Paris Armstrong lives a life that she think is perfect for her. She has a caring, hard-working husband with whom she is married for almost 25 years. They live in a beautiful house where their two, now young-adult, children where raised. She has a good social life and is very happy with her life. However, everything is falling to pieces when Peter, her husband, seems to think differently and leaves her for another woman. She is left behind, alone and desperate. It takes a while before she realizes that she has to lead her own life again and she decides to move to San Francisco to be close to her children. Living over there, it is her challenge to build something new for herself, and to ask herself the question what she really wants to do with her life. "Dating game" is obviously a fictional story. Everything you read in this book is just a little too much, too much of a good thing to come across as truthful. Moreover, the story is full of clichés: the amorous Frenchman, the old 'professional bachelor’, the depressed widower, and so on.That being said: it’s a great book to read, perhaps because of the clichés. It brings along the necessary recognition and makes “Dating game” a fine feel-good novel that’s a page-turner. In addition, there's certainly - sometimes deliciously cynical - humor in the story which made me regularly chuckle out loud. "Dating game" is a story about love, loss, faith and above all: Hope.------------------------------------------------Paris Armstrong leeft een voor haar perfect leventje. Ze heeft een zorgzame, hardwerkende man waarmee ze al bijna 25 jaar getrouwd is. Ze wonen in een mooi huis waar ook hun twee, inmiddels jongvolwassen, kinderen opgevoed hebben. Ze heeft een goed sociaal leven en is erg gelukkig met haar bestaan. Haar wereld wordt echter totaal op zijn kop gezet als blijkt dat Peter, haar echtgenoot, hier heel anders over lijkt te denken en haar verlaat voor een andere vrouw. Ze blijft alleen en verslagen achter. Het duurt even voordat ze door heeft dat ze zelf haar eigen leven weer moet gaan leiden, en ze besluit naar San Francisco te verhuizen om dicht bij haar kinderen te zijn. Daar wordt het haar uitdaging om iets nieuws voor zichzelf op te bouwen, en zich af te vragen wat ze nu écht met haar leven wil doen."De verleiding" is overduidelijk een fictief verhaal. Alles wat Danielle Steel je voorschotelt is net een beetje 'too much'; te veel van het goede om als waarheidsgetrouw over te komen. Bovendien staat het verhaal bol van de clichés: de amoureuze fransman, de oude 'beroepsvrijgezel', de depressieve weduwnaar, en noem maar op. Dit gezegd hebbende: het is een heerlijk boek om te lezen, misschien wel dankzij de clichés. Het draagt de nodige herkenbaarheid met zich mee en maakt 'de verleiding' tot een fijne feel-good-roman dat leest als een trein. Bovendien zit er zeker, hier en daar heerlijk cynische, humor in het verhaal die met regelmatig hardop heeft laten grinniken. "De verleiding" is een boek over liefde, verlies, trouw en bovenal: hoop.
I read Danielle Steel novels as if I was an anthropologist studying a foreign tribe. 99.9% of her main characters (female and male) act as if having children is THE ONLY WORTHWHILE thing in life. If they can't have children, their life is over. If they have children they must give up everything for those children. And even if they don't want kids, they will change their minds by the end and THE MIRACLE OF CHILDBIRTH and/or holding a newborn infant will immediately change their entire personality. It's like watching gorillas for me - I don't get it, but it's somewhat interesting and as long as I don't sprain my eyeballs while rolling them, no one gets hurt. It makes sense, the woman has 837 children of her own, she must be a bit baby-crazy. Write what you know and all that. These days lots of people seem to turn to paranormal for their escapism fiction. Vampires, werewolves, witches, what have you. Things so far outside your real world that you can forget the washing machine is leaking and you owe $20,000 to the credit card company. I read about Danielle Steel's babies and the women who MUST HAVE THEM and then return me to my real life, happily secure that I would still rather chew off my own arm than have kids.
What do You think about Dating Game (2003)?
hmm im still reading and Steel's smooth narration is so good :) I have read so many of her novels and her character development is amaaazing! She describes them as if they are real people. What I like about Steel's style is her incorporating her characters/ story in historical events. I'm surprised to see this book of hers: dating game. It kinda sounds like chic lit genre! :) And its refreshing.Im confused so many people don't like Danielle Steel :O Why? The tragedy too heavy for you? But that's reality guys. Personally, I like DS novels more than Nicholas Sparks novels. With DS, you can't predict anything. It's really a roller coaster ride but with NS, I like his writing and his stories but they are always the same: guy meets girl, tragedy falls (either girl got sick or guy got sick) ending: they still find love. They are two good romance writers. Im just saying, if you like NS or if your looking for something refreshing and a tear jerker read, read Danielle Steel! :)edit:Finished! i liked it but not as much as i like her other books. :P
—karisakun
I have never read a Danielle Steel novel and for some reason when I saw this in the free books bin at my local used book store I thought, "why HAVE I never read one of her books? She's published like a billion novels, surely she has to be somewhat readable" and I took it home. It sat on my shelf for months until I found myself between books and in need of something very unchallenging and remembered it was there. Well...I have now read a Danielle Steel novel. The story wasn't awful. It would have made a great chick flick or Lifetime movie, which is the stuff of a Steel novel right? But the writing...oh the writing. It was horrible. Just horrible. If Danielle Steel were in a middle school English class and I was her teacher, she would have failed. Just very basic grammar and rules of writing were completely dismissed. There wasn't a single page that didn't have at least one sentence beginning with the word "and." She changes perspective, sometimes mid-sentence. At times it was painful. But I could have really enjoyed it as a fluffy movie.(oh, and as a side note, there was exactly none of the steamy sex she is known for. Maybe one sentence of spicy.)
—Chelsea Cripps
I liked this book more than I thought I would.I could correctly guess the dynamic of the book based on the synopsis, but it was by reading it through and through that there were a few sprinkles of surprises both funny and otherwise. As a young woman, I could relate to the character inspite of the fact that I am half her age; I could relate to the fact that dating is hard and isn't as easy for younger women as some people may believe. It can be quite a rollercoaster! But it was good that the main character discovers , as in real life, that one can find that special someone when least expected!
—Stasha
