Rating: 
Summary: A Sure Winner
Review: I just finished the paperback edition of One Last Dance and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. This was truly a remarkable book. I couldn't put it down but at the same time I didn't want to finish it. I loved the three sisters and how they rose to meet the challenges of life and death. I must admit Daphne and Kitty were my favorites. It will always amaze me at the things we are willing to do for love. I've been a fan of yours since Garden of Lies but I must admit until One Last Dance, my favorite has been Thorns of Truth. I am awaiting the release of the paperback edition of The Second Silence.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't hold my interest
Review: I read the first quarter of the book, but then lost interest and skimmed the rest. Something was lacking with the characters. The mother pleading innocent from the beginning left little mystery, figured the husband was cheating on her. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy this. I don't even know what happened to the mother and really don't care.
Rating: 
Summary: not her best work
Review: I've been a fan of Eileen Goudge since her first book. I've read everything since and eagerly awaited "One Last Dance." I found it to be different from the others which is ok, but about halfway into the book, I found myself wondering if she really wrote it. It wasn't her style. It seemed formulaic and predictable. I knew early on why the mother shot the father and I'm not prescient. I finished the book, but I hope Ms. Goudge will return to the storylines that won me over.
Rating:
Summary: A quick escape from the doldrums of real life.
Review: Imagine the shock of getting ready for your parent's 40th wedding anniversary only to recieve a call from your sister telling you that your mom shot your dad. The ensuing developments push all your petty personal concerns out of the way as you struggle to deal with the reality of your parent's marriage and splits your family. Daphne, Alex and Kitty, throughout the course of this novel realize what really matters in their life. They come to realize that each of them had their own disillusions about their parents and that they really weren't perfect. That realization forces the sisters to re-examine their current situations, and accept that blood really is thicker than water. I enjoyed reading this book. The situations that the sisters were placed in rang true for some, and a little hackneyed for others. There weren't any REAL surprises, especially if you have read other books by the author. But for a quick escape from your own life, this is probably a book for you.
Rating:
Summary: A quick escape from the doldrums of real life.
Review: Imagine the shock of getting ready for your parent's 40th wedding anniversary only to recieve a call from your sister telling you that your mom shot your dad. The ensuing developments push all your petty personal concerns out of the way as you struggle to deal with the reality of your parent's marriage and splits your family. Daphne, Alex and Kitty, throughout the course of this novel realize what really matters in their life. They come to realize that each of them had their own disillusions about their parents and that they really weren't perfect. That realization forces the sisters to re-examine their current situations, and accept that blood really is thicker than water. I enjoyed reading this book. The situations that the sisters were placed in rang true for some, and a little hackneyed for others. There weren't any REAL surprises, especially if you have read other books by the author. But for a quick escape from your own life, this is probably a book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Great book - Even made me cry!
Review: It's been a long time since I read a story that made me reach for my tissue box. It allowed me to experience again the many wonderful emotions that exist in all families, in one way or another. I have purchased Garden of Lies and can't wait to get involved in it.
Rating:
Summary: A poignat novel about a dysfunctional family
Review: Just prior to their fortieth anniversary, Lydia confesses to murdering her spouse Virgil in cold blood. Lydia's lawyer Tom Cathcart cannot get his client to change her plea. Her three daughters react differently to the horror. Daphne wants to know why her mother committed the crime even as she has her own marital problems highlighted by the reappearance of her first love. Kitty needs to also know why her mother killed her father even as she is falling in love with the older brother of the teen whose unborn infant she hopes to adopt. Alex needs to bury her father and ignore her mother even as she struggles to keep herself and her twin daughters from bankruptcy. As the trio cope with the family tragedy, they must also overcome their own personal problems. Eileen Goudge, author of New York Times best seller GARDEN OF LIES, scribes a brilliant family drama that will entice fans of why-done-its. The suspense-laden story line builds around the unknown reason their mother killed their father even as the three sisters struggle with their own relationship problems. The three siblings are fully developed and their reactions to the horrible incident seem appropriate. Each one's personal crisis adds depth to their characterizations. Ms. Goudge deserves another best seller with this superb tale. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Utterly predictable
Review: Near the end of the novel, Beryl says, "When Tyler was diagnosed, it didn't take a genius to put 2 and 2 together." The same might be said of readers of this book, who can easily figure out the (over-used, trivialized) secrets of the plot. I don't like authors who assume their readers are too dumb to catch on. Once I figured out the secret (only a short way into the novel), I skimmed the rest only to confirm my guess. Everything I had predicted would happen did. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: overly sentimental
Review: One of the worst books I've read in a long time. The shocker for me was that it was published by Viking Press. I would have guessed Harlequin, with its lurid panting sex scenes and sharply differentiated male and female characters. By that I mean we are given every thought and emotional reaction going on in the hearts and minds of the women ad nauseum, whereas the men are empty shells who are known only by their actions and utterances. We are not priveleged to enter into the mind of any of the male characters in the entire book, not even once. This may be satisfying to female readers, but only if they are living in an imaginary Harlequin universe. To make matters worse, each page has at least six similes. An occasional one livens up a book, but this surfeit of similes is distracting, to say the least, and causes the book to read like an exercise in an English class in which the student is asked to make up as many similes as will fit on a page. Instead of livening up the writing it has the opposite effect- that of deadening it. An attempt at suspense is ruined by the complete predictability of each event, such as the father's affair with Leanne, the impregnation of Kitty, and the ultimate demise of the mother. And finally the ultimate stupidity- what in the world was the author thinking (if I can credit her with thinking) when she had the mother plead GUILTY at the arraignment early in the novel, and spends the rest of the book gearing up for an IMPENDING TRIAL (by jury, no less) about which there is much agitation on the part of the daughters. Upon what was the jury supposed to deliberate after she had already pleaded guilty? Maybe there's something about California law that I don't know about. I filed the book in the waste paper basket.
Rating:
Summary: overly sentimental
Review: One of the worst books I've read in a long time. The shocker for me was that it was published by Viking Press. I would have guessed Harlequin, with its lurid panting sex scenes and sharply differentiated male and female characters. By that I mean we are given every thought and emotional reaction going on in the hearts and minds of the women ad nauseum, whereas the men are empty shells who are known only by their actions and utterances. We are not priveleged to enter into the mind of any of the male characters in the entire book, not even once. This may be satisfying to female readers, but only if they are living in an imaginary Harlequin universe. To make matters worse, each page has at least six similes. An occasional one livens up a book, but this surfeit of similes is distracting, to say the least, and causes the book to read like an exercise in an English class in which the student is asked to make up as many similes as will fit on a page. Instead of livening up the writing it has the opposite effect- that of deadening it. An attempt at suspense is ruined by the complete predictability of each event, such as the father's affair with Leanne, the impregnation of Kitty, and the ultimate demise of the mother. And finally the ultimate stupidity- what in the world was the author thinking (if I can credit her with thinking) when she had the mother plead GUILTY at the arraignment early in the novel, and spends the rest of the book gearing up for an IMPENDING TRIAL (by jury, no less) about which there is much agitation on the part of the daughters. Upon what was the jury supposed to deliberate after she had already pleaded guilty? Maybe there's something about California law that I don't know about. I filed the book in the waste paper basket.
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