Saturday, March 28, 2009

Rogue by Danielle Steel

Maxine is a well known Psychiatrist and an expert on childhood trauma & adolescent suicide it is her passion as well as her three children of whom she adores. Her marriage to the handsome entrepreneur Blake Williams was may have been something that most women would fawned over to Maxine it was just an adventure in her life. He had done well in providing for his family but his quest for never-ending fun as well as his work drew him away from his family for weeks at a time. He was not anywhere Maxine could find him when their youngest son Sam rolled off the changing table at eight months old and broke his arm and hit his head. Maxine had tried fervently for two days to find him finally catching up with him in Cabo he was on his way to Venice. He flew straight home when he got there she flew into his arms crying and told him she couldn’t do this anymore and wanted a divorce. He didn’t want to get a divorce, he asked her why didn’t she quit and fly around with him, and they could get more help. She said then she would never see her kids just like he didn’t now. Why didn’t he quit and stay at home with them more often, he said that he couldn’t imagine staying cooped up all the time. In the divorce settlement he gave her the apartment in New York, the house in Southampton and a gracious settlement that she turned down and took child support instead, also she had use of his yacht/sailboat once a year for one week a year for vacations. They still remained close friends; Blake still traveled all over the world and visits the children as often as he did when they were married. He buys houses, invests in risky business ventures and continues to have fun. While Maxine continues to grow her successful psychiatric practice and being invited to speak at conferences and be on panels and the like. While her daughter is having a sleep over of a few of her friends and her sons are over at their friends spending the night. She gets a call that one of her teen patients had tried to commit suicide a second time this time it was a very lethal dose of sleeping pills and he seemed more serious this time than he had last time. After she gets back from the hospital that night she checks on the girls and notices beer bottles in the closet. She sits them on the dresser so her daughter will know that she has found them. The next morning she goes into her daughters room and wakes them up Tells her daughter about it and that her friends should get dressed and leave and that she is on restriction for a month. When she returns back to the hospital to she Jason her patient that has tried to commit suicide, his mother is even more distraught and has talked to her doctor who said he would talk to Maxine to see if he could persuade her to let Jason come home instead of an institution. When Maxine received the phone call from Dr. West he acts like a royal pain concerning Jason and his condition just thinking he is trying to get attention by his actions and really acts like a royal jack ass on the phone. She told him to let her handle her patients and he should handle his. She moved Jason to a private facility so he could be watched where he still tried to kill himself again over night proving she was right and causing Dr. West to call and apologize for second guessing her actions with the teen. During Thanksgiving they have lunch at her parents and dinner at Blake’s since he is able to be home for a few days so she eats there that night and drops the kids off. Shortly after the holidays she gets a call from Dr. West to take her to Lunch to get to know her better. This is a bit awkward for her but she takes the offer. Lunch turns into, may I take you to dinner turns, into can I see you again for another dinner turns into, now they are dating. Which makes the kids especially Daphne her daughter upset. Although Sam the youngest doesn’t seem to be upset either way he is happy to see his mother happy and so is Zelda her live in housekeeper. Charles West likes Maxine a lot and seems to get along well enough with Zelda and Sam although he would like to have Maxine all to himself. Around Valentines Day they decide they will get married but not to tell the kids till June and have the wedding till August in her house in Southampton. From the time they tell the kids in June till the time they have the rehearsal dinner in August things seem to be slowly deteriorating with Charles and Maxine. Her two older children still have not warmed to him at all especially Daphne and she still does not want to go to the wedding. Maxine herself has no clue how to bring it all together as one cohesive unit but she is trying the best she can. Danielle Steel once again brings us a award winning book that deals with matters of the heart and everyday happenings with family and marriage. Things that we all would or should take into account in our everyday happenings. She really knows how to look at both sides of the heart so to speak. She is one of the brightest, talented authors I have had the privilege to review and will always be happy to do so.

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