Irresistible Forces by Danielle Steel

I first started reading Danielle Steel novels when I was a teenager (around 16 years old maybe), and without exception I've loved every single book of hers that I read.

And I'm happy to say that Irresistible Forces also does not disappoint.

Its about a couple, who've been married for around 15 years, but their relationship is as fresh and new as it was at the start. Mostly because, they are both carrier-oriented workaholics (he's a doctor, she's a financial whiz) and, when you don't see each other that often, I guess it makes whatever time you have together all the more precious.

Anyway, when the wife is offered a better job in another state, they decide on staying apart for a few weeks, during which the husband would also look for a new job and join her there. On thing leads to another and the weeks turn into months. They try to visit each other as often as they can, but things are just not the same. The wife gets together with her boss, who she spends most of her time with. And after a while, the husband also hooks up with a colleague.
After a point when they realize how distant they have grown, they decide to mend things before its too late.
Sadly, though neither of them know it yet, the marriage is already dead! I guess it just goes on to show long-distance relationships almost never work, however committed you are!

The really good thing about the story was how there weren't any ugly breakup scenes, but that could be because they both immediately move on to other partners. But I liked the way it was handled, very mature and adult-like.

As in almost all of her books, many many pages have been dedicated to describing the relationship and the feelings of the couple and the people involved with them. Overall, a nice story, with an unconventionally happy ending.

Why I Love How I Met Your Mother!

Among many reasons, chief of them being Barney Stinson, I would say its because it introduced me to this beautiful poem & Pablo Neruda in this episode.

I tried looking for the complete poem, but couldn't find it anywhere, I'm guessing they just picked up bits and pieces from many of his poems.

Anyway, sharing what little I found:

"Just knowing you're out there thinking about me, 

Caring about me, makes me feel safe 

So all my fears, all my yesterdays wash away, 

And only hope remains in the promise of your embrace. 

You make me thank god for every mistake I ever made, 

Because each one led me down the path that brought me to you.

And when we finally come together, I want you to hold me all night. 

Stroke my hair, tell me I'm a woman, and show me you're a man.

Until there was only now; you, and I, and now. 

I do not ask of the night explanations, I wait for it, and it envelops me 

And so you and bread and light and shadow are."

- Pablo Neruda via Stan the Security Guy


And I'll be back when the wind and fates and chance bring me back...
 

Images Courtesy: http://favim.com/image/313060/

Divas Las Vegas by Belinda Jones

Ok, so I picked this up thinking it would be more than just chick lit, but sadly I was mistaken. I usually like chick lit, and if in the right mood, I enjoy reading these books!! In fact, I loved the California Club by Belinda Jones. I'd read it when I was in my teens and really enjoyed it. It was a really feel-good, fun kinda book. Since then I've been on the lookout for more books written by her. And I wont give up yet, since this was the first book written by her.

Anyway, the story is about two best friends who fed up with their jobs & love lives, decide to leave everything and move to Las Vegas to find husbands and get married. And guess what??? They both find good enough husbands, though not before suffering through the requisite amount of misunderstandings and crap.

I didn't like this book at all, and just finished it cause I always try to finish whichever book I start.

The Deep End of the Ocean By Jacquelyn Mitchard

Ok, so I'd wanted to read this book ever since I read that it was on Oprah's Book Club List, in fact it was the first book on the list!

The story is about a boy, Ben, who goes missing at the age of 3 at his mother's high school reunion, and is not found for a really long time, and so, presumed dead. How the family (specially his mother & older brother who were present when it happened) deals with the kidnapping forms the first part of the book. The mother mourns the loss of her easiest/happiest golden child and in the bargain ends up ignoring her other two kids. She gives up having even the slightest semblance of a normal life and the older son grows up with the guilt of having lost his brother who was supposed to be in his care at the time he went missing.

After around 8-9 years, in a surprising twist (which I kind of saw coming, so not so surprising), the mother meets a boy who looks just like the age-progression image generated of her missing son at age 12. Further investigation reveals that it is her own son, and he was kidnapped by a mentally unstable schoolmate of hers, who was present at the High School Reunion.

How the family deals with the reunion, followed by a short-term parting and a final reunion with the boy forms the rest of the story. 

A nicely written book that gets depressing at times, but overall a nice change from the books I usually read!

Rebecca By Daphne Du Maurier

 

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . ."

I was always intrigued  by this sentence, having come across it in the numerous quizes I've taken on GoodReads about first sentences of books! I finally got down to reading this book last week. It is supposed to be a "Gothic romance", and one of the few novels I've read in this genre, the others being classics like Jane Eyre & Wuthering Heights which I really loved.

It has a slow start and doesn't really get interesting until about mid-way which is when the major plot twist takes place. I'm usually good at guessing what happens next in movies (I guessed nearly all the twists in Race!!) and most books, but I must say I really did not see that one coming! Shocking!

The book starts off with the narrator, a young girl of limited means, meeting the much older Maxim de Winter. He is a rich widower still grieving the sudden accidental death of his charismatic and much-loved wife Rebecca. They spend time with each other and when she's about to leave, he proposes and they get married.

After a short honeymoon, Maxim and the new Mrs. De Winter (Her name is never revealed in the entire book) go home to Manderley, his country estate managed by a large staff, including the creepy housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.

I expected Manderley to be actually haunted by Rebecca's ghost or spirit or whatever, but isn't so. It is haunted, but not in the literal sense, its more the way nothing has changed since Rebecca's death, and everything in the house is as she liked it to be. Her rooms are cleaned daily, her clothes are laid out, her favorite flowers are in vases, even the food she liked is still served. All done by the devoted Mrs. Danvers. Creepy!!

However everything changes when the boat Rebecca was in when she died is found at the bottom of the sea.
What was initially considered to be an accident is now revealed to be either a suicide or a murder!!
We then learn the truth about Rebecca and Maxim and their life at Manderley.

The book ends somewhat ambiguously with many unanswered questions, some of which were answered thanks to Google! Others I leave for the next time I read this book.

Wonderfully written, lots of suspense and drama. Loved the book!!