing to prove and in her simple and eloquent way shows that love does, indeed, set us free.

If you are looking for a good romance with some modern elements and not just reams of steamy shower-nozzle masturbation material... this might be a good choice for you. I think most Danielle Steel fans will not be disappointed even if it is not her greatest work ever.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cookie Cutter Story, Nothing Special, February 27, 2009

By 

LuvsLabs09 "Nunya" (Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Day at a Time (Hardcover)

Well, expect the usual Steel repetition. The first 80 pages of the story are about how Coco is the disappointment of her family. Her mom and sister never have anything nice to say about her or her life. It goes on and on.

Enter Leslie (male) a Hollywood movie star, who Coco falls in love with. She doesn't like or want the movie star lifestyle. But, she loves him. She doesn't want to face dealing with the press, but she loves him. She doesn't want to be hounded, but she loves him. On and on, we go again.

Nothing spectacular or tragic happens in this story. You don't finish this book and think to yourself that it was a great story. Anyone could have written it.

I have suspected before that Steel must get paid by the page or words. Its the only thing that makes sense of the constant repetition and lack of substance of her books throughout the last 10 years.

Get this one from the library for free. Not worth buying.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars silly, sappy, soapy,, March 6, 2009

By 

Catherine Wienckowski "film buff" (Smithtown NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Day at a Time (Hardcover)

I had not read a Danielle Steele novel in many years and now I see why.

So incredibly unrealistic it was actually painful. Is Danielle really writing this or is a computer program? They reiterated the same sentence over and over. Maybe I was young and stupid when i used to enjoy these books. I think I will go back and read some of her earlier stories to see if it was the same sappy formula of a book.