Rating: 
Summary: A True Stinker
Review: I agree with all of the above reviewers; I can't believe I stuck with this book to the end. The characters are shallow and annoying; again, its impossible to see why True is adored by her friends. She is so impossibly stupid, its hard to believe she made it to 43. How did this book get published? I have never read any other books by Mitchard, but I thought her reputation as a writer was good. I would be hard-pressed to ever read another with her name on it.
Rating: 
Summary: READ WITH CHARM AND UNDERSTANDING
Review: Jackie Mitchard won a host of fans and hearts with her appealing novel, "The Deep End Of The Ocean" (also brought to life on the big screen). It was the story of a family; the dynamics that held them together, the pain that pulled them apart. To date, Ms. Mitchard has pretty much stuck to this familiar turf which she limns so well. Such is surely the case with her latest. TV and stage actress Robin Miles imbues her reading of Twelve Times Blessed" with charm and understanding as listeners meet and come to care about 43-year-old True Dickinson. Many would think that True has or has had all that life offers. She is widowed now; it has been eight years since her husband died. It was a blessed union, but now she's raising their young son alone. Her business is a resounding success, and she has a large group of supportive, good friends. Yet, in her heart, True knows something is missing. Chance steps in when True and her assistant are driving home on a winter's night and slip off the road into a snowy ditch. Their rescuer is Hank Bannister, a handsome young chef (actually, ten years younger than True). Nonetheless, the chemistry between them is undeniable, and immediate. After knowing each other only briefly the two marry. This is a surprise to True's son, but he soon adapts to having Hank as a permanent part of their home. Yet, Hank has spent a few years unencumbered. A half grown son is one thing, but when True becomes pregnant it seems that domesticity may lose some of its luster. As always, Ms. Mitchard is an expert at examining the tensile strengths of family love. Her many fans will relish another exploration of the ties that blind and bind. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Scarlett O'Hara's bad decisions, but without her charm
Review: Not since Gone with the Wind have I read a book where the heroine was so determined to make the wrong choices about her love life--and at least Scarlett O'Hara was only 17 years old at the beginning of that book, so she had some excuse. Even a reader who did not agree with Scarlett's choices could often understand why she made them, and could find her sympathetic. Good luck finding True Dickinson appealing. I suppose it is possible that the author actually intended to create an unrealistic main character who was so bad-tempered, stubborn, and just plain stupid about so many things--but why? This character brought many of her problems on herself. And she kept doing it again and again! True, in contrast to her name, was extremely inconsistent in her relations with the other characters, especially her husband Hank. The inconsistency contibuted to the impression that the sections of the book did not really hang together. I wondered whether this book was based on personal experience, perhaps a way to have some unhappy situation work out differently, at least in fiction. But it is hard to believe that the plot of this book would represent a better resolution than whatever might have happened in real life.
Rating:
Summary: Mitchard Disappoints
Review: I agree with the reader from North Franklin, CT--this book is painful to read. I struggled through the first two chapters only because I was loyal to her book the "The Deep End of the Ocean". Finally, I couldn't subject myself to any more of "Twelve Times Blessed" lame "movie of the week" plot and poorly drawn characters. I was also disappointed in the "Theory of Relativity", two strikes after Mitchard hit a home-run with "The Deep End of the Ocean". I discovered "Ocean" before it became an Oprah read and found the plot to be capitivating and the characters beautifuly written. I hope that Mitchard get out of this "slump" and rediscovers her true writing roots.
Rating:
Summary: Mitchard is off-track
Review: The Deep End of the Ocean and The Most Wanted were two of the most creative, and well-written "popular" books, I have read. The creative process was flowing, and I had the feeling that these characters were so real, that Mitchard, herself, didn't know how the book would end until it was done. I think she was a pioneer in (once more, I'm using quotaion marks) "popular" literary fiction. A Theory of Relativity was disappointing. All writers, I suspect, have a book that is out-of-sync. However, with Twelve Times Blessed, this indicates a pattern. The characters were uninteresting; the plot pedestrian. Mitchard's narrative is excellent, and she can do this for $$$... All I can add, is I hope Mitchard regains her voice, and does not serve us any more pap.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for a summer saga
Review: Don't take this book seriously, just enjoy the ride.
The main character is egotistic and the drama is predictable, but admit it, its a beach book.
I wish the author had hired an editor - I would have been glad to trim it up a bit, and there are some serious inconsistencies that should have been caught.
But really, if you want a fat juicy novel to take to the pool, this is fine.
Rating:
Summary: Very poorly written
Review: The plot isn't worth going into and the writing is poor--clearly no editor took much of a look at it. Some sentences simply don't make sense or adjectives are used to describe something in ways that don't seem to fit. Other times, the storyline isn't coherent--details suddenly change, almost like describing a character wearing a red coat and then two paragraphs later saying the person took off their blue coat. It reads like a book very hastily put together. Glad I got it out of the library-had I paid for it, I would want my money back.
Rating:
Summary: Good writing ---no content
Review: Twelve Times Blessed is horrible. I listened to it on tapes. The protagonist are so unbelievable and childish that my reactions went from: skepticism to wanting to hit one with the other. "True" the female lead is such a wiener and as insecure as a 15 year old, she is relentless in her pursuit of destroying her marriage. She loves no one but herself, gets pregnant to keep her man, suprinsingly enough she does not live in a trailer but is a millionaire...yeah I believed that one and supposedly everyone around her thinks that she is the best friend, mother, lover that has ever been yet she is so self centered it is painfull. Her son "guy" is so spoiled that she lets him control her life and gives him whatever he wants. The male lead "Hank/Harry" is the perfect man, yet he never discuss anything in depth and is as deep as a puddle.
As far as the writing goes the plot is non existent. It is supposed to be a book about real love but the relationship is so shallow that it makes for very little content. The writing is good but without content...it makes for a well written nothing. I don't recommend it
Rating:
Summary: Twelve Times Bored
Review: I really have to wonder whether Mitchard had an editor on this one. Almost every line of French has a mistake in it (She can't even spell simple phrases like "Comment vas-tu?" correctly), almost every ballet step is misspelled ("chine" turns for "chaine" turns), and, perhaps worst of all for a novel supposedly set in Massachusetts, she uses the phrase "in Cape Cod," which a Cape Codder would never use; it's "on Cape Cod"!
Aside from the mistakes, the book is slow going and descends midway to the level of soap opera. Don't waste your time on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Just Plain Annoying
Review: I had looked forward to Ms. Mitchard's newest-"Twelve Times Blessed" and after plowing through it, was very glad I had not spent a dime on this drivel, but visited the library instead. The main characters, True and Hank have got to be the most self-absorbed, immature and thoroughly unlikable people I have met in ages. True's son Guy is impossible and obnoxious--but this is understandable given the fact that his idiotic mother thinks nothing of having a discussion with this brat about her love life with Hank after eleven year old Guy asks her "what's your frickin problem?". Lovely. It only gets worse from here on. Mitchard is all over the place with this book--no character development on anyone interesting e.g. Rudy, Frannie, or Esa. True's "I'm the only one who counts here" personality is grating and one wonders why her friends think she's fabulous,let alone even wanting her for a pal. When True goes for a sonogram for the new baby, she glibly relates the test as "seeing if it has all its marbles".This certainly puts her in the running for mother of the year. All in all, I am hoping Ms.Mitchard was simply throwing down thoughts perhaps while sipping (or gulping) wine..This would also explain her obsession with body functions and feminine problems--much more told here than we needed to know. Please, please, Ms Mitchard--get back to your real talent---telling us a wonderful, believable story.
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