Toxic Bachelors
A Quick Review of An Old Novel by Danielle Steel
You know, I’m not even mad at Danielle Steel. How could I be? She is an accomplished writer and I have another book of hers that I just purchased waiting to be read. I don’t have a clue what it’s about, but I purchased it based on two things; the cover is nice and I paid $3.99 for the book! That’s a great start, right? So it’s in the cue of my ‘to be read’ books and I will see how long it takes me to get to it. I am currently finishing two other books right now, but for now, back to Toxic Bachelors!
Purely based on the length of time it took me to finish reading this book, I am basing my star rating mostly on that fact alone. I will get into some of the details of the book, but in my own gauge of how long it should take me to read a book, I have determined that one month is the average length of time that I allot myself.
Every book I start reading, I note the start date on the inside cover. I started this book on July 1, 2021, and finished it today, October 10, 2021. THREE MONTHS! That alone just tells me this book didn’t keep my attention. Now, I could have stopped reading it, but for me, that’s a terrible habit. Rarely will I stop reading a book, especially if I have made it past the first 100 pages.
So I trudged along, as if slopping through deep, thick mud in long, green galoshes. Now, to be clear, honestly, the book wasn’t that bad. It was a bit cliché, yet, I kept moving forward, never to be thwarted from my goal of finishing it. Toxic Bachelors is right on the cusp of whether or not I feel that reading it was a waste of time, but I finished — and finishing is the ultimate success in reading a book. So let’s get into it.
A quick synopsis is three single men, in varying degrees of success in their careers, are ultimately hunkered down by the girl of their dreams. As I read this book, I mentally interjected what an alternate ending to a certain scenario would be. I am not a horror reader, but a bit of edginess would have made the book a little better. In all situations, everything ultimately worked out for the best. There’s a little manufactured drama built-in to keep the book interesting, but when it’s all said and done, this is an examination of the lifestyles of the super-rich and famous.
Private planes, a 204-foot superyacht, front row seats, exotic travel to incredible outdoor restaurants by the sea, you know, the everyday stuff that everyday people like you and I experience each weekend — yeah, right. But that’s why you read books — so you can go to those places and travel on that fancy yacht with multiple shipboard crewmembers ready to attend your every beck and call. As I said, I ain’t mad at Danielle Steel. I appreciated the ride.
I felt a couple of the scenarios were a bit over the top. One guy, Gray, was willing to sacrifice his incredible relationship with his incredible woman, Sylvia, just because he didn’t want to meet her grown children? Really?
Charles was willing to sacrifice his relationship with the best woman he had ever met because she hid the fact that she came from a mega-wealthy family? What guy wouldn’t want to meet a beautiful, highly intelligent woman who was incredibly wealthy and she didn’t want to flaunt it? These days, you’d mostly find them in rap videos, wearing gold chains and walking with a tiger on a leash. This scenario was just over the top for me.
Adam meets, (and I’m not going to call her a hoochie), but lets at least call her a groupie, at a concert. She is sitting in his seat so to get rid or her, it takes her backstage and gives her the best seats in the house. After a while of cat and mouse, they finally hook up, but it’s a relationship filled with drama. You see, Maggie lives in basically the ghetto with several other friends sharing the same living space and the rent. Adam lives in a penthouse and travels around the country in a private jet. This is an important side note: There always has been and will always be one great equalizer between men and women. I’ll let your imagination help you to identify what it is.
At any rate, as mentioned earlier, things generally pan out for the best. But as far as rating this book goes, I still have to give Toxic Bachelors three stars!
About the author
Julius Evans has a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI; a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ; a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from City University, Bellevue, WA and an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Central Texas College, Killeen, Texas.
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