Rogue » (Bargain)

Danielle Steel has become more of a legend than any one of her books, which never fail to make the bestseller lists. Something of Steel's refinement and gentility transfers to her prose as her heroines enjoy enviable triumphs over inevitable tragedies.

Being married to Blake had been an amazing adventure for Maxine. Brilliant, charismatic, and wholly unpredictable, Blake Williams made millions and grabbed headlines as a dot-com entrepreneur. His only shortcoming was as a husband - first his work, and then his never-ending quest for fun kept him constantly on the move, far away from Maxine and his family. For five years, Blake and Maxine have worked out an odd but amicable divorce, with friendly though infrequent visits, a yacht he lends her every summer, and three children they both adore. Blake enjoys his globe-trotting lifestyle - dating a succession of beautiful, famous, and very young women - while Maxine raises their kids in Manhattan and pursues her passion, working as a psychiatrist, a world-renowned expert on childhood trauma and adolescent suicide. Then everything changes….

For Maxine, it starts when she falls in love with Dr. Charles West, a man who is everything Blake is not - mature, grounded, and present. For Blake, it begins when a devastating earthquake strikes near one of his palatial foreign homes, and he sees hundreds of orphaned children in need of shelter. Now, Blake wants Maxine in his life again - as a partner in a humanitarian project that could change countless lives. For Maxine, the choice is clear. But Blake’s sudden transformation - from carefree playboy to compassionate, responsible grown-up - raises questions she’s never managed to answer…and some she’s afraid to ask. After all, Maxine is on the cusp of a new life, about to marry Charles, and almost certain that Blake Williams, a.k.a. the Rogue, is a man capable of doing anything - except change….

An unforgettable story of two people pursuing happiness from opposite directions, Rogue is a journey of choices and the amazing opportunities that come together - just when life seems to have been successfully rearranged at last.

Publishers Weekly

Romance titan Steel doctors up a familiar formula with fresh results. Having had just about enough of the gadabout ways of dot-com millionaire and perpetual Peter Pan, Blake Williams, Maxine, 42, divorced him five years ago and is raising their three children (ages 13, 12 and six) while running a thriving psychiatric practice specializing in childhood trauma and adolescent suicide. Blake, meanwhile, is continent-hopping among houses in London, Morocco and New York, bedding nubile young things. Maxine and Blake have remained friends, but when a horrific teen suicide case leads Maxine to meet doctor and childless divorcé Charles West, she finally falls for the type of man she thinks she's always wanted: serious, responsible and a bit stuffy. A disaster makes Blake rethink his lifestyle, however, and Maxine suddenly has a choice to make. While Steel never locks in on her characters' emotions, she keeps the pages turning and offers a satisfying twist at book's end that most readers won't see coming. (June)

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