Fortune's Hand

Rating:
Summary: An easy to read escape novel
Review: This book starts out well with the underprivileged country boy (Robb MacDaniel) deciding to change his life (and unfortunately the life of his long-time sweetheart) by going to law school. After becoming a successful attorney and, at the same time, throwing out his childhood belief system, he becomes a man who is misunderstood by those closest to him. The best part of this novel is the collateral storyline of the struggle Robb and his wife face with their developmentally challenged child. You want the child and family to find a quiet balance, but in the end the reader may just feel deflated and let down.

Rating:
Summary: Don't dare hope to achieve!
Review: This book was terrible! Small town boy makes good, and boy, does he ever pay! Loving? wife can't accept his ambition and earnings, because this would mean she has to leave her family home, and cut the apron strings to an insulting father. How does she expect to support an extremely handicapped child for the rest of his life? Sorry, I just don't see where Robb was such a bad guy. Another thing that really bugs me about Belva Plain books is that her characters speak as though they are 80 years old and living in the turn of the century.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book! Great Message!
Review: Thoroughly enjoyed the book from start to finish. Real message for todays readers concerning choices and the quest for the good life. It is interesting to follow Ellen through the transition of wife for many years and then her own person.