#BookBeginnings Danielle Steel’s The Klone and I

Today we’re looking forward to starting the next book in The Bestseller Code 100 challenge, The Klone and I by Danielle Steel for Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Book Beginnings is a fun meme hosted by Rose City Reader blog. To participate, share the first sentence or so of a novel you are reading and your thoughts about it. When you are finished, add your URL to the Book Beginnings page linked above. Hope to see you there!

 

book-beginnings-button-danielle-steel

Danielle Steel’s The Klone and I*

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

This is one of the oldest books on the challenge list, published in 1998.

Summary:  When her husband of thirteen years leaves,  Stephanie isn’t ready for the dating world. That is, until she meets someone during a spontaneous trip to Paris. Has she finally found her match?

First Sentence:

My first, and thus far only, marriage ended exactly two days before Thanksgiving.

Discussion:

Although she is wildly popular, I have never read anything written by Danielle Steel before.

Even though it is a sad time for Stephanie, the way the first scene is written made me nod my head and at times chuckle. I liked the first person voice. It made me feel like I was talking to a close girlfriend.

Without giving too much away, at about 100 pages things change abruptly.  Although authors are supposed to defy readers’ expectations half way through the book, this was way too much. I’ve read that the first sentence/scene/chapter should set the tone for the book, like the author’s promise to the reader:  “If you like this, you’ll like the rest of the book because it will be the same.” In this case, the promise was broken.

Do you think the first chapter should set the tone for the book? Have you ever read a book that changed tone so much you no longer enjoyed it?

9 Comments

  1. Bev

    Hmmm – Danielle Steele isn’t my favourite author, although every now and then I pick one up, because there were one or two older ones of hers that I did like. This looks ok, but I agree with you about the contract between an author and reader – t a wild change isn’t on.

    I’m reading Diamond – The History of a Cold-Blooded Love Affair by Matthew Hart and thoroughly enjoying it.

    Thanks for sharing.

  2. Lauren @ Always Me

    If Danielle Steel wrote about clones I’d like that! 🙂

    • Roberta

      There are clones. One is named Paul Klone, thus the title.

  3. Breana M.

    I haven’t read anything by this author but have heard a lot of good things about her books. The Klone and I looks pretty interesting.

  4. Laurel-Rain Snow

    I used to love Danielle Steel’s books, back in the beginning, but not so much these days. This one sounds tempting, though, except for the broken promise halfway through! I definitely think the author must keep her promises.

    Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog.

  5. Kathy Martin

    I don’t think I’ve ever read a book by Danielle Steele. I may have to give this one a try. This week I’m featuring Come and Find Me by Hallie Ephron. Happy reading!

    • Roberta

      Kathy, I hadn’t either, but I see them all the time at the library sales.

  6. Karen

    When Danielle Steel’s novel first began hitting the bestseller lists in the early 1980s, I read quite a number of them. I liked her strong female characters (for that time) and how they tried to mesh glamorous lifestyles or chaotic executive lives with family. Always family was the main theme throughout.

    • Roberta

      Her descriptions of family dynamics are spot on in this one.

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