I can finally say that I've read a Danielle Steele novel. Wings is the story of plucky young redhead Cassie O'Malley, youngest daughter of a 1930s rural airstrip owner who forbids his four daughters to fly. What he doesn't know is that his best friend is teaching Cassie to fly and discovering that she's not only good at it, but a total natural. In typical romance novel fashion there are a number of sensational twists and and turns from there, but suffice it to say, the Cassie gets her man in the end.I think I could really like Danielle Steele if I could take her more seriously. Knowing that she's cranked about a zillion novels, I have some doubt about her creativity and originality. Her name is almost synonymous with the strictly defined almost machine-produced romance novel, but after reading Wings I can see why she's become famous for it, rather than remaining just one of the many names writing generic stories for Harlequin or Silhouette. Rather than simply giving us a fulfulling love story involving our independent heroine, we follow Cassie's whole life and several facets of it: her love of flying, her attachment to her close-knit family, and yet her wish to follow a path different than that of her sisters who simply married and had children as soon as they could. Her story involves several twists and turns and a whole plot line unrelated to the drawn out courtship between her and the man she loves. If I was in the mood to read a romance novel not completely focused on romance, I would have enjoyed reading the whole book. Unfortunately, I started reading the book several months ago when I was flipping through it while one of the elderly people I used to "babysit" was napping. Of course then I skipped to all the "good" parts (although Steele isn't terribly explicit during love scenes), but didn't make it to the end to see how hero and heroine were finally united. When I stopped by the library the other day, I saw it & figured I could at least skim the last third to see how it ended, which is essentially what I did. Although at 452 pages, that's a lot of skimming, & I kept finding myself getting drawn into the other parts of this complicated story, despite really just wanting to know about the relationship between Cassie and Nick. But as general fiction I think it's only so-so. There's nothing really wrong about Steele's writing, but it's not very complex. Even though there's a lot going on in the story, it's told in such a straight-forward way that there isn't much to think about, simply obvious emotional reactions to have. Definitely the kind of writing I enjoy when I'm looking for a good romance novel, but not general fiction. Maybe if I want more than just a quick romance fix I'll come back to Steele, but if I'm going to read something almost 500 pages long, I think I want something a little more thought-provoking.
All fluff - no stuff. As an analogy, this book would compare to a Thanksgiving dinner with the turkey missing.The author could have clearly modified this work and it might have been a very good read. Instead it appears to have been quickly generated to contain a viewpoint of "chick-flick" expressions and concerns rather than detailing events as they occurred. The story is told from a third party narrative point of view rather than being developed primarily by character dialogue. For example, there must be over 50 references to the fact that Cassie loved flying, yet I never got the feeling that I was in the cockpit with her while she set instruments, corrected for elevations, speed, and headings and a thousand other details that a person who really loved to fly would dwell on. And there were numerous references to Cassie in overalls covered in grease. That might harken the image of a shade tree auto mechanic, but aviation mechanics are/ and were seldom covered in grease, at least the successful ones. It was just a literary ply to provide a tomboyish image to offset the real substance of this book which concentrated on many of the traditional lightweight romance novel topics such as blushing, kissing, having babies, etc.
What do You think about Wings (2006)?
I've read a lot of crap during my life and DS's books are without doubt among that..seriously I don't even know how I ended up reading her.oh yeah I was on vacantion and I was desperate to read something,anything..DESPERATE it's certainly the correct adjective u_uI don't know how she's a best-selling author,I don't get it! I definitely prefer historical romances (authors like Julia Quinn,Lisa Kleypas for example) to this stuff .At least they're funny and I don't end up sleeping while reading them.DS's stories are way too predictable,with too much drama and they remind me of some sort of stupid soap opera..blahhh
—Jona
Wings by Danielle SteelThis is the story of Cassie who's got a lot of other sisters and her father really wanted a boy so he could take over his flying business.With the help of Nick, the other pilot when she gets older she takes the plane up, during a storm to prove she can do it. After she lands her father tells her he will teach her to fly, Nick helps also.Her mother finally has a boy, Christopher and his father trains him to take over the business and to fly. He has NO interest in it and doesn't like it.After high school she didn't want to marry and have babies so she told them she wanted to go to college-an engineering degree. Bobby has proposed and she turns him down for now.She is in the air show and others are there that want them for their own business-a sky girl-you not only fly planes but go out on dates, publicity etc. She has many choices to select from...She's offered a world tour and then her brother dies in a plane crash and she remains home for several weeks. She asked Billie to be her co pilot for the trip but it won't be for another year.Nick makes it back home also finally. So many tragedies that draw her home again against her husbands wishes-it's all about the tour for him. Love all the travel involved. I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
—Julie Barrett
Blech...the only reason I made it past page 6 was because I was stuck on a plane. The heroine's mother is described by her father as having a perfect body just weeks after having her fourth child. There were several other eyerolling sentences just on that one page that made me almost chunk it in the airport trashcan. The only reason I finished it was because it picked up in the middle of the book about the time my plane landed. The writing fell apart at the end, however, and the reunion of the two main characters was incredibly dull and uninspired.Basically, this felt like a reimagining of the Amelia Earhart story. The romance was between a young girl and a friend of her Dad's who was basically a member of their family and watched her grow up since she was in diapers. I can get past how much older he is but not the incestuous/pedophiliac overtones. The plot was uninspired, the writing was bland and ridiculous, and the romance was almost nonexistent or disgusting. I don't recommend this book to anyone.
—Cheryl
