Mixed Blessings

In Mixed Blessings, her thirtieth novel, Danielle Steel weaves a powerful tale of three couples who face decisions about having children that will test, in unexpected ways, the ties that bind them as lovers, partners and friends. Diana Goode and Andrew Douglas are a California couple who seem to have it all, and after their wedding, Diana teases that she will make a baby on their honeymoon. But long afterwards, she is still not pregnant. As they wait out each month with anticipation, only to be bitterly disappointed, they are forced to question just how much they are willing to go through to have a baby, and at what cost to their marriage. Charlie Winwood, having grown up as an orphan, dreams of a house filled with children, but his bride, fun-seeking actress Barbie Mason, has other ideas. Their marriage is strained, but Charlie is convinced that a baby will solve it all - only to have to rethink his deepest values. Pilar Graham, a prominent Santa Barbara attorney in her early forties, astonishes her friends by marrying Judge Brad Coleman, in his sixties and the father of two grown children. Pilar begins to wonder if some day she will regret not having a baby with Brad, but it will not be an easy road for them as they encounter the world of high-tech medicine and the bittersweet rewards it brings them. Through the lives of these couples, Danielle Steel shows us the mixed blessings we face as we make our modern families. But despite hardship and heartache, she reminds us again of the triumphant spirit of love.