Rating: 
Summary: Heartfelt but mawkish and repetitive
Review: While one can only possibly feel sympathy for the pain Nick's mother feels, her writing style is sentimental and flowery in the extreme. The descriptions of a manic depressive personality and suggestions for dealing with one are excellent, and there is no doubt that she did all she could for her son whom she loved dearly - however having established that, it was tedious to read over, and over, and over again her expressions of motherly love, her gratitude repeatedly to the same people and the gushing in general. It is also difficult to understand from her telling why she was unable to cope with her own son while another mother with less space, less money and younger children was able to take him in for the last few years. The book was worthwhile in some ways but could have told the same story with as much information and feeling in less than half the number of pages.
Rating: 
Summary: heart grabber
Review: after reading this book i had to take a minute to compose myself. not only was this book very informative and let you really see what happens to a person with bipolar but it also shows what happens to that persons family. i was very touched by this book. after you read it you KNOW these people, you feel there pain at loseing such a wonderful person. the love, the pain, the agony at not knowing what to do, this book was written in such a way that i feel as if i lived through it and when i was finished i cried like i had.
Rating:
Summary: Mother's Love Never Dies
Review: WOW! Such a sad and compelling book -- I really wish I could meet Nick Traina. Sad to think of someone committing suicide when they could use their tragedy to help others with the same illness, in Nick's case, bipolar disorder/manic-depression. Well, I guess he did that anyway through his mother's book. It also gives us a great insight into Danielle Steel. You always wonder what a celebrated author is like -- are they nice, to they just give people the shove off, etc. After reading this, I just LOVE Danielle Steel! The love that she showed toward her son is just extraordinary. Trying to understand him, desperately searching for some diagnosis, wanting to help him. I'm just completely impressed (and jealous) of the love she showed her son. All parents should take note!Of course the other part is that it shows bipolar illness so well, and what people would be like if they weren't on medication. And Nicky is just such a neat person. I bet he could have found SOME way to tour despite his illness and still become a rock star. Stay on his lithium and take a nurse with him or something. He was something great, but could have been so much more. Such potential in that boy. Gripping book and a page-turner!
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written and in poor taste
Review: I have never read Danielle Steele before and I never will again. This was the most poorly written book I have ever read! Beginning sentences with "and" or "but" is just not proper -- especially when it's done every other sentence! I had to resist the urge to take out my red pen and go to work on this book. However, the style was a minor problem compared to how Ms. Steele dealt with this topic. She is an internationally known author who had the opportunity to shed light on many important issues and failed to do so; rather, this book seemed like self serving public relations. I would have respected Ms. Steele more and understood the real problems of living with a mentally ill person more if she could have just admitted that she is not perfect, Nick was not perfect, their family was not perfect, etc. It was difficult for a normal parent with a challenged child to relate to a parent who could hop on a plane anytime, arrange for private schooling or hospitalization anytime and when all else fails, hire around the clock attendants for the child. If this is the way to deal with mental illness, few people are equipped to do handle the problem. Also, the issue of drugs was dealt with badly -- he was self medicating with heroin? Give me a break. He was a drug addict in addition to a mentally ill person...This was a very disappointing book and left me with a bad taste in my mouth, perhaps from all the sugar Ms. Steele used to coat this story.
Rating:
Summary: A Haunting Reminder
Review: As some one with with manic depression/bipolar disorder, reading this book reminded me of the life I could have led. I could have ended up like Nick Traina, the bright, brillant, tortured soul who unfortunately was overtaken by this nighmarish illness. I am very grateful to Danielle Steel for writing this book because I believe it showed people without a mental illness how devastating it is. It shows the desperation and terror the affect person has to live with from day to day. It also shows "normal" people that this illness doesn't discriminate. It can happen to anyone and it does everyday. I'm just sorry Nick didn't get the help he needed and his light had to go out. Out of all the books his mother has written or will write, this is the most affective of them all and I'm very glad she wrote it.
Rating:
Summary: A Mother's love and hope for her troubled son
Review: Even if you don't have family members with bipolar dynfunction, this book will give you insight to the disease. It's very easy to think of a celebrity idyllically. I am amazed that Danielle Steel could write such beautiful love stories when her own life was full of so much turmoil. This is another of Daniell's love story--but it's a true one--the love a Mother has for her son and the unlimited efforts and extents she will go to to try and save him (in this case, from himself). Danielle did a wonderful job of capturing Nick's "bright light" and sharing it with the world.
Rating:
Summary: touching and helpful
Review: I liked the book a lot. It was helpful to read about someone so much like a loved one who also has bipolar.
Did anyone else wonder about the comment that her son got the disease from his father, and yet D.S. admits to doing all her writing at night after she has put her 8 children and 3rd or 4th husband to bed? She is a smart, talented person, perhaps with a touch of the disease herself? What would be wrong with admitting that?
Rating:
Summary: Faced the Issue
Review: When I first saw Steel doing an interview was I surprised. At that time, I didn't want to listen to hints of my depression. When I started reading the book I was amazed at how I couldn't put it down, since I am not a regular bookworm. It has been a couple of years now and I noticed more and more signs of my depression come out. This past fall as I bumped into the book once I again I realized I needed to get some help. I thank Steel for helping me out through her experiences with her son. The book surely touched my heart for I cried while reading it.
Rating: 
Summary: This Will Make You See
Review: Danielle Steele fans will just love this book. IT not only touches you in many ways, but it also gives you an insite of how Danielle Stelle handles her family problems. THe book shows us that even as a celebrity, she still has normal problems, and in her case, a very serious problem. She graciously shares her son with us in the book, ketting us fall in love with her son too, whether we're grandmothers orteengaers with raging hormones. A great book, by a great person, to a great person.
Rating:
Summary: My heart still hurts from reading this book.
Review: It took me a whole day to read this book cover to cover.
I balled my eyes out several times. I am a mother of two young sons and I was so saddened by how close DS is to her son yet how distant. I suffered in silence with a form of mental illness that took years to gain control of. Although I am not BP, it hurts to relate all the same.
Of my two young sons, one is sweet and kind who is somewhat of a normal child, the other is also sweet and kind but not seen as normal. My youngest was diagnosed very young (4 years old) with ADD. I was so saddened and I pray every day that he doesn't dip deeper into the mental illness, I see that may be inevitable. My family has suffered for generations with mental illness, but I was unaware of this until after I had children and was diagnosed myself.
I wish for the sake of any and all mothers who fear that mental illness has touched their lives, that they read this book.
When a child is sick, as Nick Traina obviously was, a mother would be correct in dividing that child from the illness when writing about his life. Nicky only knew his life being mentally ill, and I think it's a great tribute to his short, yet meaningful life to be seperated from that in order to share with the world who Nick Traina truely was as a human being. He was a beautiful and scared child and although I never met him, I love him just the same. (...)
I cry as I write this and pray for a strong heart for DS and the family of Nick Traina, but moreso for those who will never know mental illness. It's hard to look at the good with a child that seems so bad, but looks are always deceiving. Thank you DS for such a touching and painful story of the most amazing man I never knew, yet know all to well.
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