Rating: 
Summary: A journey for one woman
Review: I thought this was another great Steel book, but had to agree with some of the review that said it was a bit repetitious. I kept waiting for Maddy to get the strength to leave her abusive husband and find herself, and when she did, she jumped right in to another relationship! A happy ending nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: A Fast Read
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed reading this novel, it took me less than 24hrs to read. I've found that reading Danielle Steel novels you always learn some valuable information even if the story line does not always ring true to life. But hey, isn't that what romance novels are all about? The heroine always has money,or stumbles on to it and things generally work out in the end. There's great information on abuse here and hopefully a few women have been saved by this. Despite some of the other negative reviews this book got, if you love Danielle Steel or romance novels you'll like this book.
Rating:
Summary: Can't she be alone??
Review: I wanted to read this book because it was on the best-seller list and I had just finished reading His Bright Light, the story about the life of Ms. Steel's bipolar son. The subject matter interested me as the topic of a novel because I prosecute domestic violence cases as misdemeanors and know how hard it is for women to get out of the cycle of violence. Ms. Steel certainly did her homework. The thoughts Maddy had are very common among victims who are emotionally abused. Having been a victim in my first marriage of all those subtle put-downs, the book was somewhat painful to read. The book had a great deal of repetition. I thought it could have been shorter and just as effective. It bothered me that Maddy, who was a top-drawer anchorwoman, never got out of the abuse without a man to help her. I would have liked the story better if she had not gone from one man to another to another. What about a break in between so that she can figure out who she really is? That would have shown real growth on the part of the main character. Maddy was a real likeable character, however. I did enjoy the book for raising the consciousness of those of us who like fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: A very improbable story
Review: I was very disappointed after I had read this book. I can't believe that this is a bestseller! First of all the main character Maddy who is incredibly rich and beautiful and succesful and famous and good and lovable and everybody love her and admire her and so on, just hasn't got the slicest bit of reality in her! She is so unbelievable because everything she does or is is just so goddamn perfect! And then when you add to that the fact that she was married to a man who abused and beat her when they were young and poor and that Maddy only survived because her current husband came there one day, saw her and decided to help her, the story itself seems quite farfetched. And when it becomes obvious that Jack (the current husband) is even more horrible husband than the first one, but she is still despite everything ready to fight him, Maddy starts to look like a saint. The another main character Jack was also poorly portrayet because there wasn't given any kind of indication why he treated Maddy the way he did. Besides he seemed quite irrational with his violent outbursts and it only made Maddy look this much a better person. In my opinion the book also ended in a bit strange way because Jack was kind of forgotten the moment Maddy got out of the marriage and it wasn't told what he did or tried to do to her after the divorce. It would have been interesting to read how he dealt with the public opinion or the lawsuits she was throwing in his face.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing Steel effort
Review: I will admit I'm somewhat of a closet Steel fan. I've liked some of her earlier works, but I'm sorry to say this is not one of her better books. Steel has a very bad habit of telling instead of showing, and it's very evident here. The story's premise showed promise: a popular news anchor (Maddy Hunter) reflects on a bad marriage her current husband helped her escape, and slowly she realizes that her current marriage is also abusive. Though her husband doesn't beat her, he controls her through his position as her boss and belittles her every chance he gets, treating her like dirt. Maddy is in denial for much of the book, yet manages to screw up her courage for the predictable Steel ending. Of course, there is an understanding male friend, suffering his own demons, who eventually becomes Maddy's touchstone and lover and helps her escape. Steel glosses over some scenes which would have been more interesting had she written them as they happened - like Maddy's encounters with the abuse counselor. The constant POV switching and repetitive exposition was also a headache - Steel tends to explain things she had told us in earlier chapters as if she had never written about them before. Maddy's history of abortion is a good example. Overall, this was just disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Is Danielle Losing Her Touch????
Review: I've read every one of Danielle Steel's books and this is the 2nd book in a row that has disappointed me. The subject was interesting enough but she was so repetitious that it was tiring. Her books are what I consider very easy, quick reads that you can get through in a day but I had to skip around much because of the repetitiveness. Example: On one page she'll describe her relationship with her husband and then you go to the next chapter she'll give another recap and then another and another. Maybe not always in the same words but you get the gist of it. If you read it, you'll get what I'm saying. Needless to say, very disappointed!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't quite hit the mark
Review: In "Journey", the 50th (!) of Danielle Steel's novels, the author takes on new territory by addressing the incredibly serious topic of domestic violence and psychological abuse. On the one hand Ms. Steel is to be commended for clearly having researched the matter and for steering away from stereotypes by having her heroine, Maddy Hunter, be a successful and well-known TV personality. But at the same time, Ms. Steel reverts to those very same stereotypes -- anyone who happens to be from Tennessee and reads this book is bound to be offended by these characters and their "white trash" image (her words, not mine). Why is it that whenever DS writes in a Southern character, their names are always Bobby Joe or Etta Lou or something similar? I would imagine that Southerners might find this book loaded with stereotypes. That said, DS does an excellent job describing the psychological abuse that Maddy suffers during the course of the book at the hands of her husband, Jack. My main problem with this is that this couple have been married for SEVEN YEARS. When the book begins, she is happy and in love and things are described as having been heavenly for the course of her marriage. Well, it becomes obvious that Jack has always been domineering and controlling, but it seems very unconvincing to me that Maddy only now begins to feel suffocated by this relationship. Lastly, I was extremely disappointed that Maddy did not emerge from her relationship with Jack until it was "a sure thing" with her new beau and close friend. I think DS could have provided a much stronger message by allowing Maddy to rescue HERSELF from the relationship, be alone for a while, and then realize that she was in love with Bill and have it be a conscious decision to go to him. As it was written, she moved right from one man to another, and you wonder if she is even remotely on the path to healing or not. If DS was concerned about lengthening the story to allow for Maddy to spend some time on her own, she could easily have reduced it by 50-75 pages by just being LESS REPETITIVE. This reptitive style of writing is getting worse with each book she writes and it's evident that churning out 2-3 books a year is adversely affecting the quality of the material. In summary, I believe that fans of this author will enjoy this book, but I suspect will share some frustration at the convenience with which everything comes together at the end.
Rating:
Summary: a great book
Review: It took me about 2-3 weeks to read this book. It involves Maddy and Jack Hunter. They seemed to have a very happy marriage on the outside. However, on the inside, it was a very bad marriage. Jack constantly belittled Maddy and he often made her feel worthless. He called her names. Anyway, I was very entertained during the first week and a half of reading this book. During the last week, however, I got really impatient with Maddy. It took her quite a while to leave Jack!
Rating:
Summary: Not her best
Review: Journey follows the life of Madeline Hunter, successful TV anchor and wife of successful media mogal Jack Hunter. The perfect life that the two present to the world is not all that it appears to be. Maddy is haunted by the abusive past that Jack rescued her from. Jack is the attentive husband, taking care of Maddy's every need, but a dark side to that TLC is beginning to emerge. New friendships, job changes, and the couples access to the powerful in Washington, D.C set in motion an awakening in Maddy, that her charmed life may come at too high a price. The plot is quickly paced, but the characters are sometimes painted with too broad a brush. There isn't the emotional attachment you sometimes get while reading DS. Certain friends of mine roll their eyes when I say I am reading a Danielle Steel book. I admit it, I like her books, find her style easy to read, and her plotlines are usually character driven and fast paced. This was not one of her best efforts.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: Journey is the story of Maddy Hunter, the victim of lifelong abuse. She witnesses her father being abusive to her mother and then is abused herself by her boyfriend-turned-husband Bobby Joe. After joining a commission on violence she discovers the husband who rescued her from Bobby Joe may not be the hero she thinks. Along Maddy's journey she meets a part of her past and her future. Ms. Steel did a fantastic job of writing about abuse, and not just physical abuse but emotional abuse, or invisible abuse, because it is harder for everyone to see. I must say this book opened my eyes to the subject. Overall journey is a good book. I found parts to be repetitous. I guess that could be chalked up to the fact that during Maddy's journey she keeps thinking about incidents from the past. I just found some of these parts to be (and I hate to say this) a little boring. I think every woman should read this book. It gets the messge of emotional and verbal abuse across very well. Towards the end the book is very good and reminds me of Ms. Steel's early work.
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