I haven’t read a Danielle Steel novel in years! The description of Joy sounded like something I would enjoy and sure enough I did! It moved fast and I liked the main character. I’m from the east coast and thought the setting was perfect for the beginning of the main character’s life. I think Steel gives us an easy to enjoy story with feeling and loss but love and hope as well. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

This story was a heartbreaking tale of a girl who just wanted to be loved and spent a majority of her life alone and seeking genuine love.

I liked it but wasn’t my favorite Danielle Steel book

In her latest book, Steel gives us the story of Allegra, the daughter of a military officer who is rarely home and a remote mother who abandons Allegra at an early age. As a teenager, Allegra meets her future husband, Shep, who also chooses a military life that eventually takes his toll. Suffering from PTSD, Shep transforms from a kind boy into an aggressive monster who endangers Allegra's life.

The second half of the book focuses on what happens to Allegra after her marriage to Shep crumbles. She leaves New York for the West Coast, where she goes to work for a famous movie composer. I don't want to spoil what happens next, but it's very different from the first half of the novel.

I always enjoy it when Steel's books cover a long span of time. In Joy, we get to follow Allegra through two decades of her life, through disastrous and sweet marriages, and through her journey for self-actualization, and ultimately, joy. I enjoyed this book and hope Steel continues to churn out more stories like this.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced edition in exchange for my opinions.

Thank you to NetGalley, Danielle Steel and the publisher for allowing me to read in advance for a review.

This was a true Danielle Steel book where you experienced all the feelings of the character. The realness of what some children and spouses of soldiers experience really resonated with me. I really enjoyed reading Allegras journey and how she could maintain her strength and positivity through all the obstacles. I hope to read more about what the future holds for Allegra. Thank you again for another great read.

I’m giving the book three stars because it was an easy, fast read. It moved like a freight train without stops! Very repetitious, to a fault, as if the author thought the reader’s ability to retain what was said before, would be forgotten unless she kept pounding it over and over. After reading an amazing book, that was so well written, I was granted this book by Netgalley and the publisher (Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine), because I knew it would be a quick read and predictably, mediocre. If you are on a beach and want a book to get through easily, with some interesting points, then read it. I do not rehash the plot in my reviews. You can read the jacket covers for that piece. And you can also read others’ reviews, where they talk about the characters and the story. I focus on my opinion. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. #NetGalley, #Joy, #RandomHousePublishingGroup-Ballantine.

What a sad existence Allegra Dixon lives. Absent mother, father who wants little to do with her, and then as she grows up she finds herself in the same predicaments. Finally, she finds love with her boss, and deals with many more adversities with him and then the fallout of his death. Quick read from one of my favorite authors.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. I love Danielle Steel and will continue to read her books. Joy started off a little sad but by the middle I was totally invested in how Allegra will find the joy in her life. Once again I enjoyed another book by the queen of romance Ms. Danielle Steel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Surprisingly, this was actually my first book by Danielle Steel. Overall, I really enjoyed the writing style and I felt that she did a great job conveying the emotions of the main character as well as the details of her tumultuous upbringing and life. The story was very moving and also just incredibly sad.

Allegra is the only child of a Military Intelligence Officer and his much younger socialite wife. She was unplanned and basically abandoned by both of her parents for all intents and purposes. She spent her life shuffled around between boarding school and grandparents who housed her but didn't really want to. She finds love and has it dramatically ripped away. Her journey is a riveting and interesting one. I didn't connect that much with all of the plot points but I would read other books by Danielle Steel in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to review an early copy!

It's a book starting out in New York and northern New England and follows the main character through her life. She has several bad things happen and she lives through and overcomes them. Very interesting, highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I had such high hopes for this book because I absolutely love Danielle Steel. But I have to say that I was a little disappointed in this book. There was so much sadness in the main character, She has a horrible childhood, survive a terrible marriage and many horrible life events. Throughout all that she remained strong. But I felt so sad for her.
I will not let this deter me from Danielle Steel books. Maybe this one just wasn't for me.

allegra is the child of a loveless marriage, her mother leaves when she is 6 and her father is in the military. she goes to boarding school and after college meets a west point cadet. they fall in love, and things don't work out as planned.

The heartbreak in this book is like a melody. It begins somberly. You the reader feel for Allegra, for the love she learns to live without. You see her love Shep, make plans for a life with him only to see her surrender him to a life so all consuming it has no space for her. Imagine a life where you are an afterthought, a problem to be resolved. Literally abandoned by her parents, Allegra builds a life so structured it has little or no space for warmth, love, intimacy. I used the term melody to connect to the one bright note in Allegra’s life . A job for a film composer, not just any composer but one that has all the accolades of a long and prosperous life opens the joys of living a full and rich life to a woman in need of a caring and gentle soul.

Joy is the story of Allegra who is born to a loveless marriage and continues through life with no one really caring for her or loving her. She meets Shep and feels like he is the one person who really loves her, but circumstances quickly change that. Needing to reinvent her life, Allegra moves to LA and becomes an assistant to a music composer – Henry. It is in LA where Allegra finds the true meaning of love.

I have read all of Steel’s books and will continue to read her books.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for my ARC.

This book is a standard Danielle Steel read. The main character, Allegra, has a career military father who is rarely at home because of his job responsibilities, and her mother decides that she is done being a mother when Allegra turns 6, leaving Allegra to grow up with distant grandparents, and in various school settings. Allegra falls in love with a West Point graduate who appears to be following a similar path as her father, and she has to determine what is best for her life, in work, love and location. The ending of this book felt quite abrupt.

This book was a little sad. Not very joyful. I feel like the main character does find joy in the end, but it took a long time.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Ballentine for allowing me to read this book. I have to admit. I didn't like it. The first 80% were about one part of her life, the next 15% were the next and then the next five years were the last 7 years. I hated what they did in the penultimate friendship. I have so much to say but I don't want to give spoilers BUT it was very unlike Allegra to give up on a character the way she did when she didn't give up with an even more important character. This book is very dark and sad.

As a small child, Allegra was abandoned by her mother and although her father, who is a career military intelligence serviceman, paid her way through her formative and college years, he spent very little time with her. Throughout her childhood, she was shuffled between her two sets of grandparents, boarding school and summer camps. As a teenager Allegra connects with Shepard, a West Point graduate, who seems to be her soulmate, and marries him, but they keep it a secret from their parents because she is so young. Shepard owes just 18 months of active duty service, but because he keeps re-enlisting, they grow apart and divorce. Allegra was devastated as he had been her only true connection in life thus far. She moves from NY where she had started her career as a book editor to LA and becomes a personal assistant to workaholic Henry Platt, a famous composer, many years her senior. Over time they fall in love and he treats her as she has never been treated before. They work together every day and he shows her the world. They share nine years together before he passes away from cancer. After Henry’s death, Allegra realizes she needs to again find the joy in her life. She begins to write a biography of Henry’s life and career. A business associate of Henry’s comes back into her life. Will he be her joy?

I am a long-term Danielle Steel reader and will continue to read her new books, but over the years I’ve realized her tendency to re-emphasize the same things many times throughout her books. She repeats how a character feels, who and what has damaged/molded them, and reiterates what the characters remember from things that happen years before over and over. Her editors must realize this. I find it distracting and I do mental eye-rolls. I feel that while it might it shorten the book, it would be ok not to keep repeating facts. If I need a reminder as to why the character feels the way they do, I can go back in the book and review.
#Joy #NetGalley

Danielle Steel is a TRUE story teller. She is truly tears at your heart strings with every book she writes. This one was truly sad and if you are feeling a sad book to get your in your feels, this is the one for you. It’s heartbreaking through most of it with a few shots of actual “Joy” so reader be where. BUT it is done so tastefully and beautifully. It’s a masterpiece. Would definitely recommend and read again!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

Allegra is the main character in the book and her life is full of so much sadness. She has a horrible childhood, survive a terrible marriage and many horrible life event, yet she remains strong and determined.

Danielle Steel is one of my favorite authors and I totally enjoy her books. I have read every book she had every written and will continue to do so as long as she continues writing.

Highly recommend.

I enjoyed this book. It was a short read and had a couple of storylines for the main character, but it all fit perfectly together. I would recommend this one for sure!