Customer Reviews

Safe Harbour

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Ted Mackenzie and his bi-polar son Chad were killed in a plane crash nine months ago. Left behind to pick up the pieces are Ted's wife Ophelie and daughter Pip. Ophelie is in a severe depression and can hardly take care of Pip except for the basics. Ophelie leases a house at Safe Harbour for the summer and while there Pip befriends artist and recluse Matt Bowles. They become fast friends despite a difference in age. Matt is suffering from the loss of his children through a divorce. Ophelie and Matt meet and although they don't hit it off at the beginning they become good friends. Matt becomes a pillar of support for Ophelie and Pip as they go through the one year anniversary of the death of their husband/father and son/brother. Through their friendship the wounds begin to heal and they begin to move on with their lives.

Safe Harbour was an OK read. It wasn't the best Danielle Steel book I've read. This book seemed more thought about than some of her previous works. The storyline was good and the characters were likeable. The story-telling in itself seemed to be choppy. The story would move along at a pretty good pace and then seem to get stuck with remembering what had already been stated. This is the same repetitiveness as in Steel's more current work. I must say that this book shocked me when a little over halfway through there is a surprising and shocking twist to the story. This twist had me rereading the pages to make sure I was reading it right. This was a very important part of the story and I was just amazed at how well written this plot twist was. I must say I was speechless when I got to this part of the story.

Safe Harbour seemed to have some of the quality of the older Danielle Steel books. Again, the only part I didn't like was the repeated facts that were written every few pages or at least once a chapter. I would have given the book five stars if it wasn't for the repitition. All in all a good read with a good ending.

Finally Danielle Steel has written a book that doesn't sound just like all of her others. Sure....same bit of storyline..but much better developed characters and a refreshing twist. Pip is a very sweet 11 yr-old girl who wins the heart of painter Matt. Pip's mother Ophelie was a disturbed mother who had suffered a loss but finds herself again after spending time with Matt. Add Mousse, the dog, and a few other additions and you have the perfect story. The ending was a bit far-fetched but overall, this book is a winner!

Okay, I give up! Who edited this book? Is Danielle Steel so sacrosanct that her editors are not allowed to edit?

I agree with those who have written that this book was an improvement over the last few. Sure, the main character is the same, weak, indecisive, codependent woman but at least this one has a little gumption and actually stands up for herself. I am beginning to think that these characters have to be a reflection of Ms. Steel's own personality. Why else would she continue to create these weak women?

Danielle Steel knows the pain of losing a child and offers some good suggestions for dealing with that pain. But as many steps forward as Opehlie takes, she seems to take an equal number of steps back. It is so frustrating. At least she reacted correctly when faced with the "ultimate betrayal."

With some heavy editing, this book might have been a three for me. As it is, with all the run-on and incomplete sentences and constant repeating of phrases, I can only rate it a two.

I have read every book by Danielle Steel but recently have been very dissapointed in her style of writing and the sameness of her stories. This book, however, is much different in the story line. She obviously has an insight into the the pain of the loss of a child and the agony of mental illness. Having had a son who suffered both, she writes from the heart. I also lost a child.So I can also identify with the loss that this mother endured. But the story also shows the path of recovery and going forward with your life after tragedy. There are other issues the book deals with. But Steel manages to blend them together for a "happy ever after" outcome.
Her style of writing is still lacking------she uses the word "and" far too much as she runs sentences together. She does repeat herself over and over again far too often. She's a mass producer of stories. If she took more time to work on grammar and proper sentence structure, she'd have a much different book. The way she writes now is not a good quality-----but putting that aside, the story is easy to read. In fact, I skim over most of the words to grasp the story-----a quick read. I would prefer, however, that she go back to school and learn how to write in a way that is respected. She's a "fluff" writer---but the content can be fun.
I enjoyed the fact that this story got to my heart, made me cry and encouraged me to learn more about the people. Now if only she'd write in better form------but I guess we can't expect both from her anymore. She's writing too many books in too short of a time. Slow down-----and continue to tell us stories that have heart. This was one of her recent best.

I was hesitant to read Steel's latest novel, because they were all very similar in character type and happy ending stories. Out of habit, and never wanting to miss a Steel book, I read Safe Harbour, and was pleasantly surprised. The characters were likeable, and I enjoyed the pace of the story, and its ending was very moving. My only criticisms are: Ophelie's name, it gets annoying to pronounce names like that, and especially when that person is a main character, it gets distracting after a while. Second, the repetition and run-on sentences were not what I expect from a writer of Steel's caliber. Overall, this was one of her better new releases.

I would have. I have never read Danielle Steel, and once I went to pick up a book of hers and saw that it was priced above the normal amount for a paperback. I put it down, assuming she must be really good, but as I hadn't read anything by her, I wasn't willing to pay extra to do so. Well, I got Safe Harbor from my local library on audiobook and figured I'd give her a try.

As I listened to this novel, I got very tired of the amateur lack of descriptiveness, and of the redundancy. I noticed that a few things were said over and over again throughout the novel, like the fact that she had so much to do before the tragedy, and now... afterward she had too much free time, and even though things were hard before, she'd rather have the "business" of a mentally ill son and a husband that didn't care about her. As if the readers wouldn't remember, or as if we didn't get her point the first 3 times. Many things were repeated like that, and I felt like I was listening to a fifth grade creative writing assignment where the student had to meet a word requirement and didn't have enough content.

Ophelie is weak, simple, and boring, as is Matt. They have no personality. The version I am listening to is the unabridged verson, so I can't possibly be just missing something. I understand that this is supposedly a novel of triumph and the will to survive, but she didn't even care for her child, and it had been a year. Perhaps these things do happen in real life, but I'd much rather read about women with some semblance of a spine. It should have been one or the other, Ophelie's husband should have been worth mourning so thoroughly.

I assumed this must have been one of her very first novels for it to be so blah, but I checked the publication date... and I'm in shock.

Perhaps Danielle Steel feels she is above having to deliver a quality novel with her fame, I can't begin to understand how such a reknown author could release something so terrible.

Danielle Steel has done it once again. Written a book that must have taken her all of one day. I was really disappointed after Summer in St. Tropez, but thought after a break from her books I'd try again. Sorry I wasted my time. This book is SO repetitive, same phrases are not only repeated chapter after chapter but in the same paragraph. The story line seems to drag on forever. If Steel's goal is to "dumb" her books down for the masses then she has succeeded. This book is written at about an 11-year-old's level. Don't waste your time.

I gave Danielle Steel another chance because I thought that maybe this book would be better after I read the other reviewers. I was misled. Same old story, same pathetic woman with no back bone. Her books are depressing. This one was not quite as bad as "Unanswered Prayers", but it was not all that great either. A reader gets tired of being told the same information over and over again, like we can't remember what happened two chapters before. I am glad I checked this out from the library and did not waste $20.00.

This is easily one of the two worst books I have ever read in my life. It's an insult to writing and storytelling. The story itself is thin and lame, the characters have no depth and it is clear that no one edited the book. Danielle Steel's prose is filled with unnecessary commas, paragraphs with sentences that contradict one another and trite sayings and descriptions. My advice is to not waste your time reading this horrible book. Doing anything else, including staring into space, would be a better use of one's time.

I really love the setting in this book. Its so serene in most of it and it captures you right from the get-go. This is a must read! Danielle Steel is the Queen of Romance!