The Sins of the Mother

The Sins of the Mother

3.61 of 5 stars 3.61  ·  rating details  ·  1,304 ratings  ·  235 reviews
Every woman makes choices. And no one has made more difficult choices than Olivia Grayson. The enormously successful businesswoman missed out on much of her children’s lives while she built her legendary home-furnishings empire. In Danielle Steel’s character-rich new novel, Olivia faces the past, tries to balance the present, and makes amends where due, while still running...more
ebook, 368 pages
Published October 30th 2012 by Delacorte Press (first published October 1st 2012)
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Robin
This is your typical Danielle Steel novel. It portrays the inside hard life of New York's elite. It starts out really slow with too much of her trying to explain the same thing in different ways. Yes I get it already is what I want to say. But I liked the story line of the role switch from the lost father role to the lost mother role. The main character Olivia Grayson was a hard nose business woman who built an empire that would support her family for generations to come. But in doing this she...more
Jill
I used to LOVE Danielle Steel books- my go to for reading... back in the day! I don't know if my taste for fiction has improved or the quality of DS's books have declined. I still keep picking up and reading her books hoping that this next book just might do her earlier works justice. But recently - they have disappointed.

One of the main peeves is her repetitive style of writing. She repeats the same idea over and over again as if the reader is slow and doesn't get it the first 5 times she ment...more
Pam
AUTHOR: Steel, Danielle
TITLE: The Sins of the Mother
DATE READ: 02/23/2013
RATING: 4/B
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS: Fiction/2012/Random House/354 pgs
SERIES/STAND ALONE: Stand Alone
TIME/PLACE: Present/NY, France
CHARACTERS: Olivia Grayson, Business Maven & Mother
FIRST LINES: Olivia Grayson sat in the chairman's seat at the board meeting, listening intently to the presentations, her intense blue eyes taking in each member of the board.
COMMENTS: Every D Steel book is a connection to my mothe...more
Julie Barrett
The Sins of the Mother by Danielle Steel
Olivia Grayson, head of the home furnishings regrets not having time for her kids. The annual family vacation she hopes makes up for it all...
Book concentrates on her 70th birthday family vacation where we learn about the children, now adults with families of their own and what they do in their lives.
Why they dread the vacation email announcement every year and what they like about it...a two week cruise with everything on board and then some. they cruised...more
Stephanie Reiner
Sins of the Mother is the latest of Danielle Steel books, and it brings what fans have come to expect in a Danielle Steel novel - beautiful people, beautiful places, and emotional drama. In this case, the mother is Olivia Grayson. She has spent her life building a worldwide business empire. She has provided for her four children in every way except that she was rarely present during their childhood. Now that they are all adults, that fact and their emotions surrounding it still continue to impac...more
CoffeeTimeRomance andMore



The world knows Olivia Grayson as a consummate businesswoman; a powerhouse CEO who built her company from the ground up. Her four children see her as the woman who was too busy with work to be their mother. Her youngest child has written her off entirely, and she knows it will take a monolithic effort on her part to keep the other three from doing the same.

Outwardly calm and unaffected, Phillip Grayson feels betrayed by his mother’s decision to allow his father and grandmother to raise him as a...more
Shelly Itkin
Sins of a Mother

Olivia Grayson is a successful businesswoman who transformed a small hardware store into a huge chain of stores called The Factory.

She married a wonderful man, Joe and had four children much quicker then expected.

What she did not expect to do is have to make a choice work or children and she choose her career. Joe her husband was the CFO of the company and an accountant and tried to spend as much time with the children as possible and Olivia’s mother Maribelle became their fill...more
Nada
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com...

Sins of the Mother is the latest of Danielle Steel books, and it brings what fans have come to expect in a Danielle Steel novel - beautiful people, beautiful places, and emotional drama. In this case, the mother is Olivia Grayson. She has spent her life building a worldwide business empire. She has provided for her four children in every way except that she was rarely present during their childhood. Now that they are all...more
Eunyoung
I used to LOVE Danielle Steel books- my go to for guilty pleasure reading... back in the 90s! I don't know if my taste/ standard for fiction has improved or the quality of DS's books have declined- drastically. I still keep picking up and reading her books hoping that this next book just might do her earlier works justice. But every time recently, they have disappointed.

One of the main peeves is her repetitive style of writing. She repeats the same idea over and over again as if the reader is s...more
Lynn
Olivia Grayson was born with tremendous vision and ambition. She started working in her mother's hardware store at the age of 12, and was running it by the time she was in her early 20's. Expansion after expansion followed, and over the years an empire was amassed. The Factory became one of the most successful Corporations in the world, and Olivia personally insured that it stayed that way, traveling around the world to various stores on a constant basis.

She was home long enough to have four chi...more
Terri Tinkel
When you select a Danielle Steel book, you know what you are going to get. Lots of descriptions of fabulous clothes, beautiful people, lovely places to visit and over-the-top stories. This book did meet most of those criteria. However, I have to say that despite the usual gorgeousness of people, places and things, and the minor issues of long time love, infidelity, blame and forgiveness and even confusion of sexual orientation, this book had no plot. None....

There were hints of possible trouble...more
Gayle
Deserves one star but gave it the two because the story line was bearable.

"Who are you, and what did you do with Danielle Steel?"

Seriously there is something amiss here! I haven't picked up a D.S. book in forever and after reading 'The Sins of the Mother' I know why. Once upon a time, she could write but now......

Colour me very disappointed. Her work of days gone by, 'The Ring' was lovely and enjoyable. This was an okay premise but I felt as if she were writing to a 10 year old reader. ( Not...more
Katy
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Denise Jo
I usually enjoy Danielle Steel's book and this one was no exception. It could have been shorter as it was drawn out a little to much, but a good book just the same.

Every woman makes choices. And no one has made more difficult choices than Olivia Grayson. The enormously successful businesswoman missed out on much of her children’s lives while she built her legendary home-furnishings empire. Olivia faces the past, tries to balance the present, and makes amends where due, while still running her va...more
Lynne
The Sins of the Mother is an appropriate title for the book. It starts out slower then I would like and did not provide much in the line of entertainment for me as a reader until well over 50 pages. Yet the book does not disappoint me as Danielle Steel well made up for it after that.

D.S. may not be considered a literary writer but after selling 600 million books over the years, she certainly proven herself to be one of the most prolific authors of our time and I am sure the multitude of readers...more
Radhika
A predicted read. She keeps the reader going atleast. Olivia has been a successful in building her empire from a small hardware shop to a world famous market store. She has the full support of her mother and husband whom she loves a lot. They have four children and while her husband and her mother manage the home and the children and their everyday life, Olivia follows her flair and passion of building her business.Her children miss her presence, when they are little but are truly loved. But lik...more
Laura Beth
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Colleen
I started to finally enjoy The Sins of the Mother towards the middle of the book, so I am glad I did not given up as I almost did towards the beginning.
The title makes you picture a story a little different than what it is really about. This is about a mother of 4 who at a young age turned a small family business into a full fledged successful chain. She had made her family very wealthy but it cost her close relationships with her children as she did not have the time to be a full time mom and...more
Kay
Steel has sunk to new lows with this book. The only good thing I can say about it was it gave me a chance to practice speed reading! I know I'll hear from some Steel fan that I missed the plot since I sped read it! Maybe I did but I suggest for someone reading it to do this:
1. Read the first chapter or two to get the characters down
2. Skip to the middle of the book for the story [there actually is a so called plot in the last half. The first half is nothing but a vacation on a yacht that an ultr...more
Darlene
Just finished reading-as always was not disappointed!!!! Couldn't put the book down; when I did, I kept thinking about was going to happen next. This book is full of family values and a mother who would do anything for her children to provide them a better life even if it meant being away from them while they were growing up. But, in the end, family is all that matters and what makes each person happy. This book will not disappoint the reader. It will make you laugh, cry, maybe see yourself in s...more
Julia
Danielle Steel take on the subject of family and all their messy complications. She starts with a mother, who builds an international business empire similar to Ikea. She also manages to give birth to four children along the way. Luckily, she has a supportive husband and her mother who raises the children, while mother manages to sometimes arrive home in time to tuck said children in. Fast forward 30 or 40 years, husband dies of heart attack, mother, of course, is half way around the world at th...more
Jessica
Will she ever produce another quality historical fiction novel?

In this book, Olivia Grayson, the CEO of The Factory, a huge home-furnishings empire that she built from a small hardware store, tries to redeem herself in the eyes of her children. She married and had four children early on in her career but the children were mainly raised by her husband and her mother as she remained focused on building up the company. The family works through their issues with their mother on an annual two week v...more
Neena
I read Danielle steel after so long and this book disappointed me totally. I stopped reading her books earlier because there was always some tragedy happening;loss. death of loved one or so. May be I picked every book dealing with some loved one's death by chance and I found that hard to read. However, I always liked her writing style, storyline and everything actually. This book was not usual Danielle Steel I remembered. The story was so predictable, plot less than ordinary and very ordinary wr...more
Eddy Allen
As a way of making up to them for time lost, Olivia spends months every year planning a lavish holiday that everyone in her family will enjoy. This summer she has arranged a dream trip in the Mediterranean on a luxurious yacht, which she hopes will be the most memorable vacation of all. Her lavish gesture every year expresses her love for them, and regret at all the important times she missed during her children’s younger years. Her younger daughter, Cassie, a hip London music producer, refuses...more
Jessica
I fully agree with Jill's review. It's annoying how repetitive the writing is. and yes, she repeats the same thing and mention same topic and reasons over and over again as if to remind all the time.

Not only that. John change was okay very acceptable but her younger daughter hates her a lot then she just suddenly become fine? Why? (view spoiler)[Just because of the grandmother's death? So what make her change her mind about having a baby? (hide spoiler)]

I actually did not read the final chapter.
Tina
Danielle Steel really did an excellent job in telling this story. The characters were very believable. The mother regretted the lack of time spent with her children early in her life and realized that she will never get that back. Some of her children have a difficult time forgiving her for not being around when they were young. She learns to live with her decisions and tries to make up for it later in her life. I would recommend this to others.
Kristine
The title is deceiving. This is the story of a woman who turns an ordinary store into a multimillion dollar family owned enterprise. Olivia has four children who are mainly raised by her husband Joe and her mother Marybelle. When the children are adults, some understand the time Olivia had to put into the business to make it what it is, but the others harbor bitter feelings. As the story progresses, the reader sees each of Olivia's grown children live out their lives in response to how they were...more
Alice
After reading her novel--Friends Forever--I had high hopes for this was and was extremely disappointed. Danielle Steele reverted back to many of her previous books....Rich people, no actual worries, everything around them is perfect, and the backdrop has to much of a perfection that is very fantasy like. I skimmed through many pages because it got boring and the end was very predictable. No real drama and tedious. Don't know if I will buy into any future books.
Leslee Epps
I liked the book although I thought it started off really slow. So slow that I almost stopped reading it but made myself continue since I had paid for it. The more I read the more enjoyable it became and then I wasn't able to put it down until the end. Once I got to the ending I wanted to read more and wished the book hadn't stop there. I do think some parts of the book were unbelievable but it was still a good read.
Denise
This book makes you realize that each member in a family are different, unique and separate but however all of them are woven together. Families hold together in hard times and celebrate the good times. Each family member must forgive one another for their mistakes and learn from one another. And lastly never judge anyone, for you never know wher life's journey will take you. A very nice, easy read......
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Danielle Steel Bo...: The Sins of the Mother 1 5 Nov 20, 2012 09:07pm  
The Sins of the Mother (Hardcover)
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Since 1981, Ms. Steel has been a permanent fixture on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestseller lists. In 1989, she was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having at least one of her books on the Times bestseller list for 381 consecutive weeks. But Guinness was premature. The fact is that one or more of Ms. Steel's novels have been on the New York Times bestseller list for...more
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