The Dark Side by Danielle Steel

Image from Goodreads.com

I was given an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my thoughts. All opinions are mine. 

As I've mentioned before, Danielle Steel's books are one of my guilty pleasures. Those are usually the fluff books that I read when I don't want to have to think too hard about what I'm reading; like background noise- but with books. So, despite the name and the ominous looking cover, I expected more of the same out of this novel. Hoooo boy was I ever wrong. This one made me stop and check a few times to make sure I was actually reading one of DS's books. 

The story starts out with two sisters, one of which is diagnosed with a severe form of cancer. She dies young. The remaining sister, our main character, Zoe, essentially learns to take care of herself because her parents are too busy recovering from losing their child to worry about the one they have left. She grows up, and eventually has a child of her own, Jaime. 

Jaime is a problem child from the beginning. She won't nurse, she has acid reflux, colic, all normal things for a baby, but terrifying for someone who had a sister die at a young age. As she gets older, Jaime starts to have more and more "accidents" including broken bones, animal bites, and almost drowning. We begin to wonder if there is something more sinister than just a clumsy child going on. 

Honestly, I sort of called it after the broken arm, mainly because I just finished watching/reading/researching everything I could about the Gypsy Rose Blanchard (I refuse to put an E at the end of that because that's NOT how my maiden name is spelled or pronounced) case, and I knew where it was going, but it didn't make the book any less terrifying. As a mother who gave birth to a premature child, I prayed for weeks on end that my baby would learn to breathe on her own and be okay, I cannot imagine intentionally putting her in harm's way. I felt so bad for the dad, because as much as his baby loved her mom, he knew that getting her away was the best thing for her. 

All in all, this was not a typical HEA Danielle Steel sort of read, but I enjoyed it. It reminded me of why I fell in love with her books in the first place. It was an emotional read, for sure, but one that will stick with me for a while.