I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.
Blessing in Disguise by Danielle Steel Published by Delacorte Press on May 7, 2019
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As a young intern at an art gallery in Paris, Isabelle McAvoy meets Putnam Armstrong, wealthy, gentle, older, and secluded from the world. Isabelle’s relationship with Putnam, and her time at his château on the Normandy coast, are the stuff of dreams. But it turns real when she becomes pregnant, for she knows that marriage is out of the question.
When Isabelle returns to New York, she enters a new relationship that she hopes will be more stable and traditional. But she soon realizes she has made a terrible mistake and again finds herself a single mother.
With two young daughters and no husband, Isabelle finally and unexpectedly finds happiness and a love that gives her a third child, a baby as happy as her beloved father. And yet, once again, life brings dramatic changes.
The three girls grow up to be very different women, and Isabelle’s relationship with each of them is unique. While raising her girls alone, Isabelle also begins building a career as a successful art consultant. Then one final turn of fate brings a past secret to light, bonds mother and daughters closer, and turns a challenge into a blessing.
An emotionally riveting family saga! The main character has the pleasure of knowing love in many fashions throughout her life, and though sadness and disappointment come knocking on her door on more than one occasion, she has the tenacity to live life to it’s fullest time and time again. The pace of movement in the book didn’t let the reader become too attached to any particular relationship, more so the plot centered on Isabelle and her children rather than the men in her life. I enjoyed it!
American Isabelle McAvoy knows it’s going to be the time of her life when she lands an internship at a Paris art gallery at the tender age of twenty but she didn’t know it was going to wield her one of the most kind and loving relationships she’ll ever enjoy. Wealthy client Putnam Armstrong is the epitome of kindness and grace, but his reclusive lifestyle doesn’t allow him the mental capabilities of handling a true relationship, but she’s happy to accept what little time she can have with him before she returns to the US.
Upon returning home, Isabelle finds herself pregnant, and though her first born daughter is the light of her father’s eyes, he can’t bring himself to offer Isabelle more than his love from afar and all the support she could ever need in raising their daughter. She settles into life as a single mother and over the years allows herself to be swept off her feet by another man who turns out to be a con, but leaves her with her second daughter. Isabelle has no plans of ever falling in love again when the man who turns out to be one of her dearest loves enters her life. Their time together is passionate and sweet, and though a tragic ending unravels, she brings a third daughter into the fold.
Her art consulting business has really taken off and allows her to lead a fulfilling life as her children grow and flourish. When her girls have all flown the coop and settled into their own lives, she finds herself at a loss for what to do with herself. When possible changes make her reflect back upon her life, she decides to allow herself to unravel the secret she’s been carrying with her for all of these years and attempt to put her life on the track she wants it to be. In doing so, she reconnects with her daughters in a way she never expected and finds inner peace and a satisfying future.
