Fair warning: This is more of a rant than a review, so people who liked the book should stay away. Also I didn't tag this review as a 'spoiler' because in my opinion, this book can not have a spoiler. To have a spoiler, one needs to have a story first. However if you are unsure, do not read on.Irresistible Forces. Where do I start? At the outset, let me mention I had never read Steel before but had heard good things about the author. And well, this book started out well enough. The first few pages with the shootout at Harlem, the introduction of Dr. Steve Whitman - all plus points. And then it went down hill. Fast.For 50 pages we get the same monotonous drivel. Steve is good. Meredith is hot. Both are busy. They are deeply in love. We get it already! Enough!!There are exactly four characters in this book, the rest are all here for cameos. Not to mention the fourth character is introduced well after half-time. I was convinced Steve, Merrie and Cal were all the writer's imagination could muster up, not that they were particularly good imaginative products. Made in the same mould, they are all handsome, busy, career-oriented and mind-numbingly-boring. None of them 'like' cheating. They are perfect. They abhor cheating. And then they cheat. All of them! For heaven's sake, it's seven months! How lonely can you get? The first 50 or so pages were spent telling us how little time you had with each other. How is this ANY different? And then comes Cal. It's painfully obvious the character is supposed to be 'oozing charm and sex', and it's equally obvious he's not. I can write pages on his annoying attitude.Merrie if you don't want children it's because you don't love your husband Uhh sexist much? Sometimes I want to throw something at him. You have a lying cheating ex-wife, why would you seduce another married woman? And you couldn't help it isn't an answer. You have a brain man, supposedly. Use it.The company's CFO Charlie was there just to make Cal look better by comparison, and to create a job opening for Meredith, just like Steve's boss was there...actually no he wasn't. He had two lines maybe. Cameos, remember?And for a couple in their forties, they have surprisingly few friends. And by few, I mean none. Zero. Nada. Yes, I get they are busy but come on, none? A college roommate, a colleague they are friendly with (and did not sleep with), a childhood friend? Anyone? But then again how could they? If they did, said friend could have pointed out WHAT MORONS THE CHARACTERS ARE and the whole story could have been avoided.Character development is not something the author figures is necessary. Pace? Forget fast, sometimes I wondered if we were going backwards. You remember the summary talked about a 'move'? That happens at page 225...in a 400 paged book. After 50% is over! As a joke, I decided to skip 50 pages and see if I could immediately pinpoint what was going on. I could. It's not even funny.Research may also not have been a strong suit. Because apparently doctors are dirt poor in NYC. Assistant head of the best trauma unit in the city is dirt poor. Was this supposed to be a joke? Just ReadAnna was the only character I even remotely liked, and Steve's whiny internal monologue even nearly ruined that. Incidentally, Anna is the least-seen character and is only introduced after 250 pages. I think the less-seeing may have helped with the liking part.This book was an agony to get through. In total, I probably liked 10 pages. And the only thing I actually liked about this book - the issue of it being completely fine if a woman did not want to have a kid, the author even killed that in the end! Just torture.I wouldn't recommend it at all, but then again the friend who recommended it to me loved it. So I guess, to each his own... UPDATE: Turns out she was just messing with me. This is crap. I wouldn't recommend it. Period.
Puoi trovare questa recensione anche sul mio blog ---> La siepe di moreChi mi conosce sa che Danielle Steel non fosse proprio tra le autrici che smaniassi per leggere. Difatti me ne sono tenuta lontana per quasi ventisei anni. Solo che la vita è imprevedibile e capita anche di ritrovarsi a leggere un libercolo di Danielle Steel nostro malgrado.È capitato che la mia biblioteca volesse disfarsi di alcuni libri per i quali non c'era posto o necessità di inserirli negli scaffali. Benone, mi sono detta, andiamo a vedere cosa c'è di bello. E di bello – o almeno interessante per i miei gusti – ho trovato Notre-Dame de Paris di Hugo, che desideravo da tempo, e Signor Malaussène di Pennac, che vedremo un po' com'è. Poi, mentre la mia bibliotecaria preferita mi mostrava gli altri titoli disponibili, è accaduto l'imponderabile. «... e poi ci sono questi romanzi di Danielle Steel», mi ha detto. «Ti piace Danielle Steel?». Al che, cercando di essere fedele al mio non-criticare-se-non-conosci, ho risposto: «Mai letto niente di Danielle Steel». Non potete capire l'orrore nel sentirmi rispondere: «Te lo prendo io uno bellino di Danielle Steel!». Se ne andata dietro al bancone ed è tornata con Forze irresistibili. Ora, io lo so che avrei potuto fermarla, ma era così entusiasta che mi è dispiaciuto dirle di no. Oltretutto, è sempre tanto, tanto carina con me e si prodiga nel trovarmi i libri più sperduti (come quelli dimenticati negli archivi e che si supponeva nessuno avrebbe più chiesto in prestito...). Poi, volete mettere la soddisfazione nel poter dire, con cognizione di causa, che i libri di Danielle Steel non mi piacciono?Da qui inizia la recensione. Scusate se vi ho fracassato le palle con questo aneddoto. Forze irresistibili è uno dei libri più soporiferi che abbia letto nella mia vita. Mi sembrava di avere una freccetta di narcotico nel c*lo. Infatti, già dal risvolto di copertina sappiamo che i due protagonisti, Steve e Meredith, sposati da non ricordo più quanti anni, si faranno le corna a vicenda. Quindi uno si aspetta che nella prima metà del romanzo si cornifichino, poi passino la seconda parte a tormentarci con i loro tardivi scrupoli di coscienza.Ah-ah, e invece no! Passiamo quasi trecento pagine (e il romanzo ne ha quasi quattrocento) a leggere il resoconto della vita di questi due, una in carriera a Wall Street, l'altro in carriera nel reparto di traumatologia: sembra di leggere le loro maledettissime agende. Lunedì Meredith ha fatto questo, martedì e mercoledì quest'altro, mentre Steve ha lavorato undicimila ore di seguito e ha dormito due ore. Proprio avvincente. So che, teoricamente, servivano a far entrare in scena l'altro e farlo entrare in confidenza con Meredith, ma che palle, ragazzi!Le restanti cento pagine circa sono in mix di onanismo mentale su sono una/un stronza/o, non lo/la merito, che cosa ho fatto nella mia vita per meritarmi questo, ma io ti amo, no io la/lo conosco troppo bene non mi tradirebbe mai, no non voglio figli da te ma con l'amante c'ho fatto un pensierino, oddio oddio sta arrivando mia marito, ti amo ma devo tornare da mia moglie, ti amo ma devo capire se amo ancora mio marito... insomma, io alla fine ho quasi sentito il bisogno di uno strizzacervelli. Questi personaggi che passavano dall'essere amiconi all'essere amanti da una pagina all'altra mi hanno un po' confusa...Già, poi, parliamo dei personaggi. Chi sono costoro? Boh. Però sono tutti carini, sexy e simpatici. Almeno a detta della Steel: se così fosse, penso che li avrei trovati più interessanti. Sarà per la freccetta di narcotico di cui sopra, ma non so proprio cosa dirvi di questi tizi che mi sono sembrati tutto tranne carini, sexy e simpatici (questa poi!).Adesso si accettano consigli su come dire alla bibliotecaria che questo libro m'è sembrato una c****a...
What do You think about Irresistible Forces (2006)?
This book was extremely mediocre and a waste of my time to read. Many of Danielle Steel's books are engaging, but this one is definitely not a shining example of her best work. The characters are flat and one dimensional. They are all paragons of virtue. Steve and Meredith are honest married people with the purest intentions who never want to hurt another living soul. The book mentions how much they both love each other and how perfect their relationship is many times (to the point of boredom) yet they are separated by distance and their hearts stray slowly through no fault of their own. The build in the story is so slow.....I mean snail's pace slow and honestly nothing really happens. It was very repetitive as Steel books can be. When I had about 20 or 30 pages left of the book, I realized that up until that point everything I read was covered in the description on the back cover of the book. Even if you enjoy light, fluffy, bubble-fiction, this book is not one I would recommend as the characters aren't even likable. They are very "Merrie" Sue and boring as all get out. Spoiler: Cal is movie-star good looking, an impeccable dresser, and an amazing father, and even likes to bbq. His and Merrie's looks are of course natural and effortless and they are both highly intelligent and successful in the business world. And Steve is a hard working, boyishly good-looking, saint. Of course none of the characters have any flaws to flesh them out or give them depth other than Steve's poor fashion sense. I just like my books to have a little more meat to them. Even light books can be filling and this one just left me very empty.
—Sara Murphy
Waaaaaaaay too long !!! At first I was excited to read this one but then -mehh- I got really bored !!I hated that each time I turned a page it's the same story nothing too exciting LIKE AT ALL !! Meredith and Steve are workaholic, I get it but seriously it's too much. I really didn't like Meredith and Steve was way too perfect that makes everything TOO FICTITIOUS. Ugghh I can't even write a proper review !! This book is a complete disappointement and to say this is my first read of Danielle Steel's book , I'm not one bit excited to read more of her :/.
—Hajar BookLover
absolute crap. I didnt finish this. If you want to read a book about a woman saying she loved her husband and "Im married" likes its some sort of superfluous label until you feel like peeling it off, this is the book for you. Main girl, Merri thinks shes in love with her husband even though she doesnt want his kids and puts her job first, husband steve is also fooled. Both fall for someone else, cheat on each other...and thats as far as I got. Good luck to other readers, some might actually enjoy it. Im never reading another Danielle STeel book again
—Maryann
