Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Gift
Review: The Gift ***
This is a very good book. The only reason I give it three stars is because I did not like the ending. I was really sad for the main character. Although, she did make a good choice by giving the gift to the one family who took care of her, I was stll saddened.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple Gifts
Review: I'm taking one star off only because this novel wasn't really a page turner. It wasn't the kind of book you just have to finish in one sitting, the way I'd expect to with one of the shorter Danielle Steel novels such as this one. It was very easy to put down, and took me quite a bit of time to finish because the story was so predictable that you already knew what was going to happen and were not necessarily compelled to turn pages.Nevertheless, what I did read, when I decided to pick it up, was somewhat poignant and tender in a very simple and childish way. This novel would be good for teens as it deals with high schoolers who are in love and one teenager in particular, who gets herself into unfortunate circumstances, and then meets up with a sympathetic family that is going through it's own trauma. I can't really go further in describing the plot without giving away the whole story. I think four stars is actually a bit generous. Still, the heartbreaking nature of the emotions the characters experience, even though Steel has a simplistic way of writing about them, provide enough warm and fuzzies which allow the reader to experience heartfelt emotion right along with the characters. Think Nicholas Sparks "A Walk To Remember", even though in that novel, the teens experienced totally different issues. Steel's writing doesn't come close to the thought provoking and efficient nature of Sparks. But, the emotions and the fact that both novels deal with teens make both "A Walk..." and "The Gift" slightly similar.
Rating: 
Summary: short and sweet
Review: Set in the 1950s, The Gift by Danielle Steel is a touching novel about two separate families who meet and are changed by a special gift. It begins with the story of Tommy Whittaker and his family. They have a beautiful daughter named Annie, whose love changed the family into happiness and cheer. When her senseless death arises, the family is crushed; the loving marriage starts to unravel and Tommy begins to fend for himself, going out to eat by himself and rarely talking with his parents. Then the story switches over to a girl named Maribeth Robertson who has one meaningless experience with a boy, and ends up pregnant. Her father sends her to the nun's and tells her not to come home until she gets rid of it. When she arrives, she hates it there and decides to leave with the money her father gave her to pay the nuns. She takes the train to a city where she gets a job at a café. One day she was working, that is where the two families first intertwine.
Tommy walks in to have dinner and Maribeth waits on him, eventually Tommy comes in everyday and he and Maribeth become very close. They share personal secrets about their lives, and become each other 's need that they were looking for. Maribeth becomes very close with the Whittakers and helps to bind the family back together. When the baby arrives, it is the gift to the Whittaker family of a new baby girl and a gift to Maribeth because she knows that the baby is in good care. When Mrs. Whittaker accepts her offer of adoption it is so emotional and uplifting.
This is such a touching story that I think is aimed more at a younger audience. It is a lesson to young girls out there to be careful, and a message to the world that a kind person can change a life. I really enjoyed reading this and it is a short read definitely worth a try!
Rating:
Summary: Good book!
Review: This story is short, but you wish it were longer. However, it is it's "shortness" that gives it so much life and the reader so much enjoyment. Good book
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