Customer Reviews

Toxic Bachelors

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I give the author credit that she changed her traditional storytelling format. This was from the male perspective. Charlie Harrington, Adam Weiss, and Gray Hawk, were good friends and dedicated bachelors. Each had their own complicated, flimsy reasons for being commitment-phobic. However Gray, the loner artist finds Sylvia; Adam the lawyer and wild bachelor finds Maggie; and Charlie, the blue-blood finds Carole. They are all stereotypical characters that we have seen in her previous novels. There is an annoying lack of attention to details and it shows when little Gabby appears with her seeing-eye dog Zorro. Charlie pets him like a household pet and not as a working dog. Conversation between the men sounds at times inane and immature. It was a struggle to finish.

What has happened to Danielle Steele? I have never read a book so heavy on redundant, repetitive information. Throughout the book I caught myself saying "Okay, I get it." Only to find that the very next paragraph was belaboring the point made in the previous paragraph. How long does it take to convey the point that these three guys love their annual European yachting trip for obvious reasons? How stupid does she think her readers are? This is the first Danielle Steele book I have read in approximately 10 years - - it will definitely be the last. And what is up with that ridiculous photo of her on the back cover dressed up like a polar bear in the seat of a fancy red car??? Give me a break! I had to take the dust jacket off so I wouldn't be embarassed to be seen reading the book. Ugh!

I recently saw Danielle Steel interviewed and was impressed that she had raised 9 children, lost a son to suicide, and did so much humanitarian work. I'm not a fan of this type of novel but thought I would give it a try since I was so impressed with her in the interview.

There were two things that drove me nuts about this book, the most annoying of which was her repetition of words and phrases, often right on the same page. "He was going to ask Carole" and then in the next paragraph, "He had decided to ask Carole." The second most annoying thing was all the cliches. It isn't often that I roll my eyes while reading a book.

I also think she spends way too much time with her superficial descriptions of places and people and not enough time having them do things. I like the way other authors develop their characters by showing us how they behave, react and what they say in different situations. I think having a character kick a dog (3 words) tells you a whole lot more about them than 50 pages of superficial drivel, which this book is full of.

I think Danielle Steel is a remarkable woman, but as an author, at least of this particular book, I don't see the magic or talent I expected from a person who has been called, "the world's most popular author."

447 pages. Two days. That's time I could have used elsewhere, feeding the hungry or ministering to the poor or sick. OK, probably just reading another book.

I wanted to cry when I put this book down because I miss the Danielle Steele that wrote 'Thurston House', 'Family Circle' and others. For years now I have felt that she is simply putting out books because she is contractually obligated to by her publishers. I really feel like her heart just isn't in it anymore. She has become very idiosyncratic and predictable. Every book has her main character 'being honest.' I keep reading because I am a loyal Danielle Steele fan and I write this in hopes she'll read it and either decide she is writing because she loves it (like she once did) or decide to retire and let us love her through her earlier works. This book was just awful.

What is the fun in reading about 3 very inmature and stereotyped characters? The book starts as "Sex and the city¨" at a yacht in the Mediterranean. The difference is that the main characters are male. Quiet entertaining in the first 20 pages. After that you can skip to the last chapters and these succesful "teenagers" with the bodies and money of adults found the women that will change their lives for ever. Ha! And of all them will find true love at the same time! Ha!
Botttom line: bad novel from a very commercial writer

Oh my, all the terrible reviews for this book are true!! Ms. Steel is excessively repetitive....I mean EXCESSIVE. Ms. Steel goes into too much background on the characters way too early in the book...and she continues to repeat this information over and over and over and over...you get the picture. I too found myself saying, "Okay, we get it already..." I also agree with one of the reviewers who mentioned the bonding experience the men had. I don't know the men Ms. Steel knows and hangs out with, but she had these me talking about their feelings with each other, as well as how their dysfunctional pasts had affected them. Oh please, no man on earth talks that way. Especially to other men. This book is completely aweful. The plot is so slow and does not grab the readers attention. I have read many of Ms. Steel's books and I believe this one is her worst. I have now started reading Sandra Brown and she is sooo much better. I recommend "The Alibi." So far that has been my favorite by her. She has mystery, suspense, romance... Her words are so much more descriptive and interesting than Ms. Steels. To sum it up, I was completely disappointed with the book "Toxic Bachelors." I highly recommend Sandra Brown, she is a much better author.

Reading a Danielle Steel book now is akin to watching a Kathie Lee Gifford Christmas special--so awful it's almost entertaining. Her characters are ALWAYS rich, beautiful and boring. Curiously, they are almost exclusively only children whose parents are dead. You can read the first chapter and predict the last. I howled with laughter when she describes the bonding conversation between the men. No men I know talk like that. Ms. Steel needs to get out in the real world. Go slumming in the middle class and listen in on real people talking. Stop redoing the same book with a different title. The last good book she wrote was Ghost.

I don't know why I keep reading Steel's books-She has become very redundant and somewhat boring in her writing. Also contradictory,amateurish-I just keep reading them because she used to be one of my favorite authors and hope that she will return to her initial type of writing. The plot is a good one but sadly lacks in details and style. The last few books I have read of hers I just have to ask myself "why do I keep reading them?" Try Karen Kingsbury-She is EXCELLENT.

While I didnt find this to be her best work, this book was quite enjoyable and was a great change from that "poor, divorced/widowed woman in distress" story. This one goes 2 steps better by showing the male side of dating. While there are parts that can bore you to tears, this book was very good.

........from reading Danielle Steel. Here's the book: three bachelors meet three women. They all break up, they all end up happily ever after. BORING, not one single exciting thing about this book. I was happy when my lunch break ended so I could go back to work and stop reading.

Yes - we keep reading her because we feel obligated and hope for a better book someday, but I think I'm at the end of my rope with Danielle Steel. My librarian told me last night they aren't even going to carry any new books of hers. THAT'S sad.