REVIEW: Fairytale by Danielle Steel

In Fairytale by Danielle Steel, Losing her mother Joy to cancer was devastating to Camille Lammenais and of course her father Christophe. They carried on as best they could through their grief, still running their successful family winery business and trying to do Joy’s memory and her legacy justice. Camille knew that her doting father would likely one day find a woman to care for, someone with whom he could grow old. But she never thought he would get tangled up with someone within months of her mother’s passing. Let alone that the woman would be manipulative, with her sights set on getting Christophe’s money.

‘She had to follow in her mother’s footsteps. The future of Chateau Joy rested on her now too. It was an awesome burden to carry, and she would have to find a way to do it, no matter what it took.’

Maxine de Pantin proves to be craftier than Camille ever dreamed and somehow works her way into Christophe’s daily life. Their whirlwind courtship ends in a quick wedding. She can see the writing on the wall, that Maxine intends to push Camille out of her father’s life. When tragedy strikes again and Christophe is killed in a plane crash, she finds herself left to carry on with the family business while her stepmother and stepbrothers, Alexandre and Gabriel, try to finagle money out of her at every turn. Losing her beloved parents in short succession devastates Camille. Although she has no choice but to continue on and wait until the day she can rid her life of Maxine, Alexandre, and Gabriel.

“Just so we’re clear that I am the mistress of this house now. I’m the chatelaine of Chateau Joy,” she said… “You’re not. You’re welcome to stay here,” she said, her eyes boring into Camille’s like drills, “but I run the show now.”

A Cinderella retelling complete with an evil stepmother and step-siblings, a fairy godmother (step-grandmother, actually), a prince, a princess, and a grand masquerade, Fairytale certainly lived up to its title.

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve read anything by Danielle Steel and I was excited to check out something new by her. And while there were moments that held my attention and strong characters that readers will either love or hate, I was a little disappointed that there was so much “telling” and not enough “showing” in this story. At times it really did feel like a fairytale, with the over the top theatrics of the characters and the drama. But there didn’t seem to be enough emotion and solid dialogue to back it up. I liked the premise of the story overall. I just seem to recall getting a bit more substance out of Steel’s previous work. (Again, it’s been a while, so my literary tastes may have changed since the last time I read her books.)

I can say that my heart went out to our heroine Camille. She was left in quite the predicament when both her parents passed away in a short amount of time. She was left with not only the enormous responsibility of running her family’s successful winery, but Camille had to handle the threats her evil stepmother threw her way. The shining point in her life? Her step-grandmother Simone who was her only ally in the family. Loved her! Okay, so she was cast as kind of a cliche Frenchwoman at first, but her quirkiness really sparkled and shone through. The friendship that grew between Simone and Camille was lovely and is the biggest reason why this didn’t receive a lower rating. Her family friends Sam and Phillip were also anchors in her life, with them (eventually) looking out for her safety and welfare as well.

It may not have been exactly what I was expecting, but I think diehard Danielle Steel fans will still get some enjoyment out of this book. Especially if you love fairytale retellings.
 

Book Info:

Publication: Published October 10th 2017 | Delacorte Press |

The perfect book for the holidays: Cinderella set amid the wine-making estates of modern-day Napa Valley, complete with an evil Parisian stepmother.

Deeply in love, Christophe and Joy Lammenais built Chateau Lammenais into a small but renowned Napa Valley winery and an idyllic home where they raised their beloved daughter, Camille, who takes on increasing responsibilities for the estate they all treasure. But after Joy’s early death from breast cancer just after Camille’s graduation from Stanford, a lonely Christophe soon falls prey to the machinations of a sophisticate from his native France—who moves, with her two reprobate sons, to consolidate her power over Camille and the property when Christophe is killed in a plane crash. With a French “fairy godmother” on the scene, however, the son of a neighboring vintner to assist, and a grand Harvest Ball on the horizon, lovely Camille may make some potent magic of her own….